What can you do?
Last week, hundreds of people gathered for our second annual “Restore Sanity to Kansas” lunch. We planned for two hundred, but they kept coming, and we ended up hosting almost three hundred concerned citizens looking to change the direction of politics in our state.
Read moreThey Can't Hide in the Dark
Late last night (or early this morning) the Kansas Legislature recessed, the business of the State of Kansas done. Or mostly done. Or rather, kicked down the road, and into the neighbor's yard.
Read moreTalk about Politics!
The Legislature returns to work this week, with a budget deficit of almost $300 million over the next two years, schools in jeopardy of being closed because of consistent underfunding, and former allies running away from Brownback as fast as they can. This session, and the election it leads up to, are generating an enormous amount of interest. This election is projected to have very high turnout, and people are beginning to show an interest in what is going on, not just on the national level, but in their own states and districts.
Read moreUnbelievable education bill
As you know, the Kansas Legislature is on their Spring break. Ostensibly, they have done the State's business, and are waiting for the Governor to act on proposed bills. Then they return for a short veto session to deal with what the Governor has done.
But this year, as in most previous years, the Legislature has not finished their work. When they return, several bills will still be in the balance, the expected ruling from the Courts on education equity will still hang over them, and, of course, new bills can still be introduced.
Read moreJustice in the Balance
In March of 2012, at a private meeting with then State Senator Tim Owens, Governor Brownback is reported to have said, "Tim, why can’t you go along with us on this judicial selection issue and let us change the way we select judges so we can get judges who will vote the way we want them to?"
Read moreThe Waiting Game
While the lawmakers are off on their Spring Break (the Legislature reconvenes on April 27th for the "veto" session), we find ourselves both exhausted from the sprint of the session, and relieved at the sudden "hurry up and wait" place we find ourselves. We thought it would be nice to take a deep breath and check in on the main themes we laid out for this session back in early January.
Read moreHow it all started
Nobody denies that Kansans are in trouble. The state continues to lose money, scraping what it can from between the couch cushions at KDOT and KPERS. Hospitals are closing, leaving communities and patients without the health security they need. Schools are being squeezed by naive legislators who think lobbyists know what children need to succeed.
Read moreAll Politics are Local
It is an old saw that all politics are local. It holds that, because voters vote on what matters to them (their backyard, usually) then the epicenter of political change begins in that backyard. It is why Presidential contenders eat corn dogs at state fairs.
Read moreDo more than vote, make a difference
Last week was a prelude to the next two weeks, where we are told to expect a flurry of bills and hearings and possible late nights. This shotgun approach is meant to both end the session early (a campaign bonus in an election year after last year's record long session) and to confuse and bewilder the public. “We are in trouble,” Rep. Rooker says of state’s financial condition - PV Post
Read moreTestimony Opposing SB 311 - Defunding KSDE
This is the testimony we presented to oppose SB 311, a bill intended to strip the Kansas Department of Education of the administration of public school finances, transferring them instead to the Department of Administration, answerable directly to the Governor. However, before we could post this here, the chairman of the committee withdrew the bill, complaining bitterly about media reports and "vile emails" in opposition.
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