Now that Gov. Mark Parkinson has helped put the 2009 legislative session out of its misery, he plans to name a new lieutenant governor soon. Names put forward by Topeka Capital-Journal columnist Ric Anderson are former Gov. John Carlin, Transportation Secretary Deb Miller, state Sens. Laura Kelly of Topeka and Chris Steineger of Kansas City, and Reps. Raj Goyle of Wichita and Josh Svaty of Ellsworth. Then again, as Anderson noted, “lieutenant governor isn’t much of a springboard to bigger and better political things” — except in the case of Parkinson. On the Capital-Journal’s Web site, one reader nominated George Tiller.
“Local chambers of commerce in the state are great,” Gov. Mark Parkinson said in an interview with the Topeka Capital-Journal, noting how he used to be president of the Shawnee Area Chamber of Commerce and was president of the six chambers of commerce in Johnson County. But he doesn’t have a similarly positive opinion about the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, which he described as “very, very conservative.”
He said: “I disagree with the approach of the state chamber on a variety of issues. I believe that ultimately the way to grow business in our state is not just to create a good business climate — and that’s a part of it, taxes are a part of it — but it is also to create a great quality of life. Businesses and people move to Kansas because we have great schools, because we have great roads.”
“The only way we do well is finding that compelling candidate. Or if there are two Republican parties beating each other up.” — Johnson County Democratic consultant Jim Bergfalk, on the party’s 2010 prospects for governor and U.S. Senate
“Just to think that I was elected six times by you. Probably not all of you. I’ll talk to you later.” — Former Sen. Bob Dole, speaking at KU
“I had to do it twice, so now we make everybody do it twice.” — President Obama, joking as Cabinet members Kathleen Sebelius and Gary Locke had a second, more formal swearing-in ceremony
“Kathleen Sebelius was someone who actually made very few political mistakes, and that was one.” — Washburn University political scientist Bob Beatty, on the event held at Cedar Crest and resulting photos of Sebelius with abortion doctor George Tiller
“How do you spell ‘relief’ in Topeka? No more K-A-T-H-L-E-E-N,” wrote Kansas City Star columnist Steve Kraske. He noted how relieved many GOP lawmakers are to have former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius now in Washington, D.C. Though Sebelius has a national reputation for being bipartisan, Sebelius doesn’t have much of a record in Kansas for proposing a major initiative, garnering true bipartisan support and building public support to pass it, the lawmakers contend.
But Star columnist Mike Hendricks suggested that the reason GOP lawmakers may be happy is that new Gov. Mark Parkinson is a sellout. Hendricks argued that the Parkinson agreement this week to support a coal plant signaled to the GOP that “he’s only too happy to turn over the governor’s mansion two years ahead of schedule.”
Kathleen Sebelius gained national attention for having been a one-woman recruitment machine for the Kansas Democratic Party. But the voter registration numbers since 2002, when she first ran for governor, don’t show a sea change: Then, Kansas had 743,000 registered Republicans and 441,000 Democrats. As of January, the state had 758,000 Republicans and 479,000 Democrats (and some of the Democratic gains are likely due to Barack Obama, not Sebelius). In any case, House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, told The Eagle editorial board last week: “I don’t think the success of the party is just about her.”
No offense to the Kansas House GOP staff, which no doubt works hard for its money, but what were the chamber’s GOP leaders thinking in doling out four- and five-figure bonuses in the midst of a state budget crisis? As the Lawrence Journal-World reported this week, four top staffers for House Speaker Mike O’Neal of Hutchinson, House Majority Leader Ray Merrick of Stilwell and House Speaker Pro Tem Arlen Siegfried of Olathe each received one-time payments ranging from $2,308 to $20,000 shortly before the current session opened in January, on top of salaries ranging from $48,000 to $90,000 a year. Note that these targeted bonuses were made as O’Neal and other GOP leaders were sternly calling on then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to make across-the-board budget cuts.
If a failed maneuver in the Kansas House on Tuesday means a primary seat-belt bill is dead for the year at the Statehouse, that will be frustrating. By neglecting the bill, lawmakers are passing up the potential to draw down $13.2 million in federal transportation funding — a move that state Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, had warned would be “a travesty in our current economic crisis.”
Some legislators still view the right to not wear a seat belt as some profound personal freedom. But primary seat-belt laws are proven lifesavers in other states. And as Rep. Dan Johnson, R-Hays, has said, “I don’t see where this takes any of our freedoms away. . . . It might let you live a few more years.”
Gov. Mark Parkinson said last week that he would defer his selection of a new lieutenant governor until after lawmakers wrap up the session. “One thing I will tell you that will shock you immensely is that, for a short period of time, the state can survive without a lieutenant governor,” he told the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Which raises a question: Why name one at all?
Frustrated lieutenant governors have been known to seek and take other jobs in the government, or leave Topeka entirely. Former Lt. Gov. Shelby Smith has joked about being assigned to stand atop the Capitol and look for approaching glaciers. State law is unclear on a lieutenant governor’s duties, though it specifies that the Senate president should step into his place as needed.
Many private businesses are deciding against replacing all-but-essential employees, at least until the downturn lifts. Couldn’t Kansas get by without a second in command until the next governor’s administration takes over in January 2011?
Gov. Mark Parkinson wasted no time making a mark on an area of public policy of special interest to him, hammering out a deal with Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to allow a single 895-megawatt coal-fired plant near Holcomb if lawmakers pass a comprehensive package of renewable energy measures. Kansas will get the jobs and part of the power, and many fewer tons of carbon dioxide than under the two-plan proposal. Best of all, what had become an absurd political and lobbying fight appears to be over.
Whether because of the tea parties or the passing of just another tax day, April took a toll on President Obama’s standing among Kansans. The latest Survey USA poll in the state, co-sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, found his approval rating at 44 percent, down 11 points since March and 18 points since he took office. In the same poll, Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback each had 53 percent approval. As former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ exited the state and joined Obama’s Cabinet, she received her lowest approval rating in at least the past four years — 46 percent, down 9 points since March.
Then-Eagle columnist Bob Getz wrote in 2002 that he thought the “Kansas attorney general’s office has a curse on it — a nasty, dream-demolishing, ambition-crushing curse.” Getz drew his conclusions from the political misfortunes, “some veritably scandalous,” of recent attorneys general Vern Miller, Curt Schneider, Bob Stephan and Carla Stovall — “all of them strong favorites at one time to become governor, who stumbled and fell by the political wayside,” he wrote. Amazingly, the pattern has extended in this decade, with Phill Kline and Paul Morrison suffering their own reversals of fortune. So far, current Attorney General Steve Six (in photo) has avoided drama for more than a year.
“If he’s not cautious in the way he’s handling it, we’re going back to being a territory.” — Rep. Scott Schwab, R-Olathe, on Gov. Mark Parkinson’s tax policy ideas
“Quite frankly, it sounded like the same message, projected an octave lower and about 12 inches higher off the ground.” — Sen. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, to KWCH, Channel 12, about Parkinson’s speech
“We must hold Sam Brownback accountable for this vote.” — Wichita pastor Terry Fox (in photo), telling OneNewsNow.com that the senator “violated the Scriptures and his own church’s teaching” and “betrayed” many conservative Christians by voting to confirm HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
“I would say she’s probably got the toughest job in Washington coming up.” — Former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, on Sebelius’ role in the Obama administration’s plans for a new health care policy
“I lost my partner.” — Dole again, on the party switch of Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, saying that he jokingly told Specter he intended to take Specter’s name off a sign along I-70 and replace it with pictures of his re-election challengers
Kathleen Sebelius might want to send a “thank you” card to former Attorney General Carla Stovall-Steckline, because the latter’s actions arguably led to Sebelius becoming first governor and now secretary of Health and Human Services. In 2002, when Sebelius first ran for the state’s top job, no Democrat had won an open gubernatorial seat in Kansas since 1936. And there were 743,000 registered Republicans in the state, compared with 441,000 Democrats. But then the Republicans’ sure thing, Stovall, abandoned her bid for governor in April 2002, saying that she lacked the “passion to run and to serve.” That led to a GOP primary battle, a relatively weak nominee in conservative Tim Shallenburger and a victory for Democrat Sebelius, then insurance commissioner.
“We’re talking about a state that’s as red as Dorothy’s ruby slippers.” — Sen. Claire McCaskill (in photo), D-Mo., marveling at Democrat Kathleen Sebelius’ political success in Kansas
“We don’t want to appear to be frivolous.” — Then-Gov. Sebelius, asking a writer to wait until after her Senate confirmation vote to report that she was spotted Sunday at New Orleans’ Jazz and Heritage Festival
“Some people think that declaring a state of emergency about the flu was a political thing to push the Sebelius nomination through.” — Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, to the Washington Independent blog
“I don’t think we’re out of the woods. I don’t think we can even find the woods right now.” — Lawrence schools superintendent Randy Weseman, on the prospect of the state economy worsening and school funding shrinking further
After 54 years, someone from Wichita is once again governor. Mark Parkinson — a Wichita native who graduated from Wichita Heights and WSU before graduating from KU law school and moving to Olathe — was sworn in Tuesday as Kansas’ 45th governor. Parkinson will represent the entire state, of course. But here’s hoping he will be attuned to the challenges facing south-central Kansas, including Cessna Aircraft’s announcement today that it is laying off an additional 2,300 people, extending its summer shutdown and suspending its Citation Columbus program.
A Washington Times editorial took a different tack in opposing Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services, painting her as a friend of an industry (abortion) who therefore is unfit to run the department that oversees that industry. “If she were the cat’s-paw of any other industry, Mrs. Sebelius would be in trouble. Yet she appears to be sailing toward a sure confirmation, thanks in part to the support of Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, a fellow Kansan and one-time pro-life leader. The industry is good to its friends, the way Standard Oil and Big Sugar once were. And it intimidates those it doesn’t buy.”
Kansas budget problems don’t look quite as scary when compared with those of many other states. Cumulatively, states are having to resolve a multiyear budget gap exceeding $281 billion, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures’ new report on state budgets. “The fiscal situation facing states is like a bad horror movie,” said Corina Eckl, director of NCSL’s fiscal program and author of the report. “The details get more gruesome, and the story never seems to end.”
A new SurveyUSA poll co-sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, confirmed the conventional wisdom about next year’s GOP primaries for governor and U.S. Senate. In the gubernatorial primary, Sen. Sam Brownback (64 percent) doesn’t face much of a threat for now from Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh (17 percent). And the epic battle between Reps. Jerry Moran (39 percent) and Todd Tiahrt (35 percent) to take over Brownback’s Senate seat could be a photo finish. Still, one of the few gaps between them in the survey of likely GOP primary voters favors Moran: In northeast Kansas, which will be key in deciding between the congressmen from western and south-central Kansas, Moran leads Tiahrt 43 to 20 percent.
Despite eight votes against her — and GOP concerns over her underreported campaign contributions from George Tiller — Gov. Kathleen Sebelius won the approval of the Senate Finance Committee today to be the next secretary of Health and Human Services. That bodes well for her confirmation vote in the full Senate. It’s past time the Obama administration had a health czar. Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson should start warming up.
Kansas is getting further away from its Carry A. Nation days and more oenophile-friendly. Because of an overdue bill Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed Monday, Kansans 21 and older can have up to 20 cases a year of in-state and out-of-state wine shipped to their homes, rather than via a local liquor store. The welcome law also allows wine sales at approved farmer’s markets and other changes.
“Sen. Roberts (K-State class of ’58 ) plans to inform Coach (Bill) Snyder that his knee surgery was a success, and following some routine rehab, he will be back in uniform and armchair quarterbacking well before the start of the 2009 season.” — Office of Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., after the senator’s surgery to repair torn cartilage
“She’s just flat wrong.” — House Speaker Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, on Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ coal-plant veto
“He’s moderately radical.”— Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, distinguishing Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson’s stand on abortion from that of “die-hard radical” Sebelius
Leaders from Sedgwick and Johnson counties are justified in asking lawmakers to restore $2 million in cuts to community correction programs. Lawmakers face a difficult challenge trying to balance the state budget — and it’s likely to get worse after new state revenue estimates are released Friday. But as much as possible, they should avoid cuts that could make communities less safe and could end up costing the state much more money than it saves.
If Gov. Kathleen Sebelius wants to raise some extra cash to help the state budget, maybe she should accept the challenge of Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, to debate global warming. They could charge admission, and maybe even make it pay-per-view television. It could certainly be entertaining to see Tiahrt, who doesn’t think humans contribute to global warming, try to hold his own against Sebelius, who has much more experience grappling with this issue.
Meanwhile, Tiahrt, who said last month that he opposed Sebelius’ nomination as secretary of Health and Human Services because of her support for abortion rights, said during a visit to Hutchinson Tuesday that he expects Sebelius to be confirmed and that it is important to have someone in that position who has knowledge about rural health care, which Sebelius has.
“People in Kansas don’t like to send single people to Congress.” — Former Sen. Bob Dole, in a US Banker profile of Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chairwoman (and Independence native) Sheila Bair, who was single when she lost in the 1990 GOP primary for the old 5th Congressional District seat
“You can’t talk to Bill Self while you’re here.” — Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., chiding T. Boone Pickens about OSU’s past efforts to poach the KU coach
“It was much less traumatic than I anticipated it would be.” — Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, acknowledging that the federal stimulus bill staved off deep state budget cuts
“I’m a firm believer in seat belts. I’m a disbeliever in the fact that we send our tax dollars to the federal government and they use those dollars to blackmail us.” — Rep. Gary Hayzlett, R-Lakin, who opposes a primary seat-belt bill, despite the $11.2 million in federal funding that would come with its passage
Gambling opponents may have cheered last year when Harrah’s Entertainment dropped its plan build a casino at the Mulvane exit of the Kansas Turnpike. But even with the poor economy, it seemed inevitable that a casino would be built in Sumner County, because the Wichita area offers a large market for expanded gambling. So it wasn’t surprising that three groups submitted casino proposals to the state last week. Nor was it surprising that the Mulvane location, and not Wellington, received the most focus, given its proximity to Wichita.
