Whatever one makes of the long roller-coaster ride of a GOP presidential nomination race, it’s great to see it enabling Kansas Republicans to play a role. Before the Wichita caucus ends on Saturday at Century II, three of the four remaining contenders may have visited town. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are scheduled to speak at a $25-a-head Kansans for Liberty rally Friday at Century II, and Gingrich plans to conduct an energy roundtable in Wichita Saturday morning. The Sedgwick County Republican Party has said that Gingrich and Rick Santorum are tentatively scheduled to visit the Wichita caucus. John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama made area stops before the 2008 caucuses, so this makes two elections in a row in which Kansas has felt relevant. That’s a far cry from 2000, when the campaign of candidate George W. Bush declared victory in the canceled Kansas primary.
Though accounts vary, it appears that state Rep. Jim Ward, D-Wichita, wasn’t as forthright as he should have been about his amendment to provide $90 million in property-tax relief, which the House approved. That wasn’t wise, as he may have lost the trust of some of his colleagues. And for no real purpose, as GOP lawmakers killed the bill once they realized what had happened. But censuring Ward, as some lawmakers want to do, is an overreaction. Pursuing censure also reminds the public that lawmakers aren’t reading the bills they are passing.
Secretary of State Kris Kobach is on the cover of this month’s Governing Magazine. The profile chronicles how he became a leading figure in the national immigration debate. “I did not anticipate when I first started working on this issue,” Kobach said, “that someday I would be seen as a hero by some and a horrible villain by others on a national scale.” Several people in the article complained that Kobach is using the immigration issue and his public office for his own political and financial gain. “He is using a state-held position to further a larger agenda that is not benefiting the voters he is supposed to be protecting,” said state Rep. Melody McCray-Miller, D-Wichita.
“They have no bench, folks.” – Kansas Republican Party chairwoman Amanda Adkins, on Kansas Democrats and the GOP dominance in Kansas’ congressional seats, statewide offices and Legislature
“The governor’s performance in office is causing a lot of people to have buyer’s remorse.” – Kansas Democratic Party chairwoman Joan Wagnon
“I’ve been disgusted ever since.” – Rep. Virgil Peck, R-Tyro, saying the Democrats’ short-lived success in passing a $90 million property-tax cut made him feel like a running back who missed a blitzing linebacker
Whatever one makes of the long roller-coaster ride of a GOP presidential nomination race, it’s great to see it enabling Kansas Republicans to play a role. Before the Wichita caucus ends on Saturday at Century II, three of the four remaining contenders may have visited town. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are scheduled to speak at a $25-a-head Kansans for Liberty rally Friday at Century II, and Gingrich plans to conduct an energy roundtable in Wichita Saturday morning. The Sedgwick County Republican Party has said that Gingrich and Rick Santorum are tentatively scheduled to visit the Wichita caucus. John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama made area stops before the 2008 caucuses, so this makes two elections in a row in which Kansas has felt relevant. That’s a far cry from 2000, when the campaign of candidate George W. Bush declared victory in the canceled Kansas primary.
