Forget Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi or Oprah Winfrey. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius may be “the most powerful woman in America” because of the health reform act, wrote National Review’s Rich Lowry, noting the hundreds of times the law says the secretary “shall” and “may” decide things. Also mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency’s plans to limit greenhouse-gas emissions, over congressional objections, Lowry concluded: “All of this is deeply corrosive of self-government. From ‘we the people’ to ‘the secretary may’ is a triumph of bureaucracy over republicanism.”
It isn’t necessarily surprising that an employee continues to collect a paycheck two months after leaving his job. What’s alarming is that Gov. Mark Parkinson’s administration hasn’t explained why former Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby (in photo) is still being paid, and continues to act as if it has no obligation to be transparent about the sudden removal of the Cabinet member. Even those not prone to seeing Bremby’s departure as part of a governor-led conspiracy to fast-track the air-quality permit for the Holcomb coal-fired power plant can agree that “the lack of transparency surrounding this issue is unacceptable,” as Sierra Club spokeswoman Stephanie Cole put it.
Thanks to its new Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita had the opportunity to enjoy 18 of Pollstar’s top 50 North American concert tours of the year, including No. 1 Bon Jovi, No. 3 Dave Matthews Band, No. 4 Michael Buble (in photo) and No. 5 Eagles. The No. 12 act, Cirque du Soleil’s “Alegria,” finishes its arena run today. Another act, No. 39 “Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles,” played Century II in March. The big ones that stayed away? Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, James Taylor/Carole King, the Black Eyed Peas, John Mayer and Justin Bieber (though Taylor is rumored to be coming April 30).
“You will recall that her popularity was so high that she could have picked a piece of lumber as her lieutenant governor and still won.” — Gov. Mark Parkinson (in photo), on his reaction when then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius asked him to be her running mate for her second term
“The only difference between us and a lot of other school districts is that we have a few extra zeros on the end. But the percent of the cuts is the same.” — Wichita school board member Lynn Rogers
Forget Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi or Oprah Winfrey. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius may be “the most powerful woman in America” because of the health reform act, wrote National Review’s Rich Lowry, noting the hundreds of times the law says the secretary “shall” and “may” decide things. Also mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency’s plans to limit greenhouse-gas emissions, over congressional objections, Lowry concluded: “All of this is deeply corrosive of self-government. From ‘we the people’ to ‘the secretary may’ is a triumph of bureaucracy over republicanism.”
