Voice For Liberty

Tag: Politics

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday November 8, 2010

    Case for private beautification. Paul Marcotte of Wichita writes in with a way the City of Wichita could reduce capital costs and on-going costs: “Why is it that when we do street work in Wichita, that we have to decorate the center of the streets with landscaping? That includes the 12 feet or so on each side of the curbs. I see tree crews out all over Wichita cutting back or down the trees that have grown either out into the streets and obstruct traffic, or grown up into the power lines. The power company sends out a tree planting guideline with my bill that asks not to plant trees under the lines but we do it on every new project in Wichita. Also, the landscaping in the middle of the lanes in unnecessary. It ensures that someone will have to be hired to take care of that landscaping. I asked the City of Wichita about this and they said that there aren’t enough trees in Wichita and they had to beautify the city. Have they ever seen an aerial view of the city? There are more than enough trees. We don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to landscape the streets of Wichita. Streets should be functional, not beautiful. Let the 400,000 or so citizens of Wichita beautify the city. They already do, at their own expense.”

    Airport security gone awry. Mike Smith, who usually writes about weather, climate and science on his blog Meteorological Musings, also has some good posts about airport security. He refers to it as it as “‘security theatre’ — designed to make us feel secure without actually making us secure.” It’s a violation of dignity, too. After a woman complained of a pat down search, an airport representative said: “I think this is the first time that I’ve heard of anybody that didn’t enjoy the experience.” Pilots don’t like it, with their advocacy group objecting to “needless privacy invasion and potential health risks caused by the AIT [nude imaging] body scanners. Smith concludes: “It is time to stop this madness and this threat to civil liberties. Dial the passenger part of airport security back to where it was prior to September 11, keep the screening of checked luggage, and increase the scrutiny of parcels shipped on passenger aircraft and the people who service passenger aircraft. Doing so would actually make us safer than we are now.”

    Rasmussen key polls. It seems the the U.S. voting public is a surly lot without a lot of hope for the future, despite the results of the election. “Most voters are not confident that President Obama can work with the new Republican majority in the House to do what’s best for the American people.” More here. “Most voters say today’s election is a referendum on President Obama’s agenda and that he should change course if Republicans win control of the House. But most also don’t expect him to make that change.” More here. Finally, “A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds, in fact, that 59% of Likely U.S. Voters think it is at least somewhat likely that most voters will be disappointed with Republicans in Congress before the next national elections. That includes 38% who say it is Very Likely.?” The details of this poll are here.

    Pelosi to seek leadership position When you’re used to wielding a big gavel, changes comes only with difficulty, it seems. Writes the Wall Street Journal: “Ms. Pelosi’s announcement came as a surprise after an election that saw her party lose 60 House seats, with a handful of races still too close to call. Past House speakers have left Congress entirely after similar drubbings, and some Democratic critics had called on Ms. Pelosi to step aside.” Many conservative Democrats — Blue Dogs — retired or were defeated, so the Democratic caucus is more liberal than before, notes the Journal. “‘This was an earthquake of an election,’ said Rep. Jim Matheson (D., Utah), chairman of the Blue Dog Coalition. ‘When you suffer this kind of loss, you’ve got to shake up your leadership.”

  • In state legislatures, Republicans make gains

    In the 88 state legislative bodies that held elections this week, Democrats held a big advantage over Republicans. 52 bodies were under Democratic control, with 33 in Republican hands. (Two are evenly split, and one is non-partisan.)

    After the election, the situation is nearly exactly reversed, with Republicans in control of 52 bodies, and Democrats, 31. The New York and Oregon senates are still undecided at this moment.

    According to analysis from Ballotpedia, an almanac of state politics, in 27 states both houses now have Republican majorities. 17 have Democratic majorities.

    Adding in the Governor’s mansion, 20 states have the complete legislature and the governorship in Republican hands. For Democrats, the corresponding number is 11.

    The National Conference of State Legislatures has a slightly different count, and some results are still pending. But any way you look at it, the election represented a huge gain for Republicans in statehouses across the country.

    One of the ways this Republican shift will manifest itself is in the redistricting process that states will carry out soon, perhaps next year. Not only will states redraw boundaries of U.S. Congressional districts, but states will redraw their own legislative districts. Counties and cities will do so, too.

    On Congressional districts, John Fund writes in today’s Wall Street Journal that “Republicans will control the drawing of at least 195 districts. Assuming Republicans prevail in recounts and recapture control of the New York State Senate, Democrats will have total control of the process in 65 seats. The parties will share control in the drawing of another 86 seats. Eighty-eight seats will be drawn by commissions in six states.”

    Gerrymandering in CaliforniaGerrymandered Congressional district in California

    Fund notes that citizens don’t like gerrymandering — bizarrely-shaped districts drawn for the advantage of politicians. In California, Fund says that the 2000 redistricting of California went to the extreme, with the result that “Only nine of the state’s 865 legislative and congressional elections held in the years since have seen a switch in party control.”

    As Fund writes: “But at its core it allows incumbents to pick their voters, rather than having voters pick their representatives.” So in California, 61 percent of the voters decided to place redistricting authority in the hands of a citizen commission. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi opposed this idea.

  • Washington Post doesn’t care much for accuracy

    When news media make errors — even if only in opinion columns — what is the responsibility for issuing corrections? For the Washington Post, the editorial page department doesn’t seem to accept much responsibility.

    In his Washington Post column On Fox News, Election 2010 is cause for cheer, columnist Dana Milbank wrote: “To be fair and balanced, Fox brought in a nominal Democrat, pollster Doug Schoen.”

    Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly noted the error in this statement, and listed the prominent Democrats who appeared on Fox News that day: Geraldine Ferraro, Bob Beckel, Joe Trippe, Juan Williams, Kirsten Powers, Pat Caddell, and Schoen.

    Milbank must have seen at least one of these Democrats besides Schoen, as his newspaper’s website said he watched Fox News for 18 hours straight. And on a video presentation showing Milbank’s 18 hour viewing adventure, Beckel and Williams appear in the Fox News footage used to illustrate the pain Milbank endured as he watched that network all day long.

    On his show, O’Reilly said he asked Fred Hiatt, the editorial page editor of the Washington Post, about his responsibility to make sure errors like this don’t happen, or to order Milbank to write a correction. O’Reilly told his audience that Hiatt said he had no responsibility, that he did not have a problem with Milbank’s column, and that if O’Reilly wanted to write a letter they’d consider it.

    O’Reilly asked his viewers and guest Bernard Goldberg “How corrupt does it have to get?”

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Thursday November 4, 2010

    The future of politics is here, now. After noting how California reached way back to the past to elect a governor, Denis Boyles writes in National Review Online about the future, and how it’s being made right here: “If you want to see the bright and shining politics of the future, you have to go to the country’s heartland, and specifically to Kansas, a place most Democrats only know from Thomas Frank’s liberal folklore. There, the election has yielded two new congressmen — Mike Pompeo and the remarkable Tim Huelskamp — who were not created by the Tea Party movement because their politics were already ahead of that helpful wave. Here‘s a local paper’s coverage. Pompeo is a natural leader, while Huelskamp is something even more — an inspiration, maybe. (He’s briefly sketched in Superior, Nebraska). Mark these guys. Politically, they’re how it’s going to be.”

    Schools hope we won’t notice. Kansas Reporter tells of the new Kansas school funding lawsuit, filed on Election Day. Schools must have hoped that news of the filing would get swamped by election day news, which is what happened. The remedy asked for is more money, which has been shown not to work very well in terms of improving student performance … but it makes the education bureaucracy happy. I would suggest that students sue the Kansas State Department of Education for the inadequate education many have received. For a remedy, ask for things that have been shown to work: charter schools and widespread school choice.

    Kansas House Republicans. Yesterday I reported that Republicans gained 15 seats in the Kansas House of Representatives. Double-checking revealed that I had made a data entry error. The actual number of Republican gains is 16, for a composition of 92 Republicans and 33 Democrats.

    Kansas House Conservatives. In the same article it was noted that since some Kansas House Republicans — the so-called moderates or left-wing Republicans — vote with Democrats more often than not, there was a working caucus of about 55 conservatives. It is thought that conservatives picked up four seats in the August primary, bringing the number to 59. With most of the Republicans who defeated Democrats expected to join the conservative cause, it appears that conservatives now fill over 70 seats, constituting a working majority in the 125-member Kansas House of Representatives. Conservatives do not enjoy a majority of votes in the Kansas Senate, however.

    Local smoking bans still wrong. As noted in today’s Wichita Eagle, there might be a revisiting of the relatively new Kansas statewide smoking ban. Incoming Governor Sam Brownback believes that such decisions should be left to local governments, presumably counties or cities in this case. For those who believe that the proper foundation for making such decisions is unfoundering respect for property rights — plus the belief that free people can make their own decisions — it doesn’t matter much who violates these property rights.

    GOP: Unlock the American Economy Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal on spending and what Congress really needs to do: “It is conventional wisdom that what voters, tea partiers and talkers want the Republican Party to do is cut the spending. … Getting the spending under control matters a lot.” But Henninger says controlling spending is not enough: “The new GOP has to find an identity beyond the Beltway power game, a way to make the nation’s most important activity not what is going on in Washington, as now, but what is done out in the country, among the nation’s daily producers and workers. The simplest way for the Republican Party to free itself and the economy from this unending Beltway hell is by reviving a core belief of one of the country’s most successful presidents: If the government will get out of the way, Ronald Reagan argued, there’s no limit to what the American people can achieve.” Government getting out of the way was one of freshly-minted Congressman Mike Pompeo’s campaign themes. National figures are warning Republicans that they have one chance to get things right in Washington or risk losing the support they won in this election. And Pompeo urged his supporters, more than once, to hold him accountable in Washington. Maybe Raj Goyle might want to linger in Wichita for a few years to see how things work out.

  • Kansas House of Representatives, a bloodbath for Democrats

    Before yesterday’s election, conservatives in Kansas hopefully thought it might be possible to gain a working majority in the Kansas House of Representatives. The surprising result was a conservative wave larger than any election observer could have foreseen.

    Before the election, the party breakdown in the Kansas House was 76 Republicans and 49 Democrats. As 63 votes constitute a majority, it is often said that the House is a conservative body. The reality, however, is that there had been a core of about 55 conservative Republicans, meaning those who would vote against big-spending budgets and tax increases. A coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans — “left-wing Republicans,” as KansasLiberty.com describes them — worked together to pass measures like a big-spending budget, a statewide sales tax increase, and other decidedly non-conservative legislation.

    Those days may be over, at least for now.

    It appears that Republicans picked up 15 seats in the Kansas House. (Update: The number of Republican gains is 16, for a composition of 92 Republicans and 33 Democrats.) Most of the Republicans who defeated incumbent Democrats ran on an explicit platform of limited government. They can be expected to join the core of 55 conservatives to create a working majority of conservatives in the House — although you never know.

    Representative Steve Brunk, who was unopposed in his own reelection, said it was a good night not only for Republicans, but also for those who believe government should live within its means without raising taxes, and for those who believe that money belongs to taxpayers first.

    These results represent a major pushback against the statewide sales tax increase championed by Governor Mark Parkinson, who decided not to seek election to the office he holds. The “bipartisan, moderate coalition” that Parkinson often praised is gone, having been soundly rejected by voters.

    Some notable results from yesterday include Kansas House District 4 (Fort Scott and areas to its north and west), where Caryn Tyson defeated incumbent Shirley Palmer. Palmer had voted for the big-spending budget this year, but didn’t vote for the sales tax to pay for it.

    In Kansas House District 23 (Merriam and part of Shawnee), incumbent Democrat Milack Talia had also voted for the budget increase, but not the sales tax. He was defeated by Brett Hildabrand.

    In Kansas House District 16 (parts of Overland Park and Lenexa), Democrat Gene Rardin had also voted for the budget increase but not the necessary sales tax to pay for it. He was defeated by Amanda Grosserode, who organized the first tea party event in Kansas, although at that time it was billed as a “tax revolt protest.”

    In Kansas House District 97 (parts of south and southwest Wichita) incumbent Democrat Dale Swenson ran for the first time as a Democrat, having switched parties last year after representing the district since 1995 as a Republican. He lost to Les Osterman.

    Kansas House District 87 (parts of east and southeast Wichita) saw political newcomer Joseph Scapa handily take back the seat given up by Raj Goyle as he unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Congress.

    In Kansas House District 95 (parts of west and southwest Wichita) Benny Boman, who has run for the office several times before and didn’t even have a campaign website, defeated Melany Barnes, who had been appointed to fill the seat that Tom Sawyer had represented for many years.

    Kansas House District 67 (Manhattan and surrounding area) saw incumbent Democrat Tom Hawk fall to Susan Mosier.

    Going forward

    Most of the new Republican members of the Kansas House can be expected to join the conservative camp, which should give conservatives a working majority. But how these new members actually behave once in Topeka will have to be observed over time.

    After the Democrat/moderate Republican coalition got their way in the last session, there was some talk of a “coalition Speaker” — someone chosen from the moderate Republican camp. This possibility is now gone, and it is certain that the current Speaker, Mike O’Neal, will be reelected to that position without a serious challenge.

    The majority leader, however, will likely change. Ray Merrick, the current leader, may be interested in moving to the Senate to replace Jeff Colyer, who will resign to become lieutenant governor. Even if Merrick stays in the House, he is butting up against the customary term limit for majority leader. At last night’s gathering of Republican legislators in Wichita, none were willing to speculate about who is interested in becoming leader, although Arlen Siegfreid, current Speaker Pro Tem, is mentioned as in the running. Richard Carlson and John Grange are two other names mentioned as interested in this position.

    To replace Siegfried, names mentioned include Steve Brunk, Jene Vickrey, Virgil Peck, and Larry Powell.

    Peck, along with Jeff King, is mentioned as being interested in replacing Senate Majority Leader Derrick Schmidt, who will leave the Senate to become Attorney General.

    House Republican leadership also will select a new chair of the powerful Appropriations committee to replace Kevin Yoder, who is moving on to the U.S Congress.

    Other important committees in the House of Representatives that may see changes in their chairs include Taxation, should Richard Carlson become Majority Leader, and Commerce and Labor, should Brunk become Speaker Pro Tem. Federal and State Affairs was chaired by Melvin Neufeld, who was defeated in his bid for reelection.

    The House will meet on the first Monday in December to elect their leadership.

    The next legislature will also draw the new district boundaries during the redistricting process.

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Tuesday November 2, 2010

    Only conservative and Tea Party candidates cast as extreme. “Congressional Democrats and President Obama are facing voters’ wrath because of their extreme agenda over the past two years: government-run health care; massive unsupportable spending; a proposed ‘cap-and-trade’ tax on energy, higher income taxes, etc. But MRC analysts found 35 evening news stories which conveyed the Democratic spin point that conservative and Tea Party candidates are ‘extreme,’ ‘fringe,’ or ‘out of the mainstream,’ vs. ZERO stories conveying the charge that left-wing Democrats are ‘out of the mainstream.’” Also, the label “liberal” is not used as often as is “conservative,” and “ultra-liberal” was not used at all during the study period. More from the Media Research Center findings at MRC Study: “News” Media Aid Democrats’ Tea Party Trashing.

    Divisive Obama undercuts the presidency. This is the view of two Democrats, Patrick H. Caddell and Douglas E. Schoen, writing in the Washington Post: “Instead, since taking office, he has pitted group against group for short-term political gain that is exacerbating the divisions in our country and weakening our national identity. The culture of attack politics and demonization risks compromising our ability to address our most important issues — and the stature of our nation’s highest office. Indeed, Obama is conducting himself in a way alarmingly reminiscent of Nixon’s role in the disastrous 1970 midterm campaign. No president has been so persistently personal in his attacks as Obama throughout the fall.” On campaign finance, the authors say they favor complete disclosure and a reversal of Citizens United, but note that there is little evidence that there have been “improper or even unusual” activities. The authors also say that Obama’s attacks on individuals such as David H. Koch for his role in founding Americans for Prosperity are harmful and reminiscent of Richard M. Nixon’s enemies list, on which author Caddell was listed.

    Why Obama is no Roosevelt. “Whatever the outcome of today’s election, this much is clear: It will be a long time before Americans ever again decide that the leadership of the nation should go to a legislator of negligible experience — with a voting record, as state and U.S. senator, consisting largely of ‘present,’ and an election platform based on glowing promises of transcendence. A platform vowing, unforgettably, to restore us — a country lost to arrogance and crimes against humanity — to a place of respect in the world.” Continuing, the Wall Street Journal’s Dorothy Rabinowitz describes FDR’s famous “map speech” — in which he asked Americans to have a map ready while he explained developments in the world war. “No radio address then or since has ever imparted a presidential message so remarkable in its detail, complexity and faith in its audience.” write Rabinowitz. What if Obama had done the same with the health care bill?

    Left-wing echo chamber at work. A billboard message displayed by a Mike Pompeo supporter generated an instant flurry of echo messages in the left-wing blogosphere. Posts appeared on Democratic Underground, Huffington Post, Think Progress, Newsvine, Pitch Weekly, 1whp.com, and Ski Dawg’s Pound. Locally the left-wing Forward Kansas and Kansas Free Press chipped in, and the Wichita Eagle Editorial Blog threw some red meat to its band of regulars. This issue made it onto left-wing television, where MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow commented on it using her thick-as-pine sap snarkiness — not that many people take Maddow seriously. Even the Goyle campaign, in its fundraising email based on Maddow’s show, used scare quotes when describing her program as “analysis.” (Scare quotes, according to Wikipedia, “are quotation marks placed around a single word or phrase to indicate that the word or phrase does not signify its literal or conventional meaning.” When used as Goyle’s email used them — to indicate scorn, sarcasm, irony, disagreement, or disdain — they might be called “sneer quotes.”)

    Kansas advance ballots analyzed. Earl Glynn of Kansas Watchdog contributes analysis of advance ballots cast in Kansas. The table breaks down the numbers by county and party. Voters registered as Republican returned about twice as many ballots as Democratic voters. Getting Republicans to vote early was a major initiative of the Brownback Clean Sweep program.

    Criminal Justice Coordinating Council a Pachyderm topic. This Friday (November 5) the Wichita Pachyderm Club features Bob Lamkey, who is director of the Sedgwick County Division of Public Safety. His topic will be “An Overview of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC). The public is welcome at Wichita Pachyderm meetings. For more information click on Wichita Pachyderm Club.

    Topeka TIF district behind on taxes. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports in College Hill taxes go unpaid: But developer says project is gaining new momentum. Locally, Wichita has a TIF district in our own College Hill neighborhood which is also behind on paying its property taxes.

    Wednesdays in Wiedemann. Tomorrow Wichita State University’s Lynne Davis presents an organ recital as part of the “Wednesdays in Wiedemann” series. These recitals, which have no admission charge, start at 5:30 pm and last about 30 minutes. The location is Wiedemann Recital Hall (map) on the campus of Wichita State University. For more about Davis and WSU’s Great Marcussen Organ, see my story from earlier this year.

  • Last-minute Kansas fourth district campaign finance

    Analysis of late campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission finds Republican Mike Pompeo raising more money than rival Democrat Raj Goyle in the campaign for United States Congress from the fourth district of Kansas.

    The candidates filed reports covering the period October 1, 2010 through October 13, 2010. These reports showed Pompeo raising $153,535 and Goyle $92,491 during that time frame. Ending cash balances on this report were Pompeo with $500,939 and Goyle with $133,095.

    Since then, the candidates have filed several “48 hour notice” reports. The total of these reports through October 31 have Pompeo raising $141,250 and Goyle $84,101.

    Pompeo also leads Goyle in polls. See Pompeo increases lead over Goyle in Kansas fourth.

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Sunday October 31, 2010

    Wichita city council this week. The agenda for November 2 includes two instances of corporate welfare in the name of economic development (Approval of Forgivable Loan Agreement, Nex-Tech Processing and Approval of Economic Development Incentives, TECT Power, Inc.), an ordinance that cancels the Save-A-Lot TIF district, and revisions to Wichita’s Community Improvement District policy. I’m told that the last item may be deferred at the request of some developers, which — if I were a cynic — might cause me to wonder who is really running things at city hall. When the city had a meeting to discuss the CID policy, the meeting was stacked almost exclusively with those who have an interest in extracting as much economic subsidy as possible from the city.

    Mayor Brewer speaking on Save-A-Lot. On the October 24 edition of the KNSS Radio program Issues 2010, Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer spoke about the Save-A-Lot TIF district and what happened at the Sedgwick County Commission. Brewer said “The city said, okay, you can charge an additional two cents, if that’s what you want to do … But what ended up happening is the county voted against it and said no, we don’t want to let them charge themselves another two cents, and so it was voted down.” The “two cents” the mayor is referring to comes from the Community Improvement District that the city passed to benefit the Save-A-Lot store’s developers. Where the mayor is mistaken is in the role of the Sedgwick County Commission and the action that body took. The Kansas law regarding CIDs — the mayor’s “two cents” — gives no role to counties. Instead, the county commission voted to cancel the TIF district that the city created at the same time it created the CID. Now I can understand how people make misstatements when speaking on live television or radio. But the mayor seemed quite sure of himself. Host Steve McIntosh didn’t pick up on this error. KNSS shows have had other quality control problems recently, as when a host and guest discussed Wichita city council member Paul Gray and his prospects for reelection. Gray can’t run again due to term limits.

    Shop this way. Before addressing the proposed Planeview Save-A-Lot store, the mayor said that regarding the existing Save-A-Lot store at 13th and Grove, the city had to educate people in the surrounding area that they couldn’t buy just a loaf of bread or one item at at time, they had to buy an entire week’s groceries.

    Rasmussen tells us. “With less than a week to go before midterm elections, 32% of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction.” See Right Direction or Wrong Track. “Just 12% of Likely U.S. Voters now think Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Sixty-one percent (61%) rate their performance as poor. More at Congressional Performance. “With midterm congressional elections just a week away, the number of voters who view Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Very Unfavorably have reached their highest levels yet.” See Congressional Favorability Ratings.

    Kansas high schools turn out graduates, but many are unprepared. At the end of a Lawrence Journal-World article on Kansas community colleges, “Responding to a question Thursday, [Jacqueline Vietti, president of Butler County Community College in El Dorado] noted that K-12 schools perhaps needed to place less emphasis on tests and more on the learning process and pointed to what she saw as ‘a disconnect between ACT scores and the preparedness of students’ coming to Butler County…. In a later interview, she acknowledged that 65 percent of recent high school graduates coming to her school require developmental work in math, English or reading.” This tracks with my reporting from earlier this year, which found that “only 26 percent of Kansas students that take the ACT test are ready for college-level coursework in all four areas that ACT considers.”

    Government or private sector. In today’s Wichita Eagle opinion line: “Why would anyone want to take the power away from the government, which is an elected body, elected by the people, and turn the power over to the private sector, which is elected by no one and in which very few have a say?” I might point out to this person that private sector firms must meet the test and demands of consumer preferences each and every day. Politicians, on the other hand, face the voters only every few years when their terms are up. Furthermore, in the private sector, I can choose to buy my produce at Dillons, canned goods at Wal-Mart, snacks at Target, meats at the carneceria, etc. In government, we usually have to choose between Candidate A and B, each in their entirety. We can’t select the things we like about each candidate as we can in the private sector and free markets.

    MSNBC’s Olbermann unhinged. “On Wednesday’s Countdown show, during a 21-minute ‘Special Comment,’ MSNBC host Keith Olbermann warned American voters against electing Tea Party Republicans to power, whom he suggested are ‘unqualified, unstable individuals’ who will take America ‘backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the ‘30s, or backward to hanging union organizers.’ He then made a play off MSNBC’s ‘Lean Forward’ slogan to disparage the Tea Party movement as he declared: ‘Vote backward, vote Tea Party.’” More, including video, at Newsbusters.

    Wichita Eagle to be protested. A little birdie told me: “I have heard that a group calling themselves Women Against Violence plans to picket the Wichita Eagle building on Monday from 11:30 am until 1:30 pm and again at 4:30 pm until 6:30 pm showing their opposition to the Eagle’s endorsement of a political candidate who allegedly assaulted his wife.”

  • Democrats block me in Wichita

    This afternoon I attended a Democratic party rally at Old Town Square in Wichita. The featured speaker was candidate for United States Congress from the fourth district of Kansas Raj Goyle. I hadn’t expected to be blocked, but that’s what happened.

    Democrats blocking in WichitaDemocrats blocking me in Wichita. “It’s freedom, dude” was his explanation as to why he blocked me.

    Blocking is when someone who is considered an intruder or spy is prevented from taking photographs or video. Typically the people who might be blocked are “trackers,” people that follow a candidate and record every word they can, hoping to record something they can use against the candidate.

    I’m not a tracker. I’ve been to only one other Raj Goyle event. But this afternoon it was made clear that I was not welcome at the Democratic Party event that featured candidate Goyle.

    I don’t know if any meaning should be given to the fact that it was a Brandon Whipple sign that was used as the blocking tool. (Sorry for the illegibility of the sign. I’m not quite familiar with the limitations of the HDR processing on my new Apple iPhone 4.) I don’t know if Goyle himself would have approved of the blocking. I’ve been critical of his policies and generally approving of those of his major party opponent, Mike Pompeo. But I don’t think he would have approved of the blocking. We shook hands and said hello before the event started.

    For what it’s worth, the Goyle campaign employs a tracker. I’ve not seen him be blocked at any Pompeo events that I’ve attended, although it may have happened. But I’ve seen the tracker allowed to take his video unmolested even at events that took place on private property, where the Pompeo campaign would have been entirely within its rights to remove the tracker from the premises. Today I was blocked on public property.

    I’ve asked the Pompeo campaign if they’ve used trackers, and they declined to answer.

    When I asked the young man who blocked me if he was, in fact, blocking me, he said “It’s freedom, dude!” Which, I think, tells us a lot about some young people, Democrats, and their warped concept of freedom and liberty.

    Update: Someone has told me that the blocker probably committed a crime by attempting — and partially succeeding — to prevent me from enjoying a public event held in a public space.