To hear the GOP members of the Kansas congressional delegation tell it, passage of health reform will end liberty as we know it. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, is already talking about trying to repeal or defund any bill that makes it into law. Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger (in photo), also a Republican, has concerns about the unlevel playing field a public option could create, but she remains optimistic about reform overall, telling the Topeka Capital-Journal: “If we go with a plan that retains as much flexibility as possible, keeps the states are regulators, allows us to continue to be there for consumers, and we could get a national system in place in terms of no pre-existing condition exclusions and everybody have coverage and meaningful subsidies, I think we’d all be better.”
This week’s opening of the Kellogg freeway at Rock Road — eastbound lanes Wednesday, westbound lanes today — represents a major milestone for Wichita’s transportation system that arguably deserved fireworks and a marching band. Then again, the ability to drive 14 miles along Kellogg without stopping may suffice, especially for those who remember when the thoroughfare was a 19-stoplight nightmare. It will take a while not only for the city to open all the through and turn lanes at Kellogg and Rock but also for drivers to adjust to the changes. And watch the speed out there: As more of Kellogg becomes a freeway, it must not also become a free-for-all.
Kansans’ thoughts and prayers are with the family of William Avery, the former Republican governor who died Wednesday at age 98. Avery was the last Kansas governor to feel the weight of the death penalty on his shoulders, having dealt with the appeals of the “In Cold Blood” killers and two others among the last to be hanged in the state, in 1965. Yet he advocated in 1985 that Kansas reinstate the death penalty, viewing it as reasonable protection for law-abiding citizens. Avery, who billed himself as “Kansas’ No. 1 salesman” and served 10 years in Congress before running for governor, actually took pride in tax increases — though the 1965 package of income and sales taxes, intended to fund education and provide property-tax relief, denied him re-election in 1966. “The teachers told me they appreciated that. But when it got to election time, I saw no evidence they told anybody,” Avery said decades later. Given that Gov. Mark Parkinson and legislators could face a fiscal 2011 budget shortfall of $500 million, it was sobering to realize Thursday that the shortfall Avery aimed to bridge back then was a mere $50 million.
When Politico blogger Ben Smith heard that Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, was among the more than two dozen House members who are the subject of an ethics inquiry, he wondered whether it meant Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, will be a senator soon. “It’s tough enough running in a GOP primary in a conservative state as an appropriator. . . . And when you have even a whiff of scandal surrounding your role as a congressional spender, you’re in an even tougher spot,” Smith wrote. “Tiahrt will need to clear his name quickly on this.”
It’s encouraging that Rainbows United appears to have resolved objections to its reorganization plan and could emerge from bankruptcy as early as March. The agency provides essential services to special-needs children and their families. Recognition also should go to Rainbows’ creditors for agreeing to a reorganization. Some creditors, such as the South Central Kansas Education Center, are small organizations, and Rainbows’ bankruptcy is a significant hardship for them, too.
During a Monday town hall meeting in Pittsburg, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, said that Democrats wanted to get people “into a life of dependency” from “cradle to the grave,” using the terms “communism” and “socialism” to describe them. “That didn’t work in Russia,” Tiahrt said. “And it didn’t work in Germany.” On his battle against the health reform bill, he said: “This is about freedom. . . . Nobody in America should ever have to go to a public official to get health care.” Nor did Tiahrt measure his words in discussing his rival for the U.S. Senate seat, Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays. Tiahrt said: “We need somebody to fight for us. We need somebody who is going to ride toward the sound of the guns.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., proposes letting Americans in some states have the “public option” while leaving out other Americans who happen in lives in states that choose to opt out. The politically motivated idea offends Washington Post columnist David Broder. “Consider the precedent that would be set if a major piece of social legislation were to be passed with a states’ rights provision,” Broder wrote. “Imagine, for example, if Franklin Roosevelt had signed the first Social Security law with the proviso that any states with Republican governors and legislatures could exempt themselves from its coverage. This might have seemed a minimal concession to conservative opinion. But what would have followed? How long before some states would have demanded an exemption from the wage-and-hour law that established a minimum wage? And what about the clamor in a broad swath of the country when the first civil rights law was passed?”
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., responded to those who’ve criticized his role in health care reform as partisan and unproductive. “This is not my first rodeo. I know how things can be achieved in the minority,” he wrote in a letter, noting his work on behalf of helping the contaminated town of Treece, securing funding for the national biolab at Kansas State University and keeping terror detainees out of Fort Leavenworth. “But this time, the deck was stacked very firmly against the minority voice. . . . Efforts to negotiate a better health care reform bill had already collapsed when the Obama administration set a rushed and arbitrary deadline for signing a reform bill into law. Despite the fact that compromise negotiations were under way with colleagues who I deeply respect, including the chairs and ranking members of the two committees, it was made clear there were going to be no compromises. Even now, Majority Leader Harry Reid and a select few are merging the two Senate versions of the bill behind closed doors, contrary to the president’s promise that the creation of the bill would be on C-SPAN for all to see.” Roberts concluded: “Rest assured, as the debate — which I expect to get even more heated — continues, you will hear my voice loud and clear. I’ll stand up for what’s right. I’ll offer and support alternative measures that I think make better sense and I’ll continue urging Kansans to share their concerns with me. I am saddled up and ready to ride.”
An Eagle article about entrepreneur Jack DeBoer’s new leadership role on the WaterWalk development included an interesting suggestion from developer George Laham about a possible Plan B for the project, should WaterWalk fall short of the goal of becoming a successful retail-office-residential district. “I think what you could see work down there is more of a civic district,” Laham said, going on to suggest: “Put the YMCA down there. Give them the river for their programming. Bring the African-American museum in.”
A WaterWalk civic district would build nicely on the proximity to Century II, the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum and the museums farther up the river such as Exploration Place. But the Greater Wichita YMCA has announced plans to expand at its current downtown site. And what about the Kansas African American Museum? “It is nice be thought of as the kind of institution that could help revitalize an area,” executive director Mark McCormick told The Eagle editorial board. “No one would be mentioning us in such discussions if we hadn’t significantly changed our public image. I think Mr. Laham’s idea has merit, but we already have some riverfront property we’re trying really hard to build on. Any move to change sites would have to start with our board, the city, Westar (Energy) and our other stakeholders.”
“It will not be me.” — Gov. Mark Parkinson (in photo), on the identity of the Democrats’ gubernatorial candidate
“We lack a farm team.”— Sen. Chris Steineger, D-Kansas City, Kan., on his party, as he tests the waters to run either for governor or secretary of state
“Instead of a fresh proposal, we got an additional 1,000 pages of government intrusion.” — Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, on the health care compromise bill unveiled by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
The Air Line Pilots Association has judged the Federal Aviation Administration to have acted prematurely in revoking the licenses of the Northwest Airlines pilots who flew 150 miles past their Twin Cities destination last week because they were riveted by their personal laptops. Union officials want the FAA to “recommit to protect the integrity” of voluntary safety reporting programs, under which pilots are supposed to be able to disclose mistakes without fear of punishment. That process has its place. But these weren’t two store clerks lost in harmless conversation. They zoned out for 91 minutes at 37,000 feet with more than 140 passengers aboard. To many fliers, the FAA’s swift action seemed appropriate.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got blunt in Pakistan, speaking to newspaper editors: “Al-Qaida has had safe haven in Pakistan since 2002. I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn’t get them if they really wanted to. Maybe that’s the case; maybe they’re not gettable. I don’t know.”
Meanwhile, a new book by former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe confirms that Clinton came close to being vice president. “I think Bill may be too big a complication,” Plouffe writes, quoting Barack Obama. “If I picked her, my concern is that there would be more than two of us in the relationship.”
It takes a strong spine (or a hard heart) to criticize President Obama’s idea of sending a $250 check to every Social Security recipient — something he wants to do because the cost of living doesn’t entitle seniors to a cost-of-living increase for next year. New York Times economics columnist David Leonhardt noted that because overall prices have dropped 2.1 percent this year but Social Security benefits won’t drop accordingly, “recipients are already set to receive an effective raise.” And seniors may be sympathetic, but they’re better off than some demographics. “The real median income of over-65 households rose 3 percent from 2000 to 2008,” he wrote. “For households headed by somebody age 25 to 44, it fell about 7 percent.”
The whole episode does not bode well for the prospects that Obama and Congress will do something substantive about the unsustainability of Social Security and Medicare. “If the long-term issue is entitlement reform,” said Joel Slemrod, a University of Michigan economist, “the fact that the political system cannot say no to $250 checks to elderly people is a bad sign.”
State Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, and other GOP legislators have jumped on a national bandwagon aimed at opting out of national health reform state by state. “We were created to have state sovereignty,” Landwehr said. “We were not set up to have the federal government tell the states who, what, when, where and how.” But their Health Care Freedom Amendment requires two-thirds support in the Legislature and majority approval at the polls, which can be hard to come by in Kansas. And if the constitutional amendment prevailed and Kansans were protected from federal health insurance mandates, would they find it any easier to get and keep insurance and access affordable health care?
“Former Vice President Dick Cheney has accused the White House of ‘dithering’ over the strategy for the war in Afghanistan. The White House said they’re thinking it over, and they should have an answer for him in six to eight weeks.” — Jay Leno
“President Obama just declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency. A couple of weeks ago, it was like, ‘Calm down, it’s going to be fine.’ . . . Make up your mind. This thing is like the Brett Favre of infectious diseases.” — Jimmy Fallon
“In response to Obama’s declaration, the Republican leaders this morning came out in support of the swine flu.” — Jimmy Kimmel
If President Obama is disappointed in his point-woman in the House, he wasn’t showing it Monday at a Democratic fundraiser in Miami Beach. “I don’t think people quite understand. Nancy Pelosi is not simply the first woman speaker of the House,” he told the crowd. “I think she’s going to go down as one of the greatest speakers of all time. And she’s very nice and she’s very friendly, but, boy, she is tough. And that’s what you need when you’re putting up with all the criticism and the carping and the griping — and that’s from the Democrats. I mean, you should see what she has to put up with — from the Republicans. So I could not have a better partner in trying to move the country than Nancy Pelosi.”
