Good for state Sen. Thomas “Tim” Owens, R-Overland Park, for his stated commitment to give a proposed repeal of Kansas’ unused death penalty more than a cursory glance in the legislative session that starts in January. “We are going to have a complete and thorough discussion of death penalty abolition,” said Owens, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. Since Kansas reinstated capital punishment in 1994, nine men have taken up residence on death row but no execution dates are in sight. Meanwhile, according to a 2003 study, capital cases are costing Kansas 70 percent more than noncapital cases.
When talking about budget problems, state lawmakers like to say that “everything is the table.” But they usually don’t mean it — refusing to consider tax increases or cuts to certain programs. However, the state’s budget shortfall is so serious — nearly half a billion dollars this fiscal year, according to new revenue estimates and including increased education costs — that lawmakers need to rise above their rigid ideologies and be open to all options. That includes more cuts to education and other important programs, delaying the phase-in of tax cuts, and increasing some taxes or eliminating some sales-tax exemptions.
When Sen. Sam Brownback gives up his job to run for governor next year, it could be Kansas’ only open seat for a while. The Hutchinson News reported that Sen. Pat Roberts, who is officially Kansas’ “junior senator,” already plans to run for a fourth term in 2014 and had $82,256 in campaign cash as of September. If Roberts won in 2014 and served the full six years, by the way, he’d be 84 when his term ended in early 2021. At that point, Roberts’ 24 years in the Senate would make his longevity among Kansans second only to Bob Dole’s 27 years.
“I had a tremendous time looking at fossils.” — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (in photo), in Lawrence, saying KU’s Dyche Hall “may be the best university natural history museum in the United States”
“My name has been besmirched.” — Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, in Pittsburg, saying an earmarks-related ethics probe was started by an anonymous accusation
“We hurt people. I can tell you who didn’t share in the pain: corporate interests.” — Rep. Ann Mah, D-Topeka, on the 2009 Legislature’s spending cuts
“I was just reading this interesting story that I was going to run for the Senate in Kansas as a Democrat. I don’t know where that came from. I’m a lifelong Republican.” — Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
