Kansas Watchdog Archives - Page 4 of 5 Voice For Liberty

Apr

There are a lot of government employees

Two recent articles -- one national in scope, the other covering only Kansas -- tell us why our budgets are so bloated and why the private sector is struggling to survive. Kansas Watchdog reports "In February more than one in five non-farm employees in Kansas worked for government." This is government all levels. Why is this a problem? Reporter Paul Soutar explains: Malcolm Harris, a professor of finance at Friends University in Wichita, said the level of government employment is an indicator of a bigger problem, “It tells me that we’ve got a lot of our resources going into government.”…

Feb

By Bob Weeks

Affordable Airfares audit embarrassing to Wichita

Last week's release of a report produced by the Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit is an embarrassment to City of Wichita elected officials and staff, the Kansas Regional Area Economic Partnership, and the Wichita State University Center for Economic Development and Business Research. The audit found that economic development claims of the Kansas Affordable Airfares program are significantly overstated. This program pays a subsidy to discount airlines providing service in Kansas, primarily Airtran Airways in Wichita. The primary finding of the report is this: "Overall, the program appears to have had the desired effect. Since Wichita’s original affordable airfare…

Jan

By Bob Weeks

In Kansas, school reformers not wanted

Paul Soutar of Kansas Watchdog has found that some members of local school boards who ask for information face pushback and opposition as they try to exercise the type of oversight that many people want. Many people, that is, except those within the public school system. For them, board members are expected to be compliant and unquestioning. Kansas Public School Governance: Reformers Need Not Apply By Paul Soutar An expert on school policy seems to have summed up what’s going on around the country, including right here in Kansas. “Even if by some miracle a dissenter can slip onto the…

Jan

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Tuesday January 18, 2011

Education reformer to speak in Kansas. Next week the Kansas Policy Institute hosts education reform expert Dr. Matthew Ladner at several events in Kansas. In Wichita, he will speak at a free breakfast event on Tuesday January 25th. Information on that event and those in Topeka and Overland Park can be found at Kansas Policy Institute Upcoming Events. Ladner, of the Goldwater Institute, will speak on the topic "Good to Great -- Lessons for Kansas from Florida's education revolution." Florida has been at the forefront of education reform in recent years, according to a study by EducationNext. Kansas, on the…

Jan

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Thursday January 6, 2011

State GOP chief to speak in Wichita. This Friday (January 7th) Amanda Adkins, who is Chair of the Kansas Republican Party, will speak at the Wichita Pachyderm Club. The topic is "Conservative Leadership Now -- 2020: Building Long-term Political Infrastructure for the State of Kansas." The public is welcome and encouraged to attend Wichita Pachyderm meetings. For more information click on Wichita Pachyderm Club. Upcoming speakers include Bob Lamke, Director of the Sedgwick County Division of Public Safety on January 14th, and Ed Flentje, Professor at the Hugo Wall School of Urban and Public Affairs at Wichita State University, will…

Dec

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday December 27, 2010

This week at Wichita City Council. This week, as is the usual practice for the fourth Tuesday of each month, the agenda for the Wichita City Council features only consent items. These consent items are thought -- at least by someone -- to be of routine and non-controversial nature, and the council votes on them in bulk as a single item, unless a council member wishes to "pull" an item for discussion and possibly a separate vote. One such consent item is "Payment for Settlement of Claim -- Estate of Christopher Perkins." As Brent Wistrom reports in the Wichita Eagle's,…

Dec

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Wednesday December 1, 2010

Tax incentives questioned. In a commentary in Site Selection Magazine, Daniel Levine lays out the case that tax incentives that states use to lure or keep jobs are harmful, and the practice should end. In Incentives and the Interstate Competition for Jobs he writes: "Despite overwhelming evidence that state and local tax incentives are having little to no positive effect on promoting real economic growth anywhere in the country, states continue to up the ante with richer and richer incentive programs. ... there are real questions as to whether the interstate competition for jobs is a wise use of anyone’s…

Nov

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Friday November 12, 2010

Dilts drops campaign for city council. Jason Dilts has announced that he is ending his campaign for a position on the Wichita City Council. He had been running for the district 4 position currently held by Paul Gray, who is precluded from running again by the city's term limit law. While Dilts' politics are liberal and might have been expected to depart from those of the incumbent, Gray voted for nearly every spending measure that came before the council. ... Dilts' departure leaves this district without any publicly declared candidates. The filing deadline for city and school board elections is…

Sep

By Bob Weeks

In Left’s attack on Koch Industries, facts sometimes don’t matter

Sometimes in politics hatred runs so deep that facts simply don't matter. We saw an example of this Wednesday in Overland Park, Kansas as a group of two "theatrical protesters" sought to inform attendees at an Americans for Prosperity rally about what they thought was the true nature of that organization. Their argument, presented in a handout paid for by the Kansas Democratic Party and given to attendees, went like this: First: "My friends at Americans for Prosperity can be a little shy -- which is why they've outsourced the job of letting you know who they really are to…

Jun

By Bob Weeks

Kansas judicial retention election attracts attention

Kansas Watchdog's Earl Glynn reports on the fund-raising and politics surrounding Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol A. Beier and the retention election she faces this year. Normally these judicial retention elections are not newsworthy, although perhaps they should be. This year's retention election for Justice Beier, however, is attracting attention. What's interesting to me is the state's legal establishment rallying around a justice that it had an outsized role in selecting. Kansas University law professor Stephen J. Ware was researched and written extensively on how the method of judicial selection in Kansas concentrates power in the hands of the state's…