Category: Kansas state government
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Kansas legislative duo to update Pachyderms
Kansas Representatives Don Myers (Republican from Derby) and Pete DeGraaf (Republican from Mulvane) will jointly present “An update on the financial status of Kansas” at the Wichita Pachyderm Club on Friday December 11.
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Play Powerball for the good of the Kansas budget?
In an explanation presented to the Kansas House Appropriations Committee of how the Kansas state budget was balanced by Governor Mark Parkinson Monday, there’s a line item “Powerball income tax windfall.” The amount is $3.1 million, the result of a Kansan having won the multi-state jackpot not long ago.
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Wiggans, drug profiteer, in race to be Kansas governor
I’m waiting for this headline to pop up in Kansas newspapers or blogs. But how else will Kansas leftists be able to describe Tom Wiggans, the newly announced candidate for the Democratic party nomination for Kansas governor? Described by the Associated Press as “a former pharmaceutical company executive” — wait, doesn’t that describe a person…
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‘Efficiency Kansas’ introduced in Wichita
At stops in Topeka and Wichita, Kansas officials introduced the Efficiency Kansas loan program. This is a program funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the stimulus bill. In Kansas, the State Energy Office, a subsidiary of the Kansas Corporation Commission, was awarded $38 million to foster energy efficiency…
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Rep. Steve Brunk on Kansas taxes and spending
Speaking to the Wichita Pachyderm Club on Friday, Kansas Representative Steve Brunk addressed taxation and spending in Kansas government. Brunk said “We need more taxpayers, not more and higher taxes.” In evaluating legislation, he said he asks these questions: Does this help the state of Kansas bring companies to the state, and does it offer…
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Kansas protects its gambling interests
At one time states like Kansas prohibited its citizens from gambling because it was thought to be immoral. That attitude started to change when Kansas allowed a lottery. Now that the state actually owns casinos — that’s right, in Kansas the state owns the casinos that aren’t Indian casinos — thoughts of morality have been…
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KPERS report sparks backlash from Wichita SEIU
Recently Kansas University professor Art Hall, along with a co-author, published a study explaining the funding crisis in KPERS, the Kansas Public Employee Retirement system. In summary, the report states: “The key finding of the study is that the KPERS system will not be in actuarial balance over the thirty year amortization period set in…
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Kansas is at the undemocratic extreme in judicial selection
Kansas University law professor Stephen J. Ware has extensively researched and written on the method of judicial selection in the United States. His recent paper The Bar’s Extraordinarily Powerful Role in Selecting the Kansas Supreme Court again lets us know that in Kansas, a select group of lawyers has tremendous control over the nominating process.…
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Kansas court system to be explained
At this Friday’s meeting of the Wichita Pachyderm Club, Judge Eric Yost will present “An Overview of the Kansas Court System.”
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Dale Swenson, tea party critic, a barrel of laughs
Today’s Wichita Eagle contains a story (Tea party organizers: We paid for event) covering the dust-up between a member of the Kansas House of Representatives and tea party organizers. The state representative — Dale Swenson, a Democrat whose district covers parts of southwest Wichita — said of the tea party event: “We need taxes to…
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Kansas judicial selection needs examination, reform
The upcoming retention election for Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier provides an opportunity to examine the judicial selection process in Kansas.
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Lawrence Journal-World headline doesn’t deliver
Yesterday’s edition of the Lawrence Journal-World has the headline ‘Buried treasure’ claims debunked. The headline and article refer to a report issued by the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy and covered in my post Kansas funds have large, unneeded balances. The dictionary says that “debunk” means “to expose the sham or falseness of.” The…