Daily Archives: May 26, 2011

Set record straight on arts funding

May 26, 201111:42 a.m.

Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration has cited Vermont as an example of a state that has a nonprofit arts agency. But Alexander Aldrich, the executive director of the Vermont Arts Council, sent an open letter to Brownback this week to “set the record straight” and to make the case “for keeping the Kansas Arts Commission on sound financial, public footing.” He said the Vermont council is effective “only because” the state appropriates it more than $500,000 year. And he argued that “every state should invest in the arts sector simply because it makes good economic sense.”

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Kansas government, Sam Brownback | Comments Off

Medicare plan could cost Republicans

May 26, 20116:00 a.m.

GOP House leaders are scrambling to defend their plan to overhaul Medicare after losing a conservative district in New York in a special election Tuesday. They blamed the loss on scare tactics by Democrats. But their main problem is that they are bucking public opinion, which overwhelmingly opposes the Medicare plan. Dan Balz of the Washington Post argued that Republicans made the same mistake that Democrats made after the 2008 election: “assume a mandate when one doesn’t exist.”

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Congress, Health and safety | Comments Off