“I don’t know what we’ve done to Mother Nature, but she sure hasn’t been very kind to us.” – Sen. Pat Roberts (in photo), R-Kan., in a Senate floor speech about strengthening crop insurance
“What Republicans need to do is get off their rear ends and go out, outside of Washington, and talk about what they’re for.” – Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, in a radio interview in which he also dismissed party outreach to “the so-called Hispanic voter”
“We all find ways to entertain ourselves late at night.” – Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, R-Hutchinson, on the House’s 0-120 vote against the Senate tax plan and its extension of the higher sales-tax rate
“It’s just craziness to think that accounting maneuvers would fool the court and turn an apple into an orange.” – John Robb, an attorney for school districts in their lawsuit against the state, on a House-passed bill that would newly count a portion of local-option budget funding as base state aid
“I would like to see the highest-paid person in every school be a teacher.” – Rep. Ron Highland, R-Wamego, saying districts can use money more wisely
Good for Gov. Sam Brownback for participating in a recent event on the state Capitol lawn that drew attention to child-abuse prevention. The state received 64,000 calls last year reporting child abuse, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. “One child being abused is too many,” Brownback said. “We simply can’t afford to ignore this problem in our homes, offices, schools and neighborhood.”
Rep. Steve Huebert, R-Valley Center, defended a House-passed bill that would require school districts to send a portion of their local-option budget funding to the state that then would be returned to the districts and counted as part of the base state aid. “We need to start focusing on what we’re truly spending on our kids,” Huebert said, noting how total education funding is significantly more than the base aid. But other lawmakers saw the bill as an accounting gimmick aimed at trying to make the state look better to the courts and the public. “I think it is smoke and mirrors,” said Rep. Jim Kelly, R-Independence. “It’s like if you lost the basketball game and you take 10 points from your opponent and then say you won.”
According to Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight political numbers blog, Gov. Sam Brownback is among 10 governors up for re-election next year whose job-approval numbers are “underwater” – with more constituents disapproving than approving of their job performance. For Brownback, the numbers are 36 percent approval and 51 percent disapproval. At least Brownback’s net negative job approval number (minus 16) is lower than those of Rhode Island’s independent Gov. Lincoln Chafee (minus 40), Illinois’ Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn (minus 24) and Florida’s Republican Gov. Rick Scott (minus 20). And as the blog noted, “being unpopular does not necessarily make an incumbent vulnerable to defeat.”
Gov. Sam Brownback’s Republican weekly address on Saturday painted an unrecognizable picture of the state after two years of his leadership. He bragged about how Kansas had turned around its finances without tax increases or cuts to education or other programs. But as our Tuesday editorial notes, he left out how the state budget benefited from the 1 percent sales-tax increase passed in 2010 – or how he now wants to make that temporary tax increase permanent. Or how districts, including Wichita, have been forced to close schools and cut programs because of state reductions in base per-pupil funding and capital outlay equalization dollars. Or how his 2012 tax cuts have created large budget shortfalls. It’s hard for those who know the whole story not to hear such an address and wonder which Kansas Brownback is talking about – the one he’s actually governing or one made of political spin and presidential ambitions.
The commitment to school needs and funding at the state level remains questionable, but Kansans seem eager to raise taxes to invest in their schools locally. School bond issues passed last week in half a dozen Kansas districts including Lawrence and Shawnee County’s Seaman district, with the winning majorities ranging from 53 percent in Goodland to 92 percent in Goessel. “We were conservative and focused on education and not a lot of wants,” said Jeff Johnson, school board vice president in McPherson, where the bond issue passed with 81 percent of votes.
The circles of influence in Topeka tend to be small and interconnected. For example, Riley Scott, one of the lobbyists for the University of Kansas, used to work for Gov. Sam Brownback when he was in Congress, the Lawrence Journal-World noted. Scott also is a lobbyist for Crossland Construction, whose chief executive officer, Ivan Crossland, is chairman of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce. Scott is also the son-in-law of Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita.
Dave Trabert, president of the Kansas Policy Institute, wrote a response to an “obituary” that Hutchinson News columnist Jason Probst wrote on how Kansas died from extremism, fueled by groups such as KPI. On the contrary, Trabert argues, Kansas is returning to its freedom roots. “Kansas Policy Institute and a growing number of Kansans yearn for the same things that brought homesteaders to settle on the Plains and build our state – individual freedom and the opportunity to capture the entrepreneurial spirit,” Trabert wrote.
Gov. Sam Brownback may think same-sex marriage is a settled issue in Kansas eight years after nearly 70 percent of voters approved a constitutional amendment that prohibited it and barred the state from recognizing civil unions. And 87 percent of those Kansans recently polled by SurveyUSA said their opinion on same-sex marriage hadn’t changed over the past couple of years. But the survey, sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, also found that 60 percent of Kansans said same-sex couples should be able to share in the legal benefits of marriage. In addition, 42 percent said the U.S. Supreme Court should uphold lower courts’ rulings against California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
Good for Kansas House budget negotiators for reinstating $5 million in state aid to bolster air service in Wichita and Garden City. The Kansas Affordable Airfares Program is key to economic development. But it’s strange that some lawmakers now want the funding to go directly to Sedgwick and Finney counties’ governments rather than through the Regional Economic Area Partnership of south-central Kansas, which has managed the program for years at the state’s request. It makes sense for REAP to oversee the funding, as the airports serve many counties. Was this move prompted by REAP’s support of sustainable planning, which some people think is a U.N. plot?
Expect more costly legal challenges when the anti-abortion bill that the Kansas Senate approved this week becomes law. The bill’s legal problems include the elimination of a woman’s mental health as justification for mid- to late-term abortions and the requirement that doctors distribute information about a connection between abortions and breast cancer – a link not supported by science. The bill’s prohibition on deducting any abortion-related expense on state income taxes also raises privacy concerns. But none of this seems to matter to most lawmakers, who even resented having to consider whether the bill’s declaration that life begins at fertilization could ban certain forms of birth control.
A column by Jason Probst, news editor of the Hutchinson News, has been getting attention across the state. Written in the style of an obituary, the column lamented the passing of the great state of Kansas “after a long and difficult battle with extremism.” Probst noted how Kansas overcame many challenges during its lifetime to become a leader in education and business, a place with good roads, open government and a belief in helping out one another. “Despite its strength and vitality, Kansas couldn’t survive the influences of outside political machines that sought to use this fertile ground and its people as a test plot for an ambitious political experiment,” the obituary said. It concluded: “In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas Policy Institute or Americans for Prosperity, all in care of Gov. Sam Brownback, Office of the Governor, Capital 300 SW 10th Ave., Ste. 241S, Topeka, KS 66612-1590.”
Democratic leaders in Topeka aren’t eager to help bail out Gov. Sam Brownback, who is calling on lawmakers to make permanent the state’s temporary sales-tax increase in order to help fill the budget shortfall created by the income-tax cuts he signed last year. House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, said that he and others aren’t interested in “putting a lot of lipstick on a pig.” Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, refuses to be put in a box of choosing between breaking a promise on sales taxes or making more budget cuts. “My conscience is clear,” he said.
Good for the Legislature and Gov. Sam Brownback for taking steps to bring more rapists and child molesters to justice with House Bill 2252, which eliminates the statute of limitations on rape and aggravated sodomy and makes it easier for adults to report sex crimes that occurred when they were children. As Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt noted, successful prosecutions still will need good evidence. But because of technology and the new state law, time will no longer be on the side of a sex offender intent on escaping justice.
“It is not a merger. It is not a money grab,” said Sen. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, about a Senate-passed bill that would make the secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation also the chairman of the Kansas Turnpike Authority. But other lawmakers aren’t buying that. “Trust me, it’s a merger. KDOT will be running the turnpike,” said Sen. Les Donovan, R-Wichita. Donovan’s opinion of the Senate vote: “This is a sad day in the state of Kansas.”
“This may be the absolute worst idea I have ever heard in my life.” – Sen. Les Donovan (in photo), R-Wichita, about a proposal that Kansas Turnpike fees be higher the faster you drive
“If I had my way, you’d have to pass a test to get out of high school.” – House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, while saying he’s “not for mandates” but supports the governor’s proposal to hold back slow-reading third-graders
“Universal truth: the phrase ‘with all due respect’ precedes a statement devoid of said respect.” – Rep. Stephanie Clayton, R-Overland Park, tweeting during a House debate
“Ten years ago, you’d have never heard of me again.” – U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, in Salina, crediting the Internet with giving him even greater influence since his ouster from House committees
Gov. Sam Brownback is unsure about a Kansas Senate-passed bill that would establish new policies for retaining first-graders who lack reading proficiency. “We’ll look at it,” Brownback told the Topeka Capital-Journal, though he prefers his proposal for holding back third-graders who don’t pass reading assessments. Brownback’s plan didn’t make it out of either the House or Senate education committees – and with good reason. Educators note that holding kids back can be counterproductive. There also were concerns about making retention decisions based on only one test and about whether the focus should be on earlier grades, including preschool.
Rep. Mark Kahrs, R-Wichita, said that a House-passed bill that puts revenue from court docket fees under the control of the Legislature would provide “more transparency, more accountability and more trust,” the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. But others see it as yet another attempt by the Legislature to sweep up designated fees and use them for other purposes. Rep. Jim Ward, D-Wichita, noted that the docket fees were instituted because the Legislature was inadequately funding the courts. The only people who think the state won’t use this money to cover its budget shortfalls, Ward said, also “believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.”
How regrettable that the first bill to become law this year – House Bill 2019, which Gov. Sam Brownback signed Wednesday – was one that needlessly politicizes a merit-selection process for the Court of Appeals that has served Kansas well for 36 years. Now, Kansas reportedly is unique in the nation for selecting Court of Appeals judges one way and Supreme Court justices another way. Because the new system lets the governor pick anyone he wants but requires that his choices be confirmed by the Senate, which only works during the spring, the change could result in long-vacant seats on the court. Never mind that January poll showing 61 percent of Kansas voters opposed changing how appellate judges are selected. And so much for the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2012 opinion that the nonpartisan nominating commission long used for Kansas’ appellate courts “is designed to ensure the conduct of the executive branch does not threaten the integrity of the judicial branch.”
Our March 22 Eagle editorial, “Speak now on budget,” referred to the unsuccessful effort by state Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, to amend the Senate budget plan “to help community mental health centers recover from the deep cuts they’ve sustained.” That drew an e-mail to the editorial board from Shawn Sullivan, secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, who said “the mental health centers have not received deep cuts” and cited, among other increases, an “increase of $209 million in fiscal year 2011 to $252 million in fiscal year 2014 (budget projection) for total community mental health center funding.” Sullivan’s perspective differs sharply from that of Michael J. Hammond, executive director of the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas, who has said that mental health reform dollars, which are what the system relies on to serve the uninsured and underinsured, have been “reduced by 50 percent since fiscal year 2008” and that “funding cuts to mental health reform dollars continue to place the public mental health system at a breaking point.”
Good for the Legislature for backing off on a bill that would limit the collective-bargaining rights of teachers. Instead, lawmakers decided to give groups representing teachers, school superintendents and local school boards the rest of the year to work on the issue, the Associated Press reported. “Hopefully, some good can come out of this,” said Rep. Marvin Kleeb, R-Overland Park. But as Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, noted, “It should have been done this way in the first place. It would have created a lot less angst.”
Praise is due members of the south-central Kansas legislative delegation for their bipartisan efforts to spare disaster victims from paying property tax on destroyed homes. There are significant differences between the bill that passed the Senate unanimously Wednesday and the House version, including whether the cost of the tax relief would fall on the state or individual counties. But many lawmakers clearly recognize the unfairness of receiving a property-tax bill in December for a house that was blown away in April, which is what some south Wichitans experienced in 2012. Good for area legislators for leading the way on this commonsense fix.
State Rep. Ponka-We Victors, D-Wichita, the only American Indian serving in the Legislature, inspired a meme on social media after last week’s House hearing on whether to stop allowing some children of undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates. Addressing Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who testified in favor of the bill, Victors said: “When you mention illegal immigrants, I think of all of you.” The cheers and applause were hushed by the committee chairman. But they continued online. A Londoner tweeted: “Fabulous. The ultimate people-in-glasshouses putdown. Ponka-We Victors, you’re my kinda gal.” Others variously tweeted: “Oh, snap!” and “bazinga!”
Count former state budget director Duane Goossen among those wondering how Kansas will fund a state budget without a state income tax, which currently represents 46.5 percent of state general fund revenue. None of the options Goossen offered sounded possible, let alone politically viable, including more than doubling the sales tax or newly applying it to professional services, pharmaceuticals, farm machinery and more, or implementing a 100-mill statewide property-tax levy. “A decision to not replace the income-tax revenue would dramatically lower education and human service budgets,” Goossen wrote on his blog for the Kansas Health Institute. “The governor and other supporters of a zero income tax have not identified how income-tax receipts might be replaced other than to suggest that economic growth will somehow take care of it.”
“‘The sky is falling’ is so much rhetoric.” – House Speaker Ray Merrick (in photo), R-Stilwell, defending the House budget’s 4 percent across-the-board cut to the state’s higher-education system
“I would submit to you that higher ed is out of control.” – Rep. Marc Rhoades, R-Newton, pointing to rising tuition in defending the proposed cut
“I think they understand that there is so much bad stuff in this budget that they don’t want people to have time to read it – or else they wouldn’t support it.” – Rep. John Wilson, D-Lawrence, on the 512-page budget
“I don’t know what we’ve done to Mother Nature, but she sure hasn’t been very kind to us.” – Sen. Pat Roberts (in photo), R-Kan., in a Senate floor speech about strengthening crop insurance
