For all the howling about how dumb the “cash for clunkers” bill was, it’s certainly been a hit with the public, stirring dealership business by offering federal subsidies of up to $4,500 each for those who trade in old gas-guzzlers for fuel-efficient newer models. The House voted 316-109 today to replenish its funds with $2 billion more stimulus money. But how well is it working on the government’s end? “I’ve got dealers who have submitted the paperwork three times and have gotten three rejections,” said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich. “What is a dealer supposed to do?”
Waiting for the stock market to heal itself won’t be enough to guarantee the long-term solvency of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, according to its experts. As 2008 ended, the system’s unfunded actuarial liability was at a record $8.3 billion, up $2.7 billion from 2007 — and not that far from equaling the fund’s $10 billion in assets. The KPERS board and staff are doing an analysis of the system’s funding status and how state leaders might respond to it. They plan to provide the governor and legislative leaders with the results this fall, so the 2010 Legislature can act. If the state’s next budget is anything like the current one, the pressure will be great to think about KPERS another day. But as our editorial today argues, leaders need to get going on a plan of attack, so public employees and retirees can trust they’ll get what’s coming to them.
Politico’s Roger Simon noted the snub of Lucia Whalen, the woman who called 911 to report a possible break-in at Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates’ home. She alone “acted responsibly from beginning to end in this whole affair,” Simon wrote. “And she doesn’t even get a free drink out of it. Instead, she has been reviled. She has been scorned. She was pilloried in the mainstream media and abused in the blogosphere” — without regard to the facts of what she said and did, he noted. Yet when asked Wednesday whether she’d make the call again, Whalen said: “I have had much reflection on that, and, yes, I would make the call.”
Kansas Board of Regents president Reggie Robinson promised this week to make public the results of pending audits of five state universities. It took the intervention of Attorney General Steve Six last month to ensure that Kansans, and not just the regents, learned the troubling contents of an audit of Kansas State University. Audits of the University of Kansas and Pittsburg State University are expected to be completed this fall. The three others will come later. A subcommittee appointed by the regents also is exploring the idea of systematic audits of the universities, as Gov. Mark Parkinson has urged. State Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, expressed a worthy concern this week: that the audits under way not be whitewashed in anticipation of their public release. Because the universities are public institutions, the public deserves an unvarnished account of their finances and management.
Gov. Mark Parkinson and other Democrats continue to challenge suggestions that the party plans to hand Cedar Crest to Republican Sam Brownback next year. But “the election is 15 months away and the Democrats haven’t endorsed a candidate,” wrote Topeka Capital-Journal columnist Ric Anderson. “It’s getting close to showtime — very close. The pews are full, the organ is playing, the minister is at the altar, and the bride hasn’t shown up. We’ve heard all kinds of names come and go — John Carlin, Dan Glickman, Nancy Boyda, Jill Docking and Bill Kurtis, to name a handful. But no one has stuck.” Anderson helpfully wrote the text of an announcement declaring Parkinson’s candidacy (should the governor rethink his decision not to run) in which Parkinson could point to “this crucial juncture in our state’s history” and the need for “a full and spirited debate on the issues,” and attribute the changing of his mind to “much soul-searching and extensive discussion” with his family.
