Forecasters at the Kansas Department of Labor badly underestimated the demand for unemployment benefits, as did many other economists. But one reason Kansas’ Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund is running out of money is that businesses haven’t consistently paid into the fund in recent years. Because it believed the trust fund had an adequate balance, the Legislature halted unemployment taxes from 1995 through 1999, saving employers an estimated $556 million in taxes. Reduced tax rates have also been in effect the past three years, which saved employers an estimated $286 million. Such reductions seemed like good policy at the time, as no one expected the economy to contract so severely and so quickly. And lower taxes might have helped some businesses employ more workers. It’s also worth recalling that many GOP legislators were initially opposed this past session to a minor law change that enabled the trust fund to draw down nearly $70 million in federal stimulus dollars.
“In the end, reason will prevail. The Gitmo detainees will not come to Kansas on my watch. Write it down.” — Gov. Mark Parkinson, on his blog, where he also asks, “Is it just me or are the comedians not as funny as they were when Bush was president?” and “Is there a food on the planet better than Baskin-Robbins Chocolate Mousse Royale?”
“Thank you for having happy faces.” — Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., noting the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce crowd was a welcome difference from the “town maulings” other lawmakers are experiencing on health care
“I don’t want to give an opportunity to people who want to put on a show to put on a show.” — Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Lenexa, defending his decision not to hold town hall meetings
“It’s one good thing about being old.” — Jason Eberhart-Phillips, state health officer, noting that 80 percent of Kansas H1N1 cases have involved people younger than 35
With Kansas Democrats still without a gubernatorial candidate for next year, the only thing standing between Sen. Sam Brownback and the governor’s mansion is history: Kansas voters have yet to elect a conservative Republican as governor. “That’s the hurdle that Brownback has to overcome,” Joe Aistrup, political science professor at Kansas State University, told the Lawrence Journal-World. “That is what is depressing the Democrats. There is a conservative from the (Kansas) Republican Assembly side of the party, and it looks like in all likelihood he is going to win.”
Attorney General Steve Six was prudent in declining to devote additional state resources to defending a 2006 law placing limits on the size and content of signs for sexually oriented businesses along highways. Similar laws have been struck down in at least three states, including Missouri, making Kansas’ law a long shot as well. “It would be fiscally irresponsible to continue litigation that has very little chance of success,” Six said in a statement. “This agreement avoids unnecessary litigation costs and prevents taxpayers from being on the hook for the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees.” The attorney for the Lion’s Den Adult Superstore, which is along I-70 in Abilene and brought the federal lawsuit, estimated Six’s decision will save taxpayers $150,000. Legislators behind this attempt to curb adult businesses’ signs — even when, as in this case, they contain words and no pictures — should think twice before trying again next session. Even such businesses are entitled to the broad protections of the First Amendment.
“This is no way to run a government.” — Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., on rumors and leaks about Obama administration plans for relocating Gitmo detainees
“Maybe he’d offer me a beer.” — Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., saying he’d like a chance to sit down with President Obama and persuade him not to close Gitmo
“I don’t live in Washington, D.C. I live in Kansas.” — Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, asked by a constituent to “explain” his weekday residency since 2003 at the much-discussed C Street house
“We can manage with creative cash management.” — Gov. Mark Parkinson, finding relief in July’s $5 million dip in tax revenues
“Kansans of yesteryear didn’t whine when the feds shipped Nazi prisoners of war their way in the 1940s,” wrote Kansas City Star columnist Mike Hendricks. “Trainloads of German soldiers and sailors came. Many were the products of Hitler youth camps and a philosophy as scary as anything hatched in a militant madrassa. That’s why it’s embarrassing to watch the state’s political leaders of today stamping their little feet on rumors that the Gitmo detainees might end up in Leavenworth.”
It’s good to see the Kansas Board of Regents and the Kansas State Department of Education working together to share and compare data in a way that tracks Kansas student achievement long term and measures the effectiveness of education programs. Gov. Mark Parkinson furthered the collaboration with a June executive order “supporting a seamless education system.” As Parkinson later put it: “What we want to know is — are we preparing our kids for college? The best way to find that out is to look at the big picture, and compare students’ success in college to their success in public schools.”
“Call me a liar, but people up north appreciate me.” — Sedgwick County Commission Chairman Kelly Parks (in photo, of the northern Wichita suburb of Valley Center), on the confusion over whether he and Vice Chairwoman Gwen Welshimer “requested” or just “talked about” an executive session to discuss the county manager’s firing
“I know there are a lot of patriotic Americans who are deeply concerned about this, but I am convinced that President Obama is a natural-born citizen of the United States; additionally, his mother and her parents were born in Kansas.” — Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.
“It’s the Republicans who are running the same old names, not us.” — Larry Gates, chairman of the Kansas Democratic Party, arguing that the party’s bench is young and strong, “with tremendous potential”
“I love going to Wichita because it’s where I grew up and I’m just always in a good mood when I’m there.” — Gov. Mark Parkinson, on his blog
“She looked like a million bucks and seems to being doing well.” — Parkinson again, on seeing his predecessor, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, at a recent meeting of governors in Mississippi
Waiting for the stock market to heal itself won’t be enough to guarantee the long-term solvency of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, according to its experts. As 2008 ended, the system’s unfunded actuarial liability was at a record $8.3 billion, up $2.7 billion from 2007 — and not that far from equaling the fund’s $10 billion in assets. The KPERS board and staff are doing an analysis of the system’s funding status and how state leaders might respond to it. They plan to provide the governor and legislative leaders with the results this fall, so the 2010 Legislature can act. If the state’s next budget is anything like the current one, the pressure will be great to think about KPERS another day. But as our editorial today argues, leaders need to get going on a plan of attack, so public employees and retirees can trust they’ll get what’s coming to them.
Kansas Board of Regents president Reggie Robinson promised this week to make public the results of pending audits of five state universities. It took the intervention of Attorney General Steve Six last month to ensure that Kansans, and not just the regents, learned the troubling contents of an audit of Kansas State University. Audits of the University of Kansas and Pittsburg State University are expected to be completed this fall. The three others will come later. A subcommittee appointed by the regents also is exploring the idea of systematic audits of the universities, as Gov. Mark Parkinson has urged. State Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, expressed a worthy concern this week: that the audits under way not be whitewashed in anticipation of their public release. Because the universities are public institutions, the public deserves an unvarnished account of their finances and management.
Gov. Mark Parkinson and other Democrats continue to challenge suggestions that the party plans to hand Cedar Crest to Republican Sam Brownback next year. But “the election is 15 months away and the Democrats haven’t endorsed a candidate,” wrote Topeka Capital-Journal columnist Ric Anderson. “It’s getting close to showtime — very close. The pews are full, the organ is playing, the minister is at the altar, and the bride hasn’t shown up. We’ve heard all kinds of names come and go — John Carlin, Dan Glickman, Nancy Boyda, Jill Docking and Bill Kurtis, to name a handful. But no one has stuck.” Anderson helpfully wrote the text of an announcement declaring Parkinson’s candidacy (should the governor rethink his decision not to run) in which Parkinson could point to “this crucial juncture in our state’s history” and the need for “a full and spirited debate on the issues,” and attribute the changing of his mind to “much soul-searching and extensive discussion” with his family.
Former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius made a big show in 2003 of eliminating the state’s central motor pool and selling underused state vehicles. But reviews by state auditors have calculated that the state hasn’t saved much money, because it has had to spend more than it used to renting cars and reimbursing state employees for using their private cars. A new report also found that at least nine Kansas government employees last year rented vehicles for more than 300 days, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. That doesn’t make sense to state Rep. John Grange, R-El Dorado, given that the average person is on the job only about 250 days annually. “That smacks of somebody doing something that was not right,” Grange said.
Attorney General Steve Six was appointed to his job in 2008 by then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, making his 2010 campaign his first for the job — and seemingly making the Democrat vulnerable to GOP challengers. But are the decisions of two prominent Republican attorneys to run instead for secretary of state a sign of Six’s perceived strength? Kris Kobach, former Kansas GOP chairman, and Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, are expected to face off in a GOP primary to succeed retiring Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh. Six has less well-known competition, though: Junction City prosecutor Ralph DeZago, a former assistant attorney general, announced this month that he intends to run for the Republican nomination to be Kansas’ top cop.
Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, isn’t losing sleep about the state’s recent cuts to public school funding. Between the finance formula and federal stimulus funds, he told the Hutchinson News, “there are some school districts that actually will get more money this year than last year.” Another court challenge by school districts, he said, “would be very poor timing on their part. In terms of agencies that consume taxpayer dollars, they were dealt with in a better and more benign fashion than virtually anyone else. We are in a recession and everyone has to do their share.”
O’Neal also said: “We’re not failing our kids. If you go out and see what our schools are able to do, you’ll see that we’re doing a bang-up job. Does that mean that schools are going to be able to afford all the new bells and whistles or expand their curriculum? No. They’ll have to tighten their belts, but we’re not depriving the kids with these cuts of what is required under law for education. We’re actually doing pretty darn well.”
Two months into the job, Lt. Gov. Troy Findley remains one of the state’s highest-ranking and least-recognizable public officials, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. So what percentage of Kansans could name the current lieutenant governor? “I do not know. Five percent?” Findley told the newspaper. “I think we’d probably be lucky if we were there.” But as he attends public events and conducts other official duties, he at least is starting to look familiar. “I notice when I go out and about, people will kind of give you that look, ‘I think I know who you are, but am just not quite certain,’ ” he said.
Next year’s GOP primary for Kansas secretary of state suddenly looks like a contest rather than a walk for former Kansas Republican Party chairman Kris Kobach (in photo). Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, has appointed a campaign treasurer for the race to replace four-term Republican Ron Thornburgh. J.R. Claeys of Salina is also seeking the GOP primary nod.
Meanwhile, voters curious about what makes Kobach tick — and drives his nationwide crusade to fight illegal immigration — may find enlightenment in a New York Times profile. Kobach, who now teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City law school, joined the Bush Justice Department just days before the Sept. 11 attacks and reportedly was stunned to learn that several of the hijackers had been the subject of traffic stops but the police didn’t know they were in the country illegally. “That impressed on me in a very salient way that there was a huge missed opportunity there that might have caused the 9/11 plot to unravel,” he told the Times, explaining his motivation to find ways to turn local police into the “eyes and ears” of federal immigration authorities.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., may need to update his biography, which still says he “was the youngest secretary of agriculture in Kansas history.” Josh Svaty, the Ellsworth state lawmaker chosen last week by Gov. Mark Parkinson and already on the job this week, will be 29 until November. Brownback was a 30-year-old Manhattan attorney when the Kansas Board of Agriculture named him ag secretary in September 1986. Then again, Svaty is “acting” secretary “until the full Senate can consider the nomination,” according to a release from Parkinson’s office.
What a difference half a year makes. In December, then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said it was “important to continue my service as governor of the great state of Kansas, a job that I love and have been honored to hold.”
Asked Wednesday by Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show” about how things are going in her new job as secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebelius said: “Piece of cake. It’s why I ran for public office. It’s why I joined this administration. This is what it’s all about.”
Stewart went on: “You were the governor of a heartland state. You left in the middle of your term for a higher calling. Why are governors such quitters?” Sebelius jokingly responded: “You know, didn’t want to get bored. Had to find something else to do.”
As the front-runner to succeed Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh next year, former Kansas Republican Party leader Kris Kobach should know that his words matter, even those spoken in fun among GOP friends. Yet he seemed surprised that Democrats went after him for joking Saturday at a Leavenworth County Republican Party barbecue that President Obama and God had something in common — the lack of a birth certificate. (He added that the difference between the two was that God only takes 10 percent of a person’s income.)
“Kansans want elected officials who stand above the peddling of partisan lies and conspiracy theory. This is yet another example of why Kris Kobach is unfit for elected office,” declared Kansas Democratic Party executive director Kenny Johnston.
“Lighten up. It’s just a joke,” Kobach told the Lawrence Journal-World, adding, “Are they really suggesting it is forbidden to tell jokes about Barack Obama?”
For the record: The director of Hawaii’s Department of Health has confirmed that Obama was born in Honolulu, and nonpartisan observers have examined the birth certificate and verified its authenticity.
Even Kobach said this week: “Until a court says otherwise, I believe Barack Obama is a natural-born citizen.”
With the recent trial and conviction of Kenneth Wilson for the March 2008 shooting death of farmer Scott Noel in Osborne County, Attorney General Steve Six became the first sitting attorney general to personally prosecute a criminal case in Kansas in 34 years. Even with that success, Kansans may wonder whether Six’s time is better spent managing his staff. But in a new commentary, Six wrote that to be a good leader he needs to be active in court, “setting an example for other attorneys in my office. I can do that by prosecuting criminal cases and arguing before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Kansas farmers who desperately need precious water for their crops and livestock.”
That courtroom win also won’t hurt the Democrat’s campaign next year. But against whom? Perhaps Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, will challenge Six. Schmidt has said he will announce his plans soon; beyond the attorney general job, Schmidt’s options include the 4th Congressional District seat and secretary of state.
President Obama may steal another top-notch administrator from Kansas, darn him. This time it’s Kansas Education Commissioner Alexa Posny, whom Obama nominated for assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services. Posny has been a steady, capable leader at the Kansas Department of Education since 2007. “I’ve never known anyone more knowledgeable” on education issues, former State Board of Education member Carol Rupe told The Eagle editorial board. Rupe jokingly lamented, “The president can take our governor but not our education commissioner.”
Cutting the state budget has consequences, and one of them is that Kansas is less safe. As a result of about $23.5 million in cuts, the Kansas Department of Correction has lost 300 positions and decimated a number of programs aimed at preventing inmates from reoffending, the Lawrence Journal World reported. “We’re not as safe as we were,” Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz told an oversight committee last week. Are lawmakers going to put that quote on their campaign literature?
“If he manages to get the state through this difficult budget year and puts together a reasonable budget for the coming fiscal year, well, that would be the equivalent of Lassie pulling a child out of a burning barn,” Martin Hawver of Hawver’s Capitol Report wrote about Gov. Mark Parkinson. Hawver also predicted that GOP lawmakers would maneuver to make sure that Parkinson “at some point has to do something so distasteful and drastic to save the state’s budget” that he couldn’t change his mind and run for election in 2010. “Republicans are happy to hear Parkinson say he won’t seek election,” Hawver wrote, “but being the party of belts and suspenders, they’d like to make sure he couldn’t be elected, anyway.”
How much overtime is too much at state agencies? A new state audit suggests they need to do a better job of managing their employees’ overtime hours, identifying $13.1 million in overtime pay in the 2007-08 fiscal year and more than 150 employees who earned at least $10,000 that way. The Kansas Department of Transportation spent $4.2 million on overtime. The Kansas Highway Patrol spent $2 million, including $29,000 to an explosives expert. Two Kansas Lottery employees worked more than 700 hours of overtime, increasing their annual income by nearly 50 percent. (At least the state was reimbursed for some of that overtime by a Rhode Island contractor, according to Ed Van Petten, executive director of the Kansas Lottery.) A physician at the Kansas Neurological Institute in Topeka augmented a $40,000 salary with $36,000 of overtime. Unfortunately, the remedy recommended by state auditors — hiring more permanent staff — will be hard until the budget crisis passes.
The state’s approval this week of $700 million in budget transfers will enable it to make payments to school districts and pay tax refunds. That’s good. But the transfers also reflect the rocky condition of state finances, which has already required $160 million in allotment cuts this month and still has no margin for error. Authorizing certificates of indebtedness in July isn’t unusual. But this year’s transfers are about double the normal amount.
