Voice For Liberty

Tag: Kansas legislature

Articles about the Kansas legislature, both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

  • Raj Goyle fundraising plea: wrong facts

    Recently candidate for U.S. Congress from the fourth district of Kansas Raj Goyle sent out a fundraising email that distorts facts in order to stir up protectionist fears about the world economy.

    The email pokes fun at Republican rival Mike Pompeo using so-called facts that were shown to be false and misleading during the primary election campaign.

    The Goyle email mentions Kansans who “lost our job to Mike Pompeo’s factory in Mexico.” Goyle and his campaign believe that Kansas jobs were shipped to Mexico at Pompeo’s direction.

    What was found to be true is this: A company that Pompeo once managed created a small number of jobs in Mexico, at the request of a client. It was a condition of obtaining the contract.

    Doing that not only allowed a Kansas company to gain a new contract and new business, it also created more than twice as many jobs in Kansas.

    We have to recognize that manufacturers compete globally. Goyle may not recognize this, or he may not care.

    Free trade, too, benefits all parties. This transaction is evidence of this: creating new jobs in Mexico also created new jobs in Kansas. The choices made available to Pompeo’s company did not include placing all new jobs in Kansas. The choices were: A) some new jobs in Mexico and twice as many new jobs in Kansas. Or: B) no new jobs at all, anywhere.

    Goyle may not be aware of the competitive pressure that manufacturers face. After all, his job in the Kansas Legislature can’t be outsourced. But beyond not having an understanding of economics and the realities of the way the world works, we still ought to be able to expect one thing: that Raj Goyle will tell the truth.

    Other coverage: Goyle assails Pompeo over aviation jobs, outsourcing at Old Town labor rally.

  • Wichita Pachyderm speaker lineup set

    The Wichita Pachyderm Club has released its lineup of speakers for the upcoming month. Everyone is welcome to attend Wichita Pachyderm Club meetings. The club meets on Friday at noon at the Wichita Petroleum Club on the top floor of the Bank of America Building at 100 N. Broadway (north side of Douglas between Topeka and Broadway). The cost for the meetings is $10, which includes a buffet lunch.

    For more information, contact President John Stevens at at enersigns@sbcglobal.net or Vice President John Todd at john@johntodd.net.

    September 10, 2010
    Honorable Eric F. Melgren, U.S. District Judge in the District of Kansas.

    September 17, 2010
    A panel discussion, “How you can become involved in the process of defending liberty between now and the November 6th general election?”

    Panelists:
    Susan Estes, citizen activist
    Lynda Tyler, founder of Kansans for Liberty
    Craig Gabel, local conservative activist
    Fourth panelist to be determined

    September 24, 2010
    South Central Kansas Republican Candidates for the Kansas House of Representatives:
    John Stevens, District 86
    Leslie Osterman, District 97
    James Clendenin, District 98
    Joseph Scapa, District 87

    October 1, 2010
    Republican Candidates for the Sedgwick County Commission:
    Dave Unruh, District 1
    Richard Ranzau, District 4
    Jim Skelton, District 5

    October 8, 2010
    South Central Kansas Republican Candidates for the Kansas House of Representatives:
    Benny Boman, District 95
    James Woomack, District 92
    Dan Heflin, District 84
    Jim Howell, District 82

  • Capitalism means freedom

    In recent years, the ideas and principles of capitalism have taken a beating. The election of President Barack Obama in 2008 was a blow to the freedom that capitalism is built on, although President George W. Bush had done a fair job trampling on the principles of capitalism.

    Locally, it was a bad year for capitalism and economic freedom in the Kansas Legislature. The Wichita Eagle editorial board seems to have the disparagement of capitalism as its primary goal, as it promotes government action at the expense of economic freedom and individual liberty at every opportunity.

    What is capitalism? Milton Friedman, in introducing his book Capitalism and Freedom, wrote this as a way of defining capitalism: “… competitive capitalism — the organization of the bulk of economic activity through private enterprise operating in a free market — as a system of economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom.”

    Some writers allow government no role at all in the economy, unlike Friedman’s small-state capitalism.

    The economist George Reisman writes this in his monumental book Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics:

    Capitalism is a social system based on private ownership of the means of production. It is characterized by the pursuit of material self-interest under freedom and it rests on a foundation of the cultural influence of reason. Based on its foundations and essential nature, capitalism is further characterized by saving and capital accumulation, exchange and money, financial self-interest and the profit motive, the freedoms of economic competition and economic inequality, the price system, economic progress, and a harmony of the material self-interests of all the individuals who participate in it.

    Reisman’s lecture Some Fundamental Insights Into the Benevolent Nature of Capitalism is a useful look at the principles and benefits of capitalism.

    First, capitalism and freedom are intertwined, as Friedman wrote too. Reisman writes “Individual freedom — an essential feature of capitalism — is the foundation of security. He expands on the meaning of freedom, writing “Freedom means the absence of the initiation of physical force.” This is the libertarian belief in the nonagression axiom, as asserted by Murray N. Rothbard: “The libertarian creed rests upon one central axiom: that no man or group of men may aggress against the person or property of anyone else.”

    Being free from aggression means being free from the common criminal, but also, as Reisman explains, free from government aggression: “Even more important, of course, is that when one is free, one is free from the initiation of physical force on the part of the government, which is potentially far more deadly than that of any private criminal gang.”

    It is the recognition of government as aggressor that (partially) separates libertarian belief from conservative. As the libertarian John Stossel explained: “Increasingly, it seems that the biggest difference between conservatives and liberals is that the conservatives know government is force. But that doesn’t stop them from using it.”

    This is just the first insight into capitalism in Reisman’s lecture.

  • Kansas primary election recap to be Pachyderm topic

    At this week’s meeting of the Wichita Pachyderm Club, the presentation will be “Reflections on the Primary Election.” This will be a panel discussion with panelists WSU Political Science Professor Ken Ciboski, District Court Judge Phillip Journey, and Terry Bruce, a Kansas Senator from Hutchinson.

    All are welcome to attend Wichita Pachyderm Club meetings. The program costs $10, which includes a delicious buffet lunch including salad, soup, two main dishes, and ice tea and coffee. The meeting starts at noon, although it’s recommended to arrive fifteen minutes early to get your lunch before the program starts.

    The Wichita Petroleum Club is on the ninth floor of the Bank of America Building at 100 N. Broadway (north side of Douglas between Topeka and Broadway) in Wichita, Kansas (click for a map and directions). You may park in the garage (enter west side of Broadway between Douglas and First Streets) and use the sky walk to enter the Bank of America building. The Petroleum Club will stamp your parking ticket and the fee will be $1.00. Or, there is usually some metered and free street parking nearby.

  • Kansas Senate could see shift

    The recent primary election in Kansas, combined with the results of the November general election, could alter the composition of the Kansas Senate, even though no members are standing for election. (Correction: one member faces an opponent in November after winning the primary election.)

    Several members of the senate advanced through last week’s primary election in their efforts in seeking higher — or other — offices. Some are likely to win their elections in November and be required to resign their senate positions.

    These include Senator Tim Huelskamp of Fowler, who is running for U.S. Congress from the first district, and Senator Jeff Colyer, who is nominee for lieutenant governor on a ticket with U.S. Senator Sam Brownback. Both are odds-on favorites in the November election.

    Senator Derek Schmidt is running for Kansas Attorney General. Should he win, not only would there be a new member of the senate, there would also be a new majority leader, which is a powerful and important position in the senate’s leadership structure.

    In Sedgwick County, Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau has won the Democratic Party nomination for a position on the Sedgwick County Commission. (Provisional ballots are being counted in this primary election contest, but the outcome is not expected to change.) Should she win in November there would be a new senator from her district in northeast Wichita.

    Rumors are afloat that Senator Jim Barnett, recently a candidate for the Republican party nomination for U.S. Congress for the first district, may retire. Earlier this year he retired from his Emporia medical practice, and his wife works for a school district in Johnson County, some 100 miles away from Emporia.

    Then — assuming a Brownback win in the race for governor — there will likely be a shake-up in many cabinet positions. Several senators may be interested in these. A win by Tom Holland might produce some changeover in the cabinet, and a Holland win would require that he and his running mate Senator Kelly Kultala resign from the senate.

    It’s too early to tell whether these possible resignations and incoming new members would produce a shift in the political makeup of the senate. New senators will be selected by the precinct committeemen and women in the retiring senators’ districts. They would serve the remainder of the terms, which would be two years.

    While the Kansas Senate is overwhelmingly in the hands of Republicans — the present composition is 31 Republicans and nine Democrats — many Senate Republicans routinely vote with Democrats on issues of spending and taxation. An example is the bill that increased the statewide sales tax by one cent per dollar this year. That legislation passed with a vote of 23 to 17, with 15 Republican senators joining eight Democrats voting in favor of passage.

    An interesting situation is the replacement for Huelskamp, assuming he wins his general election in November. It was thought that longtime Representative and former Speaker of the House Melvin Neufeld would be the favorite to succeed Huelskamp. But Neufeld lost his re-election bid to upstart Garrett Love by a large margin. Whether the precinct committee people would elevate someone who just lost an election to a higher office is unknown. Could Love be appointed to the Senate, and then Neufeld appointed to the position to which he just lost a re-election bid? That would seem to nullify the sentiment of the voters expressed just a week ago. Others will undoubtedly be interested in the senate position, too.

  • Kansas primary legislative elections 2010

    Here’s a look at the August 3, 2010 Kansas primary election contests that had the possibility of changing the character of the Kansas House of Representatives, and in one case, the Kansas Senate.

    A Kansas Chamber of Commerce endorsement is a reliable measure of a candidate’s conservative credentials from a fiscal perspective. The Kansas Economic Freedom Index and AFP legislative scorecards provide additional insight into legislators and their voting records.

    Here are races where there may be a shift in the makeup of the House, sometimes depending on the results of the November general election.

    In Kansas House District 17 (parts of Shawnee and Lenexa) the Kansas Chamber of Commerce endorsed Kelly Meigs, and she defeated one-term incumbent Jill Quigley 53 percent to 47 percent in the Republican primary. Bryan Cox has filed as a Democrat. Quigley had a liberal voting record, scoring just nine percent on the Kansas Economic Freedom Index.

    In Kansas House District 29 (parts of Overland Park) conservative challenger Richard Downing wasn’t able to defeat first-term incumbent Sheryl L. Spalding (19 percent on KEFI), although the margin of Spalding’s victory is just 29 votes of 2,695 cast and could possibly change. The winner will face Democrat Doug Dowell in the general election.

    In Kansas House District 65 (Junction City and parts of Geary and Wabaunsee counties), Barbara Craft did not seek re-election. Her Kansas Economic Freedom Index rating of 19 percent places her in the left-wing Republican camp. The Kansas Chamber did not make an endorsement in this district, but Republican primary winner James P. Fawcett has been described as a conservative. He’ll face Democrat Larry Hicks in November.

    In House District 110 (Osborne, Rooks and Russell Counties, Cities of Ellis and Victoria, Buckeye, Catherine, Ellis, Herzog and Victoria townships) three Republicans vied to fill this seat previously held by Dan Johnson with his 16 percent Kansas Economic Freedom Index score. Chamber-endorsed Dan L. Collins won. No Democrat filed in this district, so this is a certain pick-up for conservatives.

    In House District 69 (parts of Salina) Chamber-endorsed Tom Arpke defeated incumbent Republican Deena L. Horst, who has represented the district since 1995. Horst had earned a score of 69 percent on the Kansas Economic Freedom Index. On AFP’s rating for this year she scored 60 percent and 100 percent the year before. She voted for the big-spending budget this year, but not the sales tax increase. Arpke will face Democrat Gerrett Morris — not to be confused with Garrett Morris of Saturday Night Live fame — in November.

    Kansas House District 120 (Cheyenne, Decatur, Norton, Phillips and Rawlins counties) is a loss for conservatives as incumbent John Faber lost to challenger Ward Cassidy. The winner will face Democrat Robert Strevey in the general election. The Chamber had endorsed Faber, who earned a Kansas Economic Freedom Index rating of 72 percent and an AFP rating of 90 percent. A resident of St. Francis, Cassidy and his wife are public school employees, and he lists education as one of his priorities. When public school employees say this, it usually means that spending on schools is a priority over everything else. His website also says he pledges to “look at every means possible to increase revenue within the state without raising taxes.”

    In Kansas House District 124 (Grant, Morton, Stanton and Stevens counties, Haskell County: City of Satanta and Dudley Township, Seward County: Seward Township), incumbent Bill Light did not seek re-election. Republicans Dan Widder and J. Stephen Alford sought the Republican party nomination, with no Democrats having filed. The Chamber endorsed Widder. Alford narrowly won with 51 percent of the vote. Light was a left-wing Republican with a Kansas Economic Freedom Index rating of 11 percent. Alford, endorsed by liberal Senate President Stephen Morris (his own KEFI rating is only seven percent), can’t be much more to the left than Light.

    There were a handful of instances where moderate or liberal Republicans withstood challenges by conservatives.

    In Kansas House District 9 (Allen County plus parts of Woodson, Coffey, Anderson, and Franklin Counties, including the city of Iola), the Chamber selected Raymond “Bud” Sifers over incumbent Bill Otto in the Republican primary. Otto won with 56 percent of the vote. No Democrat filed. Otto is sometimes difficult to classify. He scored 60 percent on the Kansas Economic Freedom Index, but only 40 percent on AFP’s scorecard for this year after rating 82 percent the year before. This year, Otto voted against the spending bill but for the sales tax increase, the only member of the House to vote this way on these two bills.

    In Kansas House District 60 (parts of Emporia) incumbent Republican Don Hill defeated challenger Daniel Buller. Hill scored a very liberal nine percent on the Kansas Economic Freedom Index and is mentioned as one of the leaders of the left-wing Republican faction of the House that votes for spending and tax increases. Hill will face Democrat Michael “Mike” Dorcey in the general election.

    In Kansas House District 64 (Clay County plus parts of Dickinson, Geary, and Riley counties) incumbent Republican Vern Swanson was challenged by Michael Musselman. Swanson won. No Democrat filed. Swanson scored 19 percent on the Kansas Economic Freedom Index.

    In Kansas House District 68 (parts of Morris and Dickinson counties including Council Grove and Abilene) two-term incumbent Republican Tom J. Moxley was challenged by Calvin Seadeek Jr. Moxley has a liberal voting record, scoring 19 percent on the Kansas Economic Freedom Index. There is no Democratic party opponent in the general election.

    In Kansas House District 70 (Chase and Marion counties, plus part of Butler County) Cheryl Green challenged first-term incumbent J. Robert (Bob) Brookens (KEFI 19 percent). Brookens won with 60 percent of the vote. There was no Democratic Party filer.

    In Kansas House District 71 (parts of Salina) incumbent Charlie Roth withstood a challenge by two opponents in the Republican primary. There is no Democratic Party filer. Roth scored a liberal nine percent on the Kansas Economic Freedom Index and played a leadership role in passing the statewide smoking ban in the House of Representatives this year.

    In Kansas House District 83 (Eatborough and parts of east Wichita) veteran incumbent Jo Ann Pottorff defeated conservative challenger Kyle Amos. The Chamber chose Amos for its endorsement, and Pottorff scored a low 13 percent on the Kansas Economic Freedom Index. Sean Amore is the Democratic Party opponent in the general election.

    In the Kansas Senate, there was one election this year. The appointed incumbent for Senate District 7 (In Johnson County the cities of Countryside, Fairway, Merriam, Mission, Mission Hills, Mission Woods, Prairie Village, Roeland Park, Westwood, Westwood Hills, and parts of Leawood and Overland Park) is Terrie Huntington, and she faced a conservative challenge from David Harvey. Huntington’s votes for the big-spending budget and the sales tax increase earned her a Kansas Econimic Freedom Index score of 20 percent, and led to the Kansas Chamber endorsement of Harvey. Huntingon won with 54 percent of the vote.

    Conservatives withstood some challengers in these districts.

    In Kansas House District 13 (Eureka, Yates Center, Fredonia, Neodesha and surrounding area) the Chamber endorsed incumbent Forrest Knox over challenger Trent Forsyth in the Republican primary. No Democrat filed. Knox scored 95 percent on the Kansas Economic Freedom Index, and Forsyth was endorsed by the liberal teachers union. Knox won with 54 percent of the vote.

    In Kansas House District 94 (parts of west Wichita and part of Attica, Delano, and Waco townships), incumbent conservative Joe McLeland handily defeated two challengers, including one endorsed by the liberal Wichita Eagle editorial board. There is no Democratic Party candidate in this district

    In Kansas House District 121 (Graham, Sheridan, Sherman and Thomas counties), Brenda McCants challenged incumbent Jim Morrison, with no Democrat filing for the general election contest. Martin Hawver, dean of Kansas Statehouse reporters, described this as a a race “more about experience — coming up to reapportionment — than philosophy, not a moderate/conservative split.” But Morrison had the Kansas Chamber’s endorsement and a reliably conservative voting record.

  • Sedgwick County votes are all in

    In contested races in Sedgwick County, here are final results:

    In Kansas House District 84 Democratic primary, incumbent Gail Finney defeated Inga Taylor 87 percent to 12 percent.

    For Sedgwick County Commission, first district Democratic Party Primary, Betty Arnold defeated Juanita Blackmon 69 percent to 30 percent.

    For Sedgwick County Commission, fourth district Democratic Party Primary, Oletha Faust-Goudeau defeated Sharon Fearey 50 percent to 49 percent.

    For House district 82 Republican primary, Jim Howell won with 48 percent over Joseph Ashby and Van Willis.

    In House district 83 Republican primary, veteran Jo Ann Pottorf survived a challenge by Kyle Amos, winning with 52 percent of the vote.

    In House district 94 Republican primary, Joe McLeland won with 62 percent over Roy Oeser and Wade Waterbury.

    In House district 96 Republican primary, Phil Hermanson wins with 56 percent to Mark Gietzen’s 43 percent.

    For Sedgwick County Commission, fourth district Republican Party Primary, Richard Ranzau gets 55 percent of the vote to Lucy Burtnett with 44 percent.

    For Sedgwick County Commission, fifth district Republican Party Primary, Jim Skelton wins with 42 percent over Chuck Warren with 36 percent and Dion Avello with 20 percent.

  • Schodorf, Pottorff claim to have cut spending

    Two Kansas Republicans — one running for re-election, the other for higher office — both claim to have led the way in cutting the Kansas state budget. These claims, however, are at odds with the facts and both candidates’ records.

    Kansas Senator Jean Schodorf is a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for United States Congress from the fourth district of Kansas. A television advertisement states that she “led the effort in the Senate to cut over $1 billion from the state budget.”

    In Kansas House District 83 in east Wichita, Jo Ann Pottorff is seeking re-election. In a Wichita Eagle advertisement, she made a similar claim to Schodorf, stating “I forced state government to live within its means by cutting $1 billion in excess spending and voting down attempts to grow government by more than $185 million.”

    There are a few ways to look at these claims. First, both of these politicians have big-spending and big-taxing records. In any sort of legislative vote rating system that rewards fiscally conservative votes, these two women rank very low year after year. Both voted for the spending programs that grew Kansas spending so much over the last five years that cuts in the rate of growth were necessary this year.

    But these “cuts” were not cuts in actual spending. They were cuts in planned spending. The budget that both candidates voted for this year increased state spending by $200 million over the past year.

    By the way, both candidates voted to increase the statewide sales tax this year. They attempt to justify this vote by saying that if the state didn’t increase taxes, it would force local governments and school districts to increase property taxes.

    That would be the case only if schools kept spending at current levels. There are plenty of things schools could have done to save money — including implementing school choice programs which save money — but neither of these candidates considered that politically feasible. Their generous campaign contributions from the school spending lobby may have helped form their thinking on this issue.

    In the chart below, you can see that Pottorff has had a few years in which she earned respectable vote ratings. But Schodorf has not.

    Voters who desire conservative candidates should not be fooled by the efforts of both Schodorf and Pottorff to portray themselves as fiscally conservative legislators. It may turn out that their constituents prefer their left-wing voting records, and it’s the right of voters to do so. But voters should understand the choice they’re faced with.

    Kansas legislative vote ratings for Jo Ann Pottorff and Jean SchodorfKansas legislative vote ratings for Jo Ann Pottorff and Jean Schodorf

  • Kansas legislative candidates to speak in Wichita

    This Friday (July 23), the Wichita Pachyderm Club features Republican Legislative candidates from Sedgwick County. Only those candidates facing a contest in the August 3rd primary election will be speaking.

    The invited candidates and links to their websites (where available) are:

    From District 82 (Derby plus parts of Gypsum, Riverside, Rockford and Salem townships): Joseph Ashby, Jim Howell, and Van Willis.

    From District 83 (Eastborough and parts of east Wichita): Kyle Amos and Jo Ann Pottorff.

    From District 94 (parts of west Wichita and part of Attica, Delano, and Waco townships): Joe McLeland, Roy Oeser, and Wade A. Waterbury. There is no Democratic Party candidate in this district, so the primary will probably decide who next represents this district.

    From District 96 (parts of southwest Wichita and parts of Illinois, Riverside, and Waco townships): Phil Hermanson and Mark Gietzen.

    Additional information about these candidates may be found in the Wichita Eagle Voter Guide.

    All are welcome to attend Wichita Pachyderm Club meetings. The program costs $10, which includes a delicious buffet lunch including salad, soup, two main dishes, and ice tea and coffee. The meeting starts at noon, although it’s recommended to arrive fifteen minutes early to get your lunch before the program starts.

    The Wichita Petroleum Club is on the ninth floor of the Bank of America Building at 100 N. Broadway (north side of Douglas between Topeka and Broadway) in Wichita, Kansas (click for a map and directions). You may park in the garage (enter west side of Broadway between Douglas and First Streets) and use the sky walk to enter the Bank of America building. The Petroleum Club will stamp your parking ticket and the fee will be $1.00. Or, there is usually some metered and free street parking nearby.