With the Kansas Chamber of Commerce having pursued a more political agenda in recent years, the job as its president and CEO should be a good fit for longtime Rep. Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, who is retiring after four years as House speaker. It also makes sense as a “thank you” to O’Neal, given how aggressively the chamber helped Gov. Sam Brownback push for the Legislature to slash income taxes. In fact, the cuts only became law this year because of O’Neal’s gambit to ram through a deeply flawed bill and pre-empt a Senate attempt to kill any chance of tax cuts. After that showdown, the governor’s budget director was heard telling O’Neal, “We really appreciate that. We’ll always remember it.”
The always sharp-tongued Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, recently made national news with comments at the 2012 Values Voter Summit equating abortion and slavery, and claiming that Planned Parenthood “was created for the sole purpose of killing children that look like mine – a racist organization, and it continues specifically to target minorities for abortion destruction.” That prompted the Louisville Courier-Journal to call out Huelskamp (who has adopted four children of different ethnicities) in an editorial criticizing political language that strains “good taste as well as meaning.” The editorial argued: “Surely, Rep. Huelskamp, there are better ways of making an anti-abortion argument than calling millions of people racist baby killers.”
Kansas State University president Kirk Schulz tried to clarify Wednesday that his move to end the use of “K-State” was aimed at communications with national audiences, not local ones. “The nickname ‘K-State’ has become common to those of us in the state and region, and we recognize the strength of being known to certain audiences as K-State,” he said in a statement. That’s wise. As another Kansas Board of Regents institution learned a few years back with its goofy nine-year bid to be called “The Wichita State University,” school and community traditions have deep roots unlikely to be disturbed by marketing decisions.
With the Kansas Chamber of Commerce having pursued a more political agenda in recent years, the job as its president and CEO should be a good fit for longtime Rep. Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, who is retiring after four years as House speaker. It also makes sense as a “thank you” to O’Neal, given how aggressively the chamber helped Gov. Sam Brownback push for the Legislature to slash income taxes. In fact, the cuts only became law this year because of O’Neal’s gambit to ram through a deeply flawed bill and pre-empt a Senate attempt to kill any chance of tax cuts. After that showdown, the governor’s budget director was heard telling O’Neal, “We really appreciate that. We’ll always remember it.”
