Some Wichita officials and business owners want the city to prevent people from openly carrying firearms without a permit. Wichita used to prohibit this, but a state law blocked local control. One concern is that, unlike conceal-carry, there is no requirement that a person take a weapons safety and training course. “Buy a gun, buy a holster, out the door without any experience,” one local gun-shop manager complained. “It’s a big mistake.” Wichita police also worry that open-carry could make it more difficult for them to tell the good guys from the bad guys. On the other hand, as our editorial today notes, it’s unlikely that many people will openly carry guns. And there haven’t been reports of problems with open-carry elsewhere in the state.
One Kansas county is trying to take some of the hassle out of getting a voter ID. Imagine that. The Douglas County Clerk’s Office began this week issuing free voter-ID cards to registered voters, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. The local system allows residents to avoid the long lines at the Division of Motor Vehicles. Residents also don’t have to produce a birth certificate (which many older citizens don’t have). Instead, the Clerk’s Office will accept a utility bill, bank statement, government check or other government documents (the same documents used to prove residency when registering to vote). The office also plans to send its employees to nursing homes and other sites to help people obtain IDs.
Sedgwick County Commissioner Richard Ranzau has some curious ideas on what’s worth his time and county resources. He thought it was fine to spend $1,463.50 in county funds to travel to the National Association of Counties’ annual meeting in Pittsburgh in order to have a national audience for his fearmongering lobbying against the meaningless 20-year-old United Nations’ “Agenda 21” document. But then he left the meeting early rather than, while he was there, take advantage of what was going on and perhaps expand his thinking or enhance his performance as a county commissioner because, he said, “I didn’t think it was a good use of my time.” He also clearly thinks it’s fine to use the county’s website and televised meetings to continue to campaign against Agenda 21 and the county’s participation in a regional planning process funded by a $1.5 million federal grant – never mind that the process was approved by the commission majority and is under way. And it was painful to learn that Ranzau serves on NACO’s environment, energy and land use steering committee, where his views might be mistaken for those of the county and commission majority.
Some legislators are upset with Kansans for Life for picking sides in GOP primaries in which both candidates are pro-life, Associated Press reported. For example, the anti-abortion group endorsed Rep. Richard Carlson, R-St. Marys, in a GOP primary against Rep. Trent LeDoux, R-Holton, who is also strongly anti-abortion. “Either endorse them both, or stay out of it,” LeDoux said. “Kansans for Life has marginalized themselves.” Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, said he has a 100 percent pro-life voting record, yet Kansans for Life endorsed his challenger, Rep. Larry Powell, R-Garden City. Morris suggested that Kansans for Life might be influenced by anti-tax groups that are targeting him and other state senators – a claim that Kansans for Life denies. One of the group’s litmus tests was whether senators supported changing the way judges are appointed, which is a procedural question on which reasonable people can disagree. In area Senate races, Kansans for Life didn’t endorse Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, or Rep. Dan Kerschen, R-Garden Plain, though it acknowledged that both have pro-life voting records.
Candidates who filed and raised money to run in one legislative district only to see their district change with the federal judges’ remapping recently were advised that their campaign dollars could transfer to the race in their new district. But the numerous House members running for Senate seats cannot use leftover funds from past races as they campaign for the other chamber, thanks to the Kansas Supreme Court’s 2003 decision in Cole v. Mayans. The justices sided with former Wichita City Council member Joan Cole in ruling that Carlos Mayans could not use $70,000 in leftover legislative campaign funds to run for mayor. Post-redistricting, Rep. Jim Ward, D-Wichita, cited that prohibition as a reason he filed to run in his new House district, against fellow incumbent Rep. Judith Loganbill, rather than try for a Senate seat. Carol Williams, executive director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, has invited lawmakers to update the law regarding transfer of campaign funds. When U.S. Reps. Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt faced off in 2010 for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat, they both were able to transfer over funds they’d raised for their House races. It seems like common sense for state law to mirror federal law, and allow such fund transfers for Statehouse races.
Gov. Sam Brownback tried to make the case last week that the state can afford his tax cuts without cutting core services such as education, Medicaid, social services and public safety. Few are buying it. His ideological colleagues at the Kansas Policy Institute determined that even using “dynamic scoring” to calculate greater than projected economic growth, the state would need to cut spending by about 8.5 percent in fiscal year 2014, or about $550 million. Given that Medicaid costs will continue to increase (even under the new KanCare program), that would be a traumatic cut to state programs that already have been through several rounds of deep budget cuts. And there is no way to cut that much spending without cutting education, which accounts for about two-thirds of the state budget. Local officials also aren’t expecting a rush of economic growth and are bracing for more funding cuts. During a recent meeting with The Eagle editorial board, Sedgwick County Manager William Buchanan spoke of when, not if, the bottom falls out of the state budget and when, not if, the tax cuts fail to produce enough jobs to replace the lost revenue.
Good for the leadership of the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce for deciding to appoint a task force to examine the relationship between the chamber and its political action committee. When the PAC turned its back on three staunchly pro-chamber state senators in order to endorse and fund their challengers – even sending out mailings linking the incumbents to Boeing’s decision to leave Wichita and calling the city’s business climate “uncompetitive” – it understandably upset some chamber members. It’s a further concern that some of the PAC’s favored candidates include recent PAC insiders, and that the PAC is secretive about its board members and decision making. Now, the concerned members of the chamber need to ensure their voices and concerns are heard by the task force.
ABC News’ Jake Tapper noted how President Obama has been invoking Bill Clinton’s era, even using words like “we” and “our plan” to speak of the 1990s economy. “Just like we’ve tried their plan, we tried our plan – and it worked. That’s the difference. That’s the choice in this election,” Obama told a California campaign crowd on Monday. Tapper wrote: “Essentially, within this construct, President Obama is trying to cast the choice voters face as Bill Clinton versus George W. Bush, with Bill Clinton’s economy as his, and George W. Bush’s economy as Mitt Romney’s. Clinton’s economy saw the creation of tens of millions of jobs, an economic boom and a projected federal budget surplus.” And now, unemployment is more than 8 percent and the economy continues to struggle. Tapper concluded: “This move is even more interesting (or galling, depending on your point of view) when one considers the attitude then-Sen. Obama showed Bill Clinton when he was locked in a tough primary battle against then-senator, now Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.”
In a Washington Post commentary, Obama biographer David Maraniss reflects what it’s like to have had his book “Barack Obama: The Story” mined and targeted by the Obama doubters and haters. He also recounts what it would have taken to fake the future president’s birth on Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu: “First, the local newspapers would have had to have been in on the scheme, because they ran notices of his birth among all the other local births that week. Second, the Immigration and Naturalization Service would have had to have been covering something up, because INS officials were closely tracking Barack Obama Sr. when he was at the University of Hawaii on a student visa from Kenya. They thought that he was a bigamist – which he was, having married a woman in Kenya before coming to the States – and a womanizer, which he also was. INS documents in the weeks and months before and after the son’s birth clearly establish the father’s whereabouts and the birth of his son. Finally, the name of Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann, was unusual enough that doctors and nurses in Honolulu remembered it and her giving birth. One prominent doctor was asked by a young journalist if anything interesting had happened in the medical world that week, and he responded, ‘Well, Stanley had a baby!’” What drives the “birthers” and other Obama haters? “Some of it can be attributed to the give-and-take of today’s harsh ideological divide. Some of it can be explained by the way misinformation spreads virally to millions of like-minded people, reinforcing preconceptions. And some of it, I believe, arises out of fears of demographic changes in this country, and out of racism,” Maraniss concludes.
State Rep. John Grange, R-El Dorado, said he won’t renew his membership in the National Rifle Association after the group refused to correct a campaign card that claimed Grange “refused to answer” the NRA’s candidate questionnaire, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. The card, which endorsed Grange’s opponent in his state Senate campaign, said that not answering the questionnaire is “often a sign of indifference, if not outright hostility, to the rights of gun owners and sportsmen.” But not only did Grange answer and return the questionnaire, he scored a near-perfect rating on the NRA’s Political Victory Fund website. When Grange contacted the NRA about the mistake and asked if it was going to send out a corrected card, Grange said he was told “no.” “They’ve lost my membership,” Grange said. The NRA has also taken fire for changing its rating of Dick Barta, a Republican running against Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka. Barta scored a C-plus on the questionnaire. But after he was allowed to “clarify” his answers, his grade was raised to an A-plus. Kelly received an A-minus.
News that Whole Foods Market is coming to the new Waterfront Plaza at 13th and Webb Road was a dream come true for many food-savvy Wichitans, and another welcome sign that the economy isn’t getting in the way of the community’s progress. The Austin-based chain is the go-to grocery in many communities for its natural and organic foods. Whole Foods will join new arrivals Fresh Market and Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage and long-established GreenAcres Market, making northeast Wichita the prime place to buy what it takes to eat healthfully and well. Still leading the wish list for Wichita: Cheesecake Factory.
Not surprisingly, the Colorado movie theater shooting has renewed debate about whether the public should be able to buy assault weapons. Mitt Romney is opposed to new gun laws, though he signed an assault weapons ban when he was governor of Massachusetts, describing such guns as “instruments of destruction.” He also wrongly said that the Colorado suspect possessed the guns illegally. The White House said that President Obama would not pursue new gun laws, though Obama called Wednesday for stepped-up background checks and restrictions to keep mentally ill people from buying weapons.
Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Wichita, will not just be facing a Democratic opponent in November; he also will be up against a Founding Father – though in name only. Libertarian candidate Jack Talbert (in photo) of Wichita legally changed his name to Thomas Jefferson. “When people see that Thomas Jefferson’s on the ballot, half will think I’m committed to the Libertarian Party, and the other half will probably think I should be committed,” he told the Topeka Capital-Journal. Actually, Talbert – er – Jefferson may be a little off on his percentages.
It’s a relief that the Wichita school district and the local teachers union have reached a tentative contract agreement. Here’s hoping they also move quickly beyond any hard feelings related to the contract negotiations and refocus on working together to help kids. The teachers were understandably frustrated in having gone four years without a raise. And the district was understandably concerned about the state’s budget outlook, given forecasts of large deficits resulting from Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax cuts. Though the new contract doesn’t give teachers the raises they wanted or deserve, it is a step forward in an uncertain time. It’s also good that the new contract includes some specific dress codes for teachers. Though the overwhelming majority of teachers wear appropriate attire, the few who don’t can harm the image of the profession and the district.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has again determined that the federal health care law will reduce the deficit, contrary to the rhetoric of many Republicans. What’s more, it calculated that Republican legislation to repeal the law would increase the deficit by $109 billion from 2013 to 2022. That’s not to say that there aren’t serious concerns about the law, including that it doesn’t do enough to control costs. But it won’t create large deficits, at least not during the time period examined by CBO. The law also is lowering some costs for consumers. A new federal analysis found that Kansans on Medicare have saved more than $41 million on prescription drugs since the law was enacted ($3.9 billion saved nationwide). Just in the first half of 2012, Kansans saved an average of $576 on prescriptions that used to be in the Medicare “doughnut hole” coverage gap.
Sedgwick County Commissioner Karl Peterjohn isn’t shy about saying that he has voted three times against the county participating in a $1.5 million federal sustainable planning grant. But he stressed during a meeting with The Eagle editorial board that he never mentioned “Agenda 21.” Some have tried to link the planning grant to an obscure two-decade-old, nonbinding United Nations document that they think could force us to ride bicycles and live in high-rises. Peterjohn didn’t seem to want to be associated with such conspiracy talk. Yet a campaign mailer Peterjohn gave The Eagle noted how he voted against “Agenda 21 grants.”
One big difference between the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and some local chambers is education, the Kansas City Star reported. For example, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce devotes almost half a page of its legislative agenda to K-12 education. It calls for “adequate and equitable funding” of schools and opposes additional education budget cuts. The chamber also supports increased funding for higher education, seeing education as a key to economic development. In contrast, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce does not address education in its legislative agenda and is targeting for defeat moderate GOP lawmakers who have strongly supported public education. The Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce’s 2012 agenda lists three items related to education: Funding decisions should be the sole discretion of the Legislature and not the courts. Funding should continue for the National Center for Aviation Training. And “competitive and innovative educational approaches” should be encouraged.
It was disappointing but not particularly surprising that Kansas Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran were among the lawmakers who blocked a vote last week on the DISCLOSE Act. The measure would have required independent groups to disclose the names of contributors who give more than $10,000 for use in political campaigns. These groups are spending millions of dollars trying to influence the elections, but voters don’t know who is bankrolling this spending.
The Sedgwick County Republican Party went over the top in censuring County Commissioner Jim Skelton (in photo) last week for the sin of being bipartisan. According to the resolution, Skelton “publicly supported a Democratic candidate over a Republican candidate.” In commenting recently to The Eagle about the challenge by Republican political novice Ben Sauceda to 11-year commissioner and current Chairman Tim Norton, who happens to be a Democrat, Skelton had dared to say: “I want people on the board who are going to be working for their constituents, not working against the government. I don’t want to work with someone who every time you turn around, they’re voting against something.” The message of Skelton’s censure – that party fealty means more than anything to the county GOP, including collegiality.
Congratulations to the volunteers who worked so hard and for so many years to achieve Saturday’s public dedication of the Vietnamese American Community Memorial along the Arkansas River. The project, a proud addition to the riverfront featuring lead artist Babs Mellor’s vision of an American soldier and a South Vietnamese soldier, had to overcome some hard feelings a few years ago related to its proximity to Veterans Memorial Park. It now stands nearby as a poignant and enduring tribute to the unique partnership of the South Vietnamese military and the U.S. military in fighting the communists during the Vietnam War. It also will stand as evidence of the generosity of the local South Vietnamese community, which has enriched Wichita in the decades since.
Columnist Andres Oppenheimer thinks that President Obama’s campaign ad attacking Mitt Romney for outsourcing jobs is “intellectually dishonest,” and that Romney’s response blasting Obama as being “the real outsourcer-in-chief” is “pathetic.” Oppenheimer wrote: “In fact, both Obama and Romney support outsourcing, the long-standing practice whereby U.S. companies manufacture overseas goods that are too costly to produce at home. And they should. Outsourcing is not only a necessity in today’s global economy, but often helps the U.S. economy by making U.S. exports more competitive abroad, and by allowing U.S. consumers to pay less for many goods.”
Four years ago, the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce and its political action committee fought hard to keep professional anti-taxer Karl Peterjohn off the Sedgwick County Commission bench in what Peterjohn called a “political jihad” against him. In one of the strongest arguments against Peterjohn at the time, Spirit AeroSystems CEO Jeff Turner said, “If his views were to prevail in this community, companies like ours would be hard-pressed to invest anymore in this community.” Peterjohn won, though, and by early 2010, then-chamber president Bryan Derreberry said “that is all old history.” Still, it was striking to see Peterjohn’s name last week on the list of endorsements by the chamber’s political action committee, along with his challenger for re-election in the Aug. 7 GOP primary, Wichita City Council member Jeff Longwell. Though Peterjohn hasn’t been the wrecking ball the business community had feared, in part because he’s mostly been in the minority on the commission, Peterjohn hasn’t really changed his views. The Wichita chamber PAC and its priorities certainly have changed, though.
News of Gov. Sam Brownback’s “real live experiment” of massively cutting state income taxes went global with a Reuters story likening the reform to the GOP blueprint at the national level crafted by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “Someone has to get the nation’s fiscal house in order. The people who can get that done are conservatives,” retiring House Speaker Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, told the international news service. The quoted moderate GOP state senators begged to differ: “The tax cuts will do huge damage to Kansas over the next few years,” predicted retiring state Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood. Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, said: “Unless jobs come flooding to Kansas, the first place to cut is education. We have to hope this (tax-cut package) is a success, or a lot of people are going to get hurt. This is bare-bones, libertarian government.”
The following satirical headlines come from borowitzreport.com and theonion.com:
Romney Claims Dog Ate Tax Returns and Ran Bain Capital for Three Years
Obama Pledges to Repeal Health Care Law if Re-elected
Bachmann Claims White House Has Links to Extremist Group Called Democrats
Chinese Workers Hail Romney’s Record as Job Creator
Man Has Reached a Point Where He Is Now Dumber Than His Telephone
Economically Healthy Daily Planet Now Most Unrealistic Part of Superman Universe
When Sumner County voters approved the idea of a destination casino way back in December 2005, one of the strongest arguments was its potential to lower property taxes. Just seven months after the Kansas Star Casino opened, that’s about to happen in Mulvane. City Administrator Kent Hixson has included a 10 percent cut in the property-tax mill levy in his 2013 budget proposal, along with a 5 percent cut in city electric rates in the current year. The city, which receives 1 percent of gross revenue from the casino, already has received $844,000 and is making improvements to its water and emergency response systems.
Some Wichita officials and business owners want the city to prevent people from openly carrying firearms without a permit. Wichita used to prohibit this, but a state law blocked local control. One concern is that, unlike conceal-carry, there is no requirement that a person take a weapons safety and training course. “Buy a gun, buy a holster, out the door without any experience,” one local gun-shop manager complained. “It’s a big mistake.” Wichita police also worry that open-carry could make it more difficult for them to tell the good guys from the bad guys. On the other hand, as our editorial today notes, it’s unlikely that many people will openly carry guns. And there haven’t been reports of problems with open-carry elsewhere in the state.
