Voice For Liberty

Tag: Kansas state government

Articles about Kansas, its government, and public policy in Kansas.

  • American Majority Activist Training a Success

    On a Saturday morning, about 35 citizen activists and want-to-be activists met at the offices of Americans For Prosperity in Wichita for training provided by American Majority.

    The training covered traditional topics and factors in political activism such as coalitions, holding events, the structure of government in Kansas, and holding elected officials accountable. Then the focus shifted to recent developments in activism such as blogs, wikis, and social media like Facebook.

    Shari Weber, executive director of American Majority, introduced her organization and set the tone for the day. American Majority is a training institute for liberty-minded individuals, she explained. American Majority chose Kansas and Oklahoma as states to be involved in first (Minnesota and Louisiana are the other states) because they’re the heartland. Colorado was “flipped” in just a few years, and it’s important to resist this in Kansas.

    She went on to explain that American Majority believes in freedom for the individual and freedom in the marketplace. She referenced and explained Lawrence Reed’s Seven Principles of Sound Public Policy, which are:

    • Free people are not equal, and equal people are not free.
    • What belongs to you, you tend to take care of; what belongs to no one or everyone tends to fall into disrepair.
    • Sound policy requires that we consider long-run effects and all people, not simply short-run effects and a few people.
    • If you encourage something, you get more of it; if you discourage something, you get less of it.
    • Nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as he spends his own.
    • Government has nothing to give anybody except what it first takes from somebody, and a government that’s big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you’ve got.
    • Liberty makes all the difference in the world.

    American Majority staff members Elizabeth Patton and Beka Romm provided most of the training.

    Activists I talked to said the training was worthwhile and beneficial.

  • Mark Parkinson, Potential Kansas Governor

    A few items, present and past, about Mark Parkinson, who may be the governor of Kansas before long:

    Parkinson prepares to fill governor role (Wichita Eagle)

    Parkinson, former GOP rising star in Kansas, could become governor as Democrat. A look at Parkinson and his career by David Klepper of the Kansas City Star.

    Mark Parkinson Wikipedia entry. At one time this was a fawning testimonial, the background section opening with “A successful businessman and former legislator, Mark is a native Kansan who grew up in Wichita and now resides in Olathe. Mark’s family has its roots in Scott City, where they still operate a family farm.”

    Ex-Kansas GOP Chair Switches Affiliation

    Parkinson’s party switch causes debate: Conservatives don’t see move as sign of pendulum shifting

    Mark Parkinson’s ex-stepmom posed in Playboy

    Sebelius Names Parkinson as Lt. Governor Candidate. Coverage from the Kansas Democratic Party website.

  • Where’s the dirtiest coal plant in Kansas?

    Right north of Lawrence, home to many of our state’s global warming alarmists, stands a very dirty coal-fired power plant. James Meier explains and describes the irony in the video commentary Most Polluting Regions Among Greatest Objectors to Coal Plants.

    Which Kansas power plant was ranked the state’s dirtiest by the Environmental Integrity Project? The answer might surprise you.

    Since, the Sebelius administration blocked the Holcomb Plant Expansion, there has been a flood of special interest money attempting to influence the political process.

    Many of the activists from Lawrence don’t want the plant built because they insist there will be environmental problems that would affect the rest of the state, all coal power plants in Kansas, except Holcomb, are located in eastern Kansas .

    Pollution knows no boundaries, and yet common sense dictates those closest to a plant will experience the most adverse effects. which power plant is the state’s dirtiest?

    Westar’s Lawrence Energy Center produced over 4 million tons of carbon dioxide and 3 million megawatts of electricity in 2006 to be ranked the 12th dirtiest in the nation per kilowatt hour.

  • Update on Kansas ethics case

    The Kansas Meadowlark has more coverage of a Kansas case with troubling implications:

    “The legal conflict in this case is between Kansas law and confidentiality of an ethics complaint, and the U.S. Constitution’s 1st amendment right to free speech. Oddly in this case, the one making the complaint, is the one being fined. This has a a chilling effect on free speech, and one’s right to bring a grievance against the government.”

    See the post More Info on Van Meteren “Free Speech” Ethics Case.

  • Proposition K hearing spotlights differences

    At Wednesday’s hearing before the Kansas House of Representatives Taxation Committee, different ideas about property taxation became clear. The subject of the hearing was Proposition K, a proposal to reform property tax appraisals in Kansas. On this day, proponents of Proposition K testified.

    Questioning by Representative Nile Dillmore, Democrat from Wichita, provided an example of these differences. Dillmore asked about “infill” development, questioning the fairness of Proposition K. What about someone building a new house across the street from older houses? The new home might have cost $200 per square foot to build, while the old home is not worth anywhere near that much. “It seems patently unfair to me that situation would exist,” he said.

    Underlying Dillmore’s question, I believe, is refusal to either understand or to buy in to one of Proposition K’s tenets, which is a move away from property taxation based on wealth. Instead, Proposition K is based on a “fixed-share” concept of funding government.

    In answering the question, Professor Art Hall, the author of Proposition K, used this illustration: Suppose the new house being built across the street from a modest house has granite counters and other fancy (and expensive) appointments, but is the same size as the older home. “What is it about that choice that makes their stake in the local public services double what their neighbors’ are?”

    Rep. Dillmore turned the answer around, asking “Why am I being asked to pay the same property values as the guy with the castle?”

    It should be noted that under Proposition K the new construction would be valued based on the size of the structure. So if Rep. Dillmmore, by using the term “castle” means a large new house, it would pay more in taxes than the smaller surrounding houses. But a new house of same size would pay the same taxes as other nearby houses, even if it is built to luxury standards.

    At other times during the hearing it was mentioned that this might encourage construction of new houses in older neighborhoods. That seems like something that proponents of older parts of cities might welcome.

    This pushback by Dillmore is typical of those who benefit from the existing system. This system produces large increases in revenue for government without the need for elected officials to raise tax rates. For those who desire and thrive on increasing government spending — this includes the public school and local government lobbies — Proposition K will shine sunlight on this practice.

    It should be noted that Dillmore’s wife is Janet Miller, a candidate for Wichita city council. It was under her leadership as president of the Wichita Board of Park Commissioners that a very expensive plan for parks in Wichita was announced. Reform measures such as Proposition K will mean that the funding for plans like these will be more transparent to citizens.

    Coverage of this Proposition K hearing is available at Kansas House hears support for property tax proposals; foes to speak today. An illustration of how the combined affect of rising appraisals and rising mill levies creates large inflows of tax revenues for a school district can be found at Wichita School District Tax Revenues Rise Rapidly.

  • Public education illustrates special interest politics

    One of the problems with government today is the proliferation of special interest groups, and then how issues are framed according to the needs of these special interest groups.

    You might think that public education would fall outside the wrangling of special interest groups. After all, it’s “for the kids,” as we’re reminded. But the public schools and their lobby are one of the fiercest special interest groups.

    Even conservatives fall into this trap and may ask “what’s in it for me?” or “what is my relationship to this issue?” Here’s an example.

    On a recent episode of the KPTS television public affairs program Ask Your Legislator, a Kansas Representative, a conservative Republican, introduced his answer to a question about Kansas education funding this way:

    “I share the gentleman’s concern about public education since my wife is a teacher. I have no children in public schools at this time because they have all grown and left the public schools.”

    Why did he feel it was necessary to introduce his remarks this way? Is he saying that because his wife works for the public schools, he has an interest in their funding? That’s characteristic of special interests and their supporters.

    Or, since he has no children that attend public schools, he is less interested in their funding? Again, evidence of special interests at work.

    This Kansas House Member has a very good ranking from the Kansas Taxpayers Network, so he has proven conservative fiscal credentials. So I hate to pick on him.

    But this serves to illustrate how entrenched special interest politics are. We don’t even recognize it.

  • Global warming alarmism: coming to a faith-based organization near you

    Has global warming alarmism become a religious issue? Judging by a recent op-ed in the Wichita Eagle, it seems so. (Moti Rieber and Connie Pace-Adair: Make clean-energy generation a priority, February 22, 2009 Wichita Eagle. Link is to article at the Eagle, or see Eagle op-ed: Clean energy is a faith issue at Rieber’s blog.)

    As always, we must recognize that the science behind global warming alarmism is not a settled issue. What else is there in this op-ed to be concerned about?

    Mr. Rieber speaks of “free and abundant wind.” Readers of his op-ed may be excused for believing that wind power generation is free of cost, as that’s the message that comes through. But wind power, we are finding out, is quite expensive. My post A Reasoned Look at Wind Power reports on a study from the Texas Public Policy Foundation that examines the entire picture of wind power in Texas.

    Or, as a piece in Friday’s Wall Street Journal stated: “Renewables simply cannot produce the large volumes of useful, reliable energy that our economy needs at attractive prices, which is exactly why government subsidizes them.”

    These expensive alternative energy programs make electricity more expensive, as evidenced by Westar’s recent rate increase request. It makes it more difficult for poor people — a group Rieber seems to care for — to pay their utility bills. This was the case last September when Westar asked for a rate increase that would amount to about $10 a month for the average homeowner. In Wichita Eagle reporting, Rep. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, D-Wichita, was quoted as saying “When I’m (campaigning) door-to-door, people say they need help with the utilities.”

    This directly contradicts Rieber when he writes “A clean-energy future … alleviates the burdens that our energy policies place on the poor and vulnerable among us.” Unless, of course, someone else pays for this expensive energy.

    Rieber also advocates programs that give “Kansans access to programs such as programmable thermostats and weatherization rebates.” This gives us another clue as to Rieber’s political goals: expansive government programs that subsidize one group at the expense of another. These subsidies might be one-time, as in the case of helping someone buy a thermostat, or ongoing, helping them to pay for expensive power.

    In a few follow-up email conversations with Mr. Rieber, some of which are available for reading on his blog, it became clear to me that he is quite comfortable with using the coercive power and force of government to achieve his personal political goals.

    Both authors of this op-ed are members of the steering committee of Kansas Interfaith Power and Light, an organization that works with faith communities. Its steering committee is largely composed of religious leaders. It’s always puzzling to me how leaders like these are willing to use the force of government — and that’s what government is — to achieve their political goals. Always from the moral high horse, of course.

  • Articles of Interest

    Socialism is Evil (Walter E. Williams) A reminder from Professor Williams of George Mason University as to why taxation is wrong, and it’s both political parties that are guilty. “The essence of socialism is the attenuation and ultimate abolition of private property rights. Attacks on private property include, but are not limited to, confiscating the rightful property of one person and giving it to another to whom it doesn’t belong. When this is done privately we call it theft. When it’s done collectively we use the euphemisms: income transfers or redistribution. It’s not just left-wingers and Democrats who call for and admire socialism but right-wingers and Republicans as well.”

    Luck has played a key role in Sebelius’ political ascent (Steve Kraske, Kansas City Star). From 1994 to the present, how events shaped the political career of Kathleen Sebelius. This reminded me of Fletcher Bell, whose story is reported in At the Bar; Lifting a briefcase can be a terrific strain. But a little cash can ease the pain.

    Exploring a ‘Deep Web’ That Google Can’t Grasp (New York Times) Naive Internet users often think that using a search engine like Google returns all available information about the topic. But that’s far from true. For example, the Sedgwick County website lets you search for property tax information by entering an address or range of addresses. But entering a Wichita street address into Google won’t find this data — you have to do that at the Sedgwick County website itself. This information is part of the “deep web” that search engines can’t access. Even though Google now has over one trillion web addresses in its database, it’s thought this is just a fraction of all information on the web.

    Educational patchwork: States should cooperate on ending the glaring inconsistencies among academic standards (Las Vegas Sun). “A new study has confirmed what many critics of the No Child Left Behind federal education law have said all along, that many school districts judged as failures would be judged as successes if only they were located in a different state.” This article calls attention to the difference in standards among states.

    Governors v. Congress: The stimulus sets a long-term budget trap for the states (Wall Street Journal). “Mr. Perry [Texas Governor] sent a letter to President Obama last week warning that Texas may refuse certain stimulus funds. ‘If this money expands entitlements, we will not accept it. This is exactly how addicts get hooked on drugs,’ he says.” The danger, of course, being that just as states get used to higher levels of spending, the federal stimulus finds stop flowing. Some Kansas legislators have expressed concern. Governor Sebelius? Her recent column says the stimulus is “the action we need to put America back to work.” She’s already put together a task force for planning how to spend the stimulus funds, and was quoted in the Lawrence Journal-World thusly ““Though the timeline for enactment of this stimulus package is unclear, it is crucial that we begin planning for implementation of the Act now, to ensure funds directed to Kansas are used most effectively within the framework of the legislation.”

    States put spending details online (USA Today). Highlights that Kansas was “the first state to pass a law requiring creation of a website detailing state expenditures in 2007.” Legislators responsible for this breakthrough in Kansas are Kasha Kelly and Tim Huelskamp. Also, video at Rep. Kasha Kelly discusses transparency in government.

  • In Wichita, let’s disclose everything. I mean everything.

    A follow-up post is at at Editorial Board Pen Names at the Wichita Eagle.

    In an Wichita Eagle Editorial Blog post, Rhonda Holman calls for more disclosure for groups that send mailings that “dodge campaign finance disclosure law by deftly telling people how to vote without using the words ‘vote for’ or ‘vote against.’” (Treat campaign ads the same)

    A few points:

    Holman’s target is quite selective. As shown in my post On the Wichita Eagle Editorial Board, Partisanship Reigns from right before last election day, she’s willing to overlook the Eagle’s own political contributions and the use of taxpayer money to fund election campaigns when she agrees with the causes.

    And, why the need for a law when, as Holman writes “Kansans aren’t fooled by the ads and mailings”?

    Then, wouldn’t a lot of Wichita Eagle readers like to know some of the financial details behind the Eagle’s political endorsements, say perhaps Holman’s salary? Heck, I’d be satisfied if she’d start using her real — or should I say entire — name when making political endorsements.