Voice For Liberty

Category: Kansas state government

  • Kansas Democrats described as ‘imploding’

    Larry J. Sabato, who is director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, is a respected national political analyst who publishes Sabato’s Crystal Ball, an informative look at campaigns and races around the country.

    In the most recent issue Sabato takes a look at 2010 gubernatorial races and concludes that “There’s now no question that the gubernatorial turnover in November will be historic.” He estimates that Republicans will add six or seven states to the count of those states with Republican governors.

    In Kansas, Sabato is pointed in his criticism of Kansas Democrats and Governor Mark Parkinson:

    Kansas: Gov. Mark Parkinson (D), who succeeded Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) when she joined President Obama’s Cabinet as Health and Human Services secretary, has left his party high and dry. He refused to run in 2010, and to add insult to injury, he picked as his new lieutenant governor a Democrat who also pledged not to run. Despite a respectable Democratic candidate in Tom Holland, the election is all but over. Republicans will re-take the governor’s office with current U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback. This is a remarkable example of the governing political party imploding. The GOP can count this one as in the bag.

    Sabato rates Kansas as a “solid Republican takeover.”

    While Sabato describes Kansas Senator Tom Holland as “respectable,” if Holland was attempting to use his votes in the senate this year to establish a record that might appeal to moderates, he failed in that effort. In the Kansas Economic Freedom Index, Holland is the only senator who scored 0%, meaning that voted against economic freedom in all votes considered by this index.

    While it may be that the Kansas Democratic party is imploding, it has done very well in placing its members in statewide office. Considering Kansas statewide elected offices, five of the six are held by Democrats, and none were elected to their current positions.

    Governor Parkinson, while elected lieutenant governor in 2006, rose to his present position when Kathleen Sebelius resigned as governor to take a position in President Obama’s cabinet.

    Lieutenant Governor Troy Findley was appointed by Parkinson to replace himself.

    Secretary of State Chriss Biggs was appointed by Parkinson when Republican Ron Thornburgh resigned earlier this year.

    Attorney General Stephen Six was appointed by Sebelius when the incumbent, a Republican-turned-Democrat resigned.

    Treasurer Dennis McKinney was appointed by Sebelius to replace Republican Lynn Jenkins, who won election to the United States Congress.

    On the Kansas Supreme Court, there are three Republicans and three Democrats, with one Justice being unaffiliated, according to a Kansas Liberty story. In 2005, an analysis by the Kansas Meadowlark had the breakdown as five Democrats and two Republicans.

  • Brownback, Colyer announce in Wichita

    On Tuesday, United States Senator Sam Brownback formally filed to become a candidate for the Republican party nomination to be governor of Kansas. He also introduced his running mate.

    On Friday, it was speculated that Kansas Senator Jeff Colyer was Brownback’s selection to run on the ticket for lieutenant governor. Suspense was largely eliminated when a reader of Hawver’s Capital Report noted that the location scheduled in Hays for a campaign stop was Colyer’s high school.

    On Tuesday morning in Overland Park, it was made official: Colyer is the nominee for lieutenant governor.

    In a late Tuesday afternoon campaign stop in Wichita, Wichita City Council Member Sue Schlapp introduced Brownback to the audience. Schlapp is one of four leaders of Brownback’s statewide committee and state co-chair of the campaign.

    Schlapp said that Brownback coming back to Kansas is “good news.” She said that Brownback is business-friendly, saying that she agreed with him that “you can’t tax yourself into prosperity.” She told the audience that “Sam listens” and follows through, getting things done.

    She noted that Brownback is fulfilling his pledge to serve no more than two terms as United States Senator.

    In his remarks, Brownback said that Kansas is home. For the last 15 years, he said he’s commuted to Washington as he represented Kansas in both the United States House and the Senate, but “Kansas has always been home, and it’s still home.”

    Brownback said that in his time in public service, the most effective campaign and governing document he’s seen was the “Contract With America.” This was a set of proposals that were laid out in a campaign, and then used to govern, he said. Brownback said the he will soon present a “Roadmap for Kansas.” This, he said, will be a series of detailed policy proposals which will be used in the campaign and then used to govern from.

    The thee challenges that he wants to focus on are growing the economy, improving education, and protecting families.

    On the economy, Brownback said that the state has lost tens of thousands of public sector jobs, personal income has dropped, but government bureaucracy and taxes went up. “Government is too big, and taxes are too high,” he added. While some have said that government needs to do more with less, Brownback said that government needs to focus on core functions and do those better at less cost. Controlling state spending, pro-growth tax policies, and sensible regulation will be goals of his administration. Success will be measured by private sector jobs and personal income.

    Brownback said that education is a core function of government. The school finance formula, he said is “confusing, illogical, unfair, not flexible, doesn’t support innovation, fails to prioritize classroom learning, and discourages excellence.” The formula should not force consolidation. He said that his administration would see that education dollars go to the classroom instead of administration or the courtroom, a reference to school funding lawsuits.

    On family issues, Brownback said that “strong families make a strong state.” Tax, budget, and welfare policies would be evaluated on how they affect families, and they should do no harm to families.

    In his remarks, Colyer said he is a fifth-generation Kansan. He grew up in Hays, and learned there that “we’re here to serve other people.”

    As a White House fellow for President Reagan, he said he learned that the key to solving difficult problems is that when “individuals in America work and prosper, America works and prospers.”

    His experience volunteering as a physician in Africa, Iraq, and Afghanistan taught him that “ordinary people can do extraordinary things in the most horrific of times.” He added that in Kansas, our best days are ahead of us, but these days are not just around the corner. Even though Kansas just passed its biggest tax increase, the budget is under water and getting worse, he said. Problems have been “papered over,” and will explode in the near future.

    He told the audience that the Kansas state pension plan (KPERS) ranked next-to-last in solvency, after California and New York.

    The Kansas economy has not been growing as it should due to years of high taxes and unnecessary regulation, he said.

    In questioning after the event, Brownback said he considered candidates from the Wichita area for his running mate. He said that he and Colyer have known each other for 20 years and work well together.

    If elected, Colyer said he would be required to resign from the Kansas Senate. I asked since the lieutenant governor has so few prescribed duties, what would Colyer do with his time, should he be elected? He said that Brownback said he should be prepared to work “double time.” He said he would keep his medical practice. Brownback said he expected much from Colyer, and that he would be working full time on problems in the state.

    I asked whether a Brownback administration would repeal the increase in the statewide sales tax due to take effect on July 1. Brownback said that he wants to look at fundamental tax policy and develop a pro-growth tax policy.

    In response to my question as to what he would do to increase school choice, particularly charter schools in Kansas, Brownback said that the school funding formula be the centerpiece of education reform in Kansas. Within that, the state could review the charter school law.

    Neither candidate would express a preference in the United States Senate Republican primary.

    Analysis

    Many conservatives look forward to Brownback as Kansas governor, as they feel Kansas has not had a conservative governor for many years, even through there have been Republicans in the governor’s office. While delivering a conservative message at this event, Brownback’s record in the U.S. Senate, according to National Journal vote ratings for 2009, places him near the middle of Senate Republicans in terms of voting for conservative positions.

    Generally, Colyer is described as conservative. He has, however, cast some votes that some conservatives might not agree with. In particular, he voted for the statewide smoking ban during the 2009 session. That bill carried over to this year and was passed in the House and signed into law by Governor Parkinson.

    In the Kansas Economic Freedom Index, Colyer cast four votes that were not in favor of economic freedom, earning a score of 69% and ranking 13th in the Senate. The votes not in favor of economic freedom were voting for an expansion of the historic preservation tax credit program, voting for a primary seat belt law and texting ban, voting for regulation of sexually oriented businesses, and voting against an amendment that would have required the state to sell assets to raise revenue. The last measure was promoted by conservatives as a way the state could raise enough revenue to avoid having to raise taxes.

    In the Republican primary, the Brownback/Colyer ticket will square off against a ticket headed by Joan Heffington, a Derby businesswoman who has many political views that might be considered out of the mainstream.

    If Brownback and Colyer prevail in the primary, they will likely face Kansas Senator Tom Holland and his unnamed running mate. Holland has not yet filed but has been campaigning, and no other Democrats are expected to file by the June 10 deadline.

    Other coverage: Brownback ticket gains surgeon as lieutenant, Brownback announces, picks Colyer, Brownback Names Colyer as Lt. Governor in Race for Governor, Holland Responds, Brownback picks Jeff Colyer as running mate in governor’s race, and Brownback chooses physician as running mate.

  • Some Kansas high tax zones are over 10%

    When the Kansas statewide sales tax is increased effective July 1, there will be a few districts in Kansas where the combined sales tax rate — state, city, county, and any special districts — will be over ten percent. My research shows there will be 55 districts where the combined sales tax will be nine percent or greater. Some high-tax districts are entire cities such as Pomona and Sedan at 9.8 percent, but many are special districts where sales tax is diverted from general government to special purposes. Perhaps we should require warning signs to be posted to alert visitors that they’re about to enter a high-tax area. But that would go against the purpose of many of these districts, which is to extract revenue from those outside the immediate area. Taxing visitors to your city is often an appealing idea to local government officials. Kansas Reporter has more on this issue.

    TOPEKA, Kan. – Sales taxes in what’s arguably the sweetest retail spot in Kansas — a small patch of Kansas City, Kan. real estate that’s home to outlets of both furniture retailer Nebraska Furniture Mart and sporting goods giant Cabela’s — jump to 9.025 percent from the current 7.65 percent in July.

    Those increases, which add maybe $7 or $8 to the price of a new laptop or flat screen TV at the furniture outlet or $10 to a new shotgun, are among a complete list of new sales tax rates posted online by the Kansas Department of Revenue for some 790 county, city and special taxing jurisdictions across the state. The list reflects changes that a scheduled July 1 increase in statwide sales tax rates will make on city, county or other local sales taxes those governments also charge.

    The new tax rates customers will pay at the two stores, which are believed to be the largest single retail outlets in Kansas, aren’t the highest in the state. Shoppers in a newly emerging Hays, Kan., hotel and retail development just north of that community’s main business district will pay a 10.55 cent tax on each dollar they spend beginning July 1.

    Continue reading at Kansas Reporter.

  • Some Kansas House Members voted for spending, but not the taxes

    This year both the Kansas House of Representatives and Senate voted for increased spending and increased taxes. The taxes are primarily in the form of a one cent per dollar increase in the statewide sales tax, scheduled to take effect July 1.

    When the budget and taxes were debated in the Senate, several senators made the point that if a member voted in favor of increased spending, they should also vote for the tax increase. In the Senate, all members who voted for increased spending also voted for the tax increase.

    But in the House, that wasn’t always the case. Several members voted for increased spending, but not the accompanying tax increase. These members are:

    Deena Horst, a Republican from Salina
    Melanie Meier, a Democrat from Leavenworth
    Shirley Palmer, a Democrat from Fort Scott
    Willie Prescott, a Republican from Osage City
    Gene Rardin, a Democrat from Overland Park
    Don Schroeder, a Republican from Hesston
    Clark Shultz, a Republican from Lindsborg
    Lee Tafanelli, a Republican from Ozawkie
    Milack Talia, a Democrat from Shawnee

    I’m in the process of contacting these representatives to let them explain their votes. I’ve received a few responses.

    I’ll give readers one hint, though: several of these members have conservative challengers in the upcoming elections.

  • At forum, Kansas Secretary of State candidates have different attitudes regarding voter fraud

    Last week’s meeting of the Sedgwick County Republican Party featured a forum with the three candidates seeking the Republican party nomination for Kansas Secretary of State. The candidates and links to their campaign websites are J.R. Claeys, Elizabeth “Libby” Ensley, and Kris Kobach.

    During the forum, the different attitudes of the candidates towards the extent of voter fraud in Kansas and the measures that should be taken to combat it — such as photo ID and proof of citizenship — became apparent.

    In his opening remarks, Kobach mentioned his role in helping write the recently-past Arizona immigration law. He said during the past 10 years, at both the United States Department of Justice and privately, he’s worked to help cities and states enforce the law. His goal for the next four years, should he be elected Secretary of State, would be to help Kansas restore the rule of law in its elections.

    He said the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has a “whole division designed for immigrants’ rights.” He said that the ACLU will be the “first to run into the courtroom if we try to pass a photo ID law in Kansas.” He also mentioned the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) as another group involved in the immigration fight, and it has sued Arizona over its law.

    (A photo ID law would require voters to identify themselves with a photo ID, such as a drivers license, when they vote.)

    Kobach said that both of these organizations are willing to sell out the rule of law in order to gain political power. Democrats, he said, view illegal aliens as a source of votes, and that is why Democrats always oppose photo ID laws. “In my definition, that is the highest form of corruption. That’s corruption, not for money, but for power.”

    Kobach said that he is in favor of a photo ID law. The problem, he said, is making a law stick, as these laws are challenged by the ACLU wherever they are passed. As a constitutional law professor, he believes he can write a bill that will survive a court challenge. He said he’ll defend the law, “because nothing makes my day like a lawsuit against the ACLU.”

    Kansas must also prosecute voter fraud, he said. He mentioned a report from the secretary of state’s office where 11 counties in Kansas where voter fraud was reported, but there were no state prosecutions. He said the problem is that when prosecutions are forwarded to the local county attorney, prosecutions do not result because of lack of resources or wrong incentives, and in some cases, lack of political will. He proposes parallel jurisdiction, where either the local county attorney or the Secretary of State could proceed with prosecution.

    Claeys, in his opening remarks, said he had worked for the Republican National committee as a fundraiser, as communications director for the National Small Business Association, and CEO of the National Association of Government Contractors. He also served as an election observer in Bolivia and El Salvador. These countries recently implemented voter security measures.

    Claeys said that photo ID, besides improving the security of voting, actually streamlines the voting process and reduces the training needed for both voters and election workers.

    He said there are 600 statutory duties for the Secretary of State, many having to do with small business. “It is the filing center for the state,” and it is important that businesses be served efficiently and well by that office. Increasing fees and regulations, he added, acts as a tax on business, and he said he will work to keep fees and costs low.

    Ensley’s opening remarks told of the importance of the Secretary of State, noting that “every single business in the state of Kansas touches the Secretary of State’s office.” She said she had worked in the Secretary of State’s office for 11 years, and then for 18 years as the Shawnee County Election Commissioner. Because of that, she said she has the endorsement of the last three Kansas Secretaries of State.

    She said she has been watchful for election fraud during her years as election commissioner, and has provided the evidence that has resulted in the conviction of 12 election criminals.

    She said an important issue to her is military voting, saying that these voters do not have the same rights as local voters. They are not allowed to vote for precinct committee officials or for local ballot questions, for example. She said this needs to be changed.

    Questioning from the audience included a question whether the candidates would pledge to support whoever wins the August primary election. All answered yes.

    Another question mentioned nursing homes, where it was alleged by the questioner that voting fraud is taking place. Kobach said that the “stories are legion” about what happens in nursing homes. He said this type of voter fraud is difficult to detect. But once someone is prosecuted, this will discourage others from contemplating this type of voter fraud.

    Ensley suggested that any suspected voter fraud be reported to local officials. She mentioned a recent Kansas law that allows election officials to work with nursing homes to delver ballots directly to voters, and assist them with voting if requested.

    Claeys agreed that prosecutions would serve as a deterrent to others.

    One questioner noted that several recent holders of the Secretary of State’s office have run for, or aspired to run for, Kansas governor. Do you have political ambitions beyond Secretary of State? Claeys and Ensley answered no. Kobach answered that the future is difficult to predict, but that he probably would not occupy that office for 16 years, as Ron Thornburgh would have if he served out his last term.

    In my question, I asked about the claim of the Wichita Eagle’s Rhonda Holman, based on evidence from then-Secretary of State Thornburgh, that voter fraud in Kansas is not a significant problem.

    Kobach said that there is voter fraud, it is a problem, and he doesn’t know why Holman doesn’t believe it is a problem.

    Ensley said that Kobach is referring to alleged voter fraud. She said she’s done statistical research on aliens registering to vote. She identified the six counties in Kansas that are required to do bilingual ballots and asked these county clerks — these are the election officials in these counties — about the situation in their county. She said that each clerk said that they watch out for illegal registrations and voting, but that it is not a significant problem in their counties.

    She said she compared the proportion of the population that is registered to vote statewide with the same figure in these six counties. If a large number of ineligible registrations was a problem, these counties should have a higher than average number. She found that these counties had a lower proportion of registered voters than the stateside average, which lead her to believe that registration and voting by aliens is not a problem.

    She said that having to prove citizenship in order to vote would lead to lower voter turnout by eligible voters, and she is not in favor of requirements to prove citizenship. Displaying her tattered birth certificate, she described how it would be difficult for many citizens to obtain their birth certificate in order to prove they are citizens and eligible to vote. Her contention that requirements to prove citizenship creates more barriers to Americans than it prevents aliens from registering to vote was greeted with disapproval from the audience.

    Claeys mentioned the Arizona voter law — which he said he favors — which requires proof of citizenship, with several ways to provide proof. He added that even a small amount of voter fraud is important. “Anytime someone votes who’s not supposed to be, they’re taking your vote away.”

    Kobach added that courts have not agreed that requirements to produce citizenship documents such as birth certificates are too much of a burden. He added that these requirements apply to only newly-registered voters, not currently registered voters. He also produced several reasons as to why Ensley’s survey of voter registration rates in counties may not be valid.

    Later questioning brought out a distinction between “voter ID” and “photo ID.” Voter ID can take many forms, such as a utility bill showing a voter’s name and address. Kobach and Claeys are in favor of requiring a state-issued photo ID, while Ensley said voter ID is sufficient.

    Some in the audience asked questions that showed they believed a photo ID was more secure than other forms of ID, but Ensley pointed to easy availability of fake IDs, both photo and other.

    — —

    Eagle editorialist Holman’s op-ed from last May contained this statement: “Fraudulent voting, particularly by an illegal immigrant, makes no sense, because there is little to nothing to gain by the individual voter — while the potential punishment is severe.” (“Beware of claims of voter fraud,” May 28, 2009 Wichita Eagle)

    This curious claim by Holman — that there is little to gain by individuals when they vote– might make anyone wonder why they should make an effort to vote.

  • The fight for Kansas jobs

    The following is by Interim President and CEO of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce Kent Beisner.

    The Kansas Chamber is the leading business advocacy organization, representing small and large businesses alike employing more than 100,000 Kansans across our state. Our board of directors passed a data-driven, unified agenda in support of streamlining government and reducing the cost of doing business in Kansas.

    When seeking to bring additional businesses to Kansas, no one champions higher taxes as an additional benefit. The Chamber will always defend Kansas entrepreneurs and taxpayers against policies which inhibit their ability to increase capital investment, grow private-sector jobs and reduce the burden on government services. Responsible government and a friendly business climate can and should co-exist.

    We at the Chamber welcome the recent criticism by those who believe Washington-style tax-and-spend policies are acceptable here in the heartland. These individuals have supported the growth of our state budget by more than $200 million and the passage of the largest sales tax increase in our state’s history in the midst of a record-breaking recession.

    Continue reading at Kansas Liberty.

  • Bill Light, facing conservative challenger, withdraws Kansas House bid

    The Kansas Republican Assembly blog reports on the withdrawal of Kansas House of Representatives member Bill Light from consideration for re-election.

    In the Kansas Economic Freedom Index for the 2010 legislative session, Light’s score was 11%, meaning that he did not vote in favor of economic freedom very often. Only five Republicans scored worse than him. He definitely qualifies as a “left-wing Republican,” to use a term coined by Kansas Liberty.

    State Representative Bill Light withdrew his candidacy for re-election to the Kansas House May 12. Light was facing a strong conservative challenge in the August primary by Dan Widder of Ulysses.

    In a Hutchinson News article, Light claimed that his retirement had nothing to do with his conservative challenger, even claiming that he didn’t know Widder. However, the article notes that Light filed for re-election in January and told the Hutchinson News in November that he liked to file in January before the start of a legislative session, “so that all will know my intentions.”

    Continue reading at the Kansas Republican Assembly blog.

  • Amtrak passenger service shown in Wichita

    The possible expansion of Amtrak passenger rail service in Kansas was the topic of a meeting held last night in Wichita.

    Expansion of rail service in Kansas is controversial, at least to some people, in that any form of rail service requires taxpayer involvement to pay for the service. First, taxpayer funding is required to pay for the start-up costs for the service. There are four alternatives being presented for rail service expansion in Kansas, and the start-up costs range from $156 million up to $479 million.

    After this, taxpayer subsidies will be required every year to pay for the ongoing operational costs of providing passenger rail service. The four alternatives would require an annual operating subsidy ranging from $2.1 million up to $6.1 million. Taking the operating subsidy and dividing by the estimated number of passengers for each alternative, the per-passenger subsidy ranges from $35 up to $97 for every passenger who uses the service.

    For three of the alternatives, the operating subsidy required is greater than the revenue the service is expected to generate. For the other alternative, the subsidy and revenue are equal.

    It would be one thing if tickets sales and other revenue sources such as sale of food and beverage paid for most of the cost of providing passenger rail service, and taxpayers were being asked to provide a little boost to get the service started and keep it running until it can sustain itself. But that’s not the case. Taxpayers are being asked to fully fund the start-up costs. Then, they’re expected to pay the majority of ongoing expenses, apparently forever.

    At the meeting, I calculated these per-passenger subsidy figures and presented them to officials from the Kansas Department of Transportation and Amtrak. They seemed to think that this was a novel way of looking at the cost of providing the service. I asked the Amtrak representative why can’t we just increase the price of a ticket by the amount of the per-passenger subsidy? The reply was that if the tickets are too expensive, people will not purchase them.

    Much of the argument of rail supporters boils down to this: since other forms of transportation receive government subsidy, why shouldn’t rail transportation receive a subsidy too?

    The proper response to this argument is first, let’s not expand government intervention in transportation by increasing or adding new forms of subsidy, even if it is to correct a perceived imbalance. Second, let’s get rid of the subsidy for all forms of transportation, so that each form may be evaluated on its total cost by consumers when they decide how to travel.

    The Amtrak representative disputed subsidy figures that I referred to, saying that the study that I found them in has been discredited. These figures show that the federal subsidy for highway passenger travel is negative, meaning that highway drivers are paying their own costs plus more. The subsidy per passenger rail service is much higher than for either commercial or general aviation. The Amtrak representative promised to send me different figures, and I will report on those if I receive them. It may be that when state and local spending on highways is included, the subsidy landscape might look different.

    These subsidy figures are based on the passenger-mile, not total dollars. Supporters of rail subsidies often use total dollars spent instead of spending per passenger-mile because rail receives much less subsidy than other forms of transportation. That’s because so few people travel on passenger rail.

    This year legislation authorizing the Kansas Department of Transportation to establish and implement a passenger rail service program passed both houses nearly unanimously and was signed enthusiastically by the governor. That was an easy vote for legislators, however, as the legislation spends no money. The supplemental note for the bill states “… because the bill does not propose a revenue mechanism for financing any of the activities the bill would authorize, the Kansas Department of Transportation indicates it would not initiate any such activities nor incur any additional expenses.”

    When legislators have to commit taxpayer funds for start-up costs and ongoing funds for passenger subsidies, I suspect the voting will be quite different.

    Reporting on this meeting from KWCH is at Wichitans Give Input on Amtrak Passenger Train Proposals and from KAKE at State Gets Feedback On Passenger Rail Proposal. Related stories on this site are Amtrak, taxpayer burden, should not be expanded in Kansas and Kansas makes unwise bet on passenger rail.

    Kansas Amtrak passenger rail costs

  • Kansas Governor, Wichita Eagle: why ‘pigs’ at the trough?

    When the Kansas Chamber of Commerce recently referred to the need to control Kansas government spending and taxes, a few politicians and newspaper editorial writers embellished what the Chamber actually said in order to make their own political points.

    Here’s what the Kansas Chamber said in its press release dated May 8:

    “As of today, the legislature has failed to address the needs and wishes of the business community. It has instead catered to the needs of those at the government trough. The Kansas legislature has turned a deaf ear to the hard-working businessmen and women who have made the decision to invest in Kansas and provide jobs for our citizens. Instead of responsibly funding state government without raising taxes, a coalition of liberal House and Senate members have instead chosen to slash crucial services and push for a historic tax hike on Kansas families,” said Kansas Chamber President Kent Beisner.

    Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson, an advocate for greater government spending and taxing, seized this opportunity for political gamesmanship. His press release on May 10 stated “It is heartbreaking to think that somebody would equate the disabled, the elderly, school children, veterans, law enforcement and the poor to pigs at a trough.”

    His message used the “pigs at a trough” symbolism several additional times.

    The Governor’s use of the word “pigs” — inflammatory imagry, to say the least — started making the rounds. It was picked up by editorialists and other writers, including the Wichita Eagle’s opinion editor Phillip Brownlee. In his editorial Kids, disabled aren’t pigs at a trough (Wichita Eagle, May 13) Brownlee wrote: “So schoolchildren and individuals with disabilities are akin to pigs at a trough?”

    Brownlee’s editorial starts by complaining that the Kansas Chamber used some “over-the-top rhetoric during the state budget debate.”

    Well, the Kansas Chamber didn’t use the word “pigs.” That was the governor’s language, then repeated by liberal editorial writers like Brownlee and the Winfield Daily Courier’s David Seaton when he editorialized: “Efforts by the president of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce to characterize educators, the elderly, the disabled and public safety employees as pigs at ‘the government trough’ did not succeed.”

    Since Governor Parkinson brought it up, we ought to think about it for a moment. Schoolchildren, of course, aren’t pigs at the trough, no matter what the governor and Wichita Eagle say. For one, children don’t make the decision to attend public (government) schools, as their parents make that decision for them. It is the schools themselves, specifically school spending advocates in the form of Kansas National Education Association (or KNEA, the teachers union) and the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) that are the pigs.

    If these school spending advocates were truly concerned about the education of Kansas schoolchildren, they would allow for government spending on education to be targeted at the child, to be spent wherever parents feel their children’s needs will best be met. But the school spending lobby in Kansas vigorously resists any challenge to their monopoly on public money for education, which reveals that they’re really more interested in spending on schools by any means, at any cost rather than on education.

    If we need any more evidence of the never-ending appetite of schools for money, consider a story told by Kansas House Speaker Pro Tem Arlen Siegfreid (R-Olathe) of a conversation he had with Mark Tallman, lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards: “During our discussion I asked Mr. Tallman if we (the State) had the ability to give the schools everything he asked for would he still ask for even more money for schools. His answer was, ‘Of course, that’s my job.’”

    The Eagle editorial mentions a number of local chambers of commerce that have split away from the state chamber. We should recognize that in many cases, local chambers have become boosters for big government taxes and spending. An article titled Tax Chambers by the Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore explains the decline of local chambers of commerce: “The Chamber of Commerce, long a supporter of limited government and low taxes, was part of the coalition backing the Reagan revolution in the 1980s. On the national level, the organization still follows a pro-growth agenda — but thanks to an astonishing political transformation, many chambers of commerce on the state and local level have been abandoning these goals. They’re becoming, in effect, lobbyists for big government.”

    This was certainly the case with the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce. Under its president Brian Derreberry, it had been in favor of increased government interventionism instead of free markets. An example was its support of proven fiscal conservative Karl Peterjohn’s opponent in the campaign for Sedgwick County Commissioner in 2008. In that campaign, the Wichita Chamber spent some $19,000 — 44% of all it spent on campaigns that year — on Peterjohn’s opponent, a small town mayor who had just increased taxes.

    Last year the Wichita Chamber hired former Kansas House Member Jason Watkins to be its lobbyist. The hiring of Watkins, a fiscal conservative, seemed to signal a possible shift in the Wichita Chamber’s direction. The fact that the Wichita Chamber did not break away from the Kansas Chamber’s opposition to tax increases validates that perception.

    We should also note that many of the goals of the Kansas Chamber, such as efficient government, reducing taxes, encouraging business investment and growth, and promoting economic growth in Kansas, are good for all Kansans, not just business. Even government employees — and the governor himself — must realize that government does not create wealth. Instead, it is business that creates wealth that provides for our standard of living. It is business that creates the economic activity that generates the tax revenue that makes government spending possible.

    The Eagle’s repetition of the governor’s attack on the Kansas Chamber fits right in with its pro-government, anti-economic freedom agenda.