The Kansas Legislature won’t try to override Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ third veto of a bill to expand a coal-fired power plant, House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, announced Wednesday. But the coal-plant debate isn’t over and may return next session. “I think it’s important enough we need to continue working on energy policy and a solution for this issue,” said Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton. “It won’t go away.”
In vetoing the bill to require Kansas voters to show photo identification, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius suggested the rule would deter turnout. But state Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, thinks she has it backward - that more secure elections would mean more voters. “If people don’t trust the system, they’re not going to vote as much as they would,” Huelskamp said.
It’s a relief that the Kansas Supreme Court saw fit Friday to uphold the conviction of Gavin Scott in the 1996 murders of Doug and Beth Brittain of rural Goddard, even as it overturned his death sentence. That spares the victims’ family, as well as taxpayers, of having to go through another trial. But with the third man convicted under Kansas’ 1994 death penalty now awaiting resentencing before completion of his case, something that could take several years, Kansans are left to wonder about the point of having a death penalty so complicated, costly to prosecute and prone to technical errors.
The Republican Party lost a fierce defender when Jack Ranson died last week at age 78, after complications from heart surgery. During six years as Kansas Republican Party chairman, 10 years on the Republican National Committee and a lifetime in the thick of high-level politics, the Wichita investment banker not only influenced the Kansas GOP’s choices of candidates and promoted their candidacies but also championed the party as he saw it — inclusive, fiscally conservative and victorious on Election Day. His “big tent” approach put him at odds with the socially conservative leadership of the Kansas GOP in recent years, but many of his warnings about divisive issues have proved prophetic.
After her third coal-plant veto Friday, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius nixed two more bills today: one to require voters to show photo ID starting in 2010 and another to deny the governor the right to fill a vacancy when a U.S. senator quits or dies in office. The latest vetoes were welcome. The ID bill was a solution for the nonexistent problem of voter fraud that would have deterred some citizens from voting. The Senate vacancy bill seemed blatantly political and unnecessary, given how well current law has dealt with vacancies since 1927. Lawmakers will have one last chance to overturn these and other vetoes when they convene May 29 for sine die, the usually ceremonial final day of the session. Kansans can hope tradition holds and the occasion is too sparsely attended to allow such tactics.
The Hill newspaper asked all 97 senators not running for president, including Kansas’ own, whether they’d accept an offer to run for vice president.
Sen. Sam Brownback said: “I would be honored to be asked. I’ve got to appraise the position in considering it. But I haven’t gone to the step of saying whether I would or wouldn’t at this point. . . . I’d probably take away from the ticket, too. There’s always pros and cons. I’m strong pro-life, pro-marriage, and some people would say, ‘Well, I don’t like that.’ But really, people vote for president. Not vice president. I think vice president can hurt you more than it can help you. I can’t remember any time in my lifetime where I voted for a president because of the vice presidential nominee.”
Sen. Pat Roberts said: “No. I don’t cut ribbons well or give eulogies at funerals.”
Other senators’ had entertaining responses, too.
Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah: “Of course. Big house, big car, not much to do. Why not?”
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho: “I would say ‘No, Hillary.’”
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius stars in a new Barack Obama campaign video, talking about “some of the most exciting voter registration and turnout efforts I’ve ever seen in my lifetime” and forecasting a change in “the electoral map in this country for decades to come.” Obama’s amazing ability to bring new voters into the primary process has been established, but will it be enough in November?
As the Kansas House wrapped up its business recently, House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg, thanked his colleagues for their support for his tornado-ravaged community and offered an anecdote that reflects the storm’s worldwide attention. He described how some Kansans visiting England, asked where they live, had answered “Wichita.”
“Oh, really?” replied the Britons. “Now, where is that from Greensburg?”
Not sure of the origin of these imaginary answers making the viral rounds, but some of them are good.
The question: Why did the chicken cross the road?
George W. Bush: We don’t really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.
Barack Obama: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a change. The chicken wanted change.
John McCain: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.
Hillary Clinton: When I was first lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure — right from Day One — that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn’t about me.
Pat Buchanan: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
Ernest Hemingway: To die in the rain, alone.
Dick Cheney: Where’s my gun?
There are easier ways to make a living than being in Congress — and to make a much better living. But Kansas’ lawmakers are getting by or better, according to the Sunlight Foundation. Its new study finds Sen. Sam Brownback, with a $13.3 million net worth in 2006, leading his fellow Kansans, followed by Rep. Nancy Boyda ($2.2 million), Sen. Pat Roberts ($1.7 million), Rep. Dennis Moore ($827,000), Rep. Jerry Moran ($510,000) and the 4th District’s own Rep. Todd Tiahrt ($121,000). The average net worth among their fellow Americans in 2006 was $93,000.
Overall, Kansas’ delegation members fell well within the extremes of wealth or lack of it cited by the study — from California Rep. Jane Harmon’s $409 million to Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings’ $4.7 million debt.
Before its reconstruction began, people used to consider Kellogg a joke. Since then, the joking has been about how long the project is taking. The most-told joke notes that because scientists say the sun will burn out in several billion years, “that means we’ll have to finish the Kellogg freeway construction in the dark,” as then-City Manager Chris Cherches put it in the ’90s. Similarly, when the downtown flyover opened in 1994, colorful signs went up nearby declaring, “And people said the sun would burn out first!”
Local wit Bucky Walters noted in The Eagle three years ago that “historians have always held that the construction of Kellogg was begun by Coronado in the 16th century. However, with the discovery of a mastodon tusk by present-day Kellogg workers, scientists have confirmed that the planet’s oldest unfinished highway was first started by prehistoric man.”
Anyone have other Kellogg jokes to offer? In any case, as our editorial today argues, the seemingly endless construction project remains essential for the community.
No longer the elusive kingpin of the Bush administration, Karl Rove is free to roam about the media and country, offering advice and, as he will in Wichita on Thursday, helping the Republican Party raise money. A New York Times article explored Rove’s new pundit role on Fox News, in Newsweek and elsewhere. Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, revealed that when he hired Rove last fall as a contributor intended in part to “responsibly provoke,” it provoked several hundred readers to cancel their subscriptions. Many people especially are greeting Rove’s thoughts on the Democratic primary battle with skepticism. “Wouldn’t taking his advice be a little like getting health tips from a funeral home director?” said Bill Burton, Barack Obama’s press secretary.
The list of members of Congress in ethical messes gets longer, yet nothing seems to happen to these guys. The latest addition is Rep. Vito Fossella (in photo), R-N.Y., whose drunken driving arrest led to revelations last week that he fathered a daughter, now 3, outside his marriage. So far, he plans to stay in Congress. And why not? Congress is where you’ll still find Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who learned last week that his link to the late “D.C. Madam” won’t even be investigated by the so-called Senate Ethics Committee; Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, despite pleading guilty related to a Minneapolis airport restroom sex sting (though he’s retiring after this term); and Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., despite being indicted in a bribery investigation (he’s even been re-elected since).
Washburn University political scientist Bob Beatty noted in the Topeka Capital-Journal that no state has gone as long as Kansas in electing members of only one party to the U.S. Senate. In challenging Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Jim Slattery seeks to be the first Democrat since George McGill (in photo) in 1932 to be sent to the Senate by Kansas voters.
The highly competitive presidential nomination races have been good for democracy, judging from an Associated Press survey of states’ voter registration: More than 3.5 million people have registered to vote this year, with new registrations up about 64 percent from the same three months in the 2004 campaign (in 21 states that could offer comparable data). The survey shows a surge of new voters among African-Americans and women. “This could change the face of American politics for decades to come,” Gov. Kathleen Sebelius told AP, predicting permanent gains for Democrats. In Kansas, more than 13,100 people registered as Democrats in the first two months of 2008, for a total 445,000, as the number of registered Republicans declined by more than 1,500 to 741,000.
With the end of the nomination process finally in sight, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza finally ranks the vice presidential possibilities. The Democrat most likely to join Barack Obama? Cillizza said it’s Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, “because of her ability to further bolster Obama’s strengths while not exacerbating his weaknesses. Picking Sebelius would affirm Obama’s core message of change and would give Obama’s run even more historic weight,” he wrote. “Sebelius’ electoral success in ruby red Kansas would also echo Obama’s pledge to broaden the playing field in the fall and ensure that the party is competitive in every state. The one knock on Sebelius is the dearth of foreign policy credentials on her resume. But she has six years of strong executive experience and could be the kind of political partner Obama needs in the fall.” The rest of the Democratic top five: Ted Strickland, Hillary Clinton, Tim Kaine and Sam Nunn.
In the top five spots to be John McCain’s running mate, Cillizza sees Tim Pawlenty, John Thune, Rob Portman, Charlie Crist and Mitt Romney.
The Washington Post described how Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, came to lead what appeared to be a House GOP effort to “reconsider” a resolution “celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother’s Day.”
After the resolution passed 412-0 Wednesday, Tiahrt rose and said: “Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote.” In a vote on whether to table Tiahrt’s motion to reconsider, Tiahrt was among 178 Republicans to vote “no” — appearing to some to be opposing the motherhood resolution. According to Sam Sackett, Tiahrt’s communications director, the procedural move was part of House Republicans’ efforts to draw attention to Democratic House leaders’ refusal to handle a massive supplemental military funding bill via the committee process. “Mr. Tiahrt is not against mothers, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, and the official vote shows that he supported the resolution,” Sackett told The Eagle editorial board.
But the way the gambit looked, the Post noted, “Republicans are now confronted with a John Kerry-esque predicament: They actually voted for motherhood before they voted against it.”
After months of sometimes bitter debate, Wichita quietly took the first official step Tuesday toward an indoor smoking ban in all businesses open to people under age 18, on a 4-3 Wichita City Council vote to be finalized next month. A Tuesday SurveyUSA poll of Wichita, sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, seemed to confirm that the community is ready: 69 percent said smoking should not be allowed in public places with customers under age 18, more than two-thirds predicted that businesses would either gain customers (29 percent) or see no impact (38 percent) because of the ordinance, and only 19 percent said they’d be less likely to go out in Wichita because of the ordinance.
John McCain has seemed a good soldier for President Bush and the GOP since he lost the nomination to Bush in 2000. But evidence is mounting that McCain neither voted for Bush that year nor thought he was qualified to be president. “He was going on and on about how horribly unqualified and untested Bush was, how the campaign had attacked his family,” former “West Wing” actor Bradley Whitford told the Washington Post, recalling a 2001 dinner with McCain.
Whitford added that when someone asked whether McCain had voted for Bush, “He put his finger up to his lips, shook his head and mouthed, ‘No way.’”
McCain denied the stories this week. Given Bush’s poll numbers, though, such news might benefit McCain.
It’s not as pithy as “wear sunscreen” or “if opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door,” but Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ worthy suggestion for graduating seniors, offered in a recent commentary, bears repeating: “Take a moment to be proud of your accomplishments and don’t forget to thank your parents, your teachers or that special person in your life who has helped you reach this milestone and who will be with you as you strive for more to come.”
If you’re not as tired of “Star Wars” parodies as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are of campaigning, check out “The Empire Strikes Barack,” which boils the past few weeks of this historic duel down to five minutes.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich saw more than a loss for his team in last weekend’s special congressional election in Louisiana, where a district went Democratic for the first time in 33 years: “Either congressional Republicans are going to chart a bold course of real change or they are going to suffer decisive losses this November,” he wrote for Human Events. Gingrich sees John McCain’s strength in opinion polls as “a sign of the gap between the McCain brand of independence and the GOP brand.” His prescription for House Republicans: Repeal the gas tax for the summer, cutting domestic discretionary spending accordingly. Redirect the oil being put into the national petroleum reserve onto the open market. Introduce a “more energy at lower cost with less environmental damage and greater national security bill” as a replacement for the Warner-Lieberman “tax and trade” bill. Establish an earmark moratorium for one year and pledge to uphold the presidential veto of bills with earmarks through the end of 2009. Overhaul the census and cut its budget radically. Implement a space-based, GPS-style air traffic control system. Declare English the official language of government. Protect the workers’ right to a secret ballot. Remind Americans that judges matter.
Get out your handkerchiefs. State Rep. Bill Otto, R-LeRoy, channeled his frustrations over Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ coal-plant vetoes into a song, “Home on the Range: 2020 version,” sung by candlelight on
The lobbying tab on both sides of the coal-plant fight continues to soar, topping $830,000 from late last year through March. Compare that to the inflation-adjusted average of $805,000 in total lobbying per year in Topeka since 1992, according to a Harris News Service analysis, and you have a historic issue for the Legislature and state. About a dozen special interest groups have been involved in lobbying on the coal plants, with proponents outspending opponents 7-to-1 since January.
Some choice quotes from the Wichita City Council’s discussion prior to voting 4-3 Tuesday for a workplace smoking ban exempting bars:
- “If this ordinance was a potato, it would be a mashed potato,” said member Jim Skelton (in photo), who voted “no.”
- “Are we going to ban stupid people from driving? . . . We can’t save everybody from everything because there’s a couple of people that think it’s the government’s job,” said member Paul Gray, a “no” vote.
- “I’m always a little fearful when The Eagle agrees with us,” said member Jeff Longwell, an architect of the ordinance.
The Kansas Legislature won’t try to override Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ third veto of a bill to expand a coal-fired power plant, House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, announced Wednesday. But the coal-plant debate isn’t over and may return next session. “I think it’s important enough we need to continue working on energy policy and a solution for this issue,” said Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton. “It won’t go away.”
