Voice For Liberty

Tag: Politics

  • Political scientist to address Wichita Pachyderms

    On Friday March 12 Dr. Ken Ciboski will address members and guests of the Wichita Pachyderm Club. Ciboski is professor of political science at Wichita State University and an observer of local, state, and national politics. His topic will be “Political and Economic Trends.”

    All are welcome to attend 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). Park in the garage just across Broadway and use the sky walk to enter the Bank of America building. Bring your parking garage ticket to be stamped and your parking fee will be only $1.00. There is usually some metered and free street parking nearby.

  • Wichita aviation leaders endorse Pompeo

    At a luncheon meeting on February 25, Wichita aviation leaders — dubbed “Wingmen for Pompeo” — endorsed Mike Pompeo for the Republican Party nomination for the United States House of Representatives from the fourth district of Kansas.

    In a recorded video appearance, Spirit Aerosystems Chief Executive Officer Jeff Turner said that Pompeo is the kind of representative we need in these difficult and turbulent times. He said he’s known Pompeo for several years, and found him to be a man of integrity who understands business in general and the aviation business in particular.

    Bill Boisture Jr., chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, said that after meeting Pompeo, he was convinced that he understood business, investment and risk-taking, and had similar ideas to his on the size of government. He added that this election will be directional to our country for several years.

    In his remarks, Pompeo said we are in serious times. Washington has too few people who have run businesses, and that played a role in his decision to run for Congress. He said we are short about 10,000 to 13,000 jobs in the Kansas fourth district compared to just a short time ago. Demand for airplanes built here is down to levels not seen in a long time. This has a tremendous impact on the local economy and workers and their families.

    Pompeo said that when you’re in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging. He mentioned President Obama’s remarks last year making it politically incorrect to fly in business aircraft. His policies have also made credit scarce and business people unwilling to invest, he said. Businesses don’t know what’s coming next from Washington he said, citing the health care summit taking place and the effort to federalize one-sixth of the nation’s economy. The burden of taxation and regulation are harming business, too. “There are 32 agencies that keep our drinking water safe, just at the federal level.” When it comes time to grow again, will new jobs be in America or somewhere else where business can be more competitive?

    Pompeo said this his belief is that the federal governments’ role should be “intensely limited,” mentioning national defense as one role. He said that he recognizes that he, as a Member of Congress, can not create jobs. High taxes, he said, make capital go somewhere else, and that takes jobs away with it. He added there’s a place for a strong Federal Aviation Administration to create air traffic infrastructure.

    Wichita has an entrepreneurial tradition, Pompeo said, and liberals and progressives in Washington believe they know better than we do about business. Their deal of offering security in exchange for control results in a false security.

    Closing his remarks, Pompeo said that “compromise is something you do about the things that don’t matter a whole lot.” The things that matter — jobs, families, schools — are things he will not compromise on.

    Jack Pelton, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer for Cessna Aircraft Company, said that our next congressman needs to understand business, capitalism, and the importance of national security, things he said Pompeo understands. He added that the values and integrity of Pompeo and his wife Susan also convinced him to support Pompeo’s candidacy.

  • Political celebrities stump for Anderson, Kelsey

    Recently two political celebrities visited Wichita to campaign for candidates for the Republican Party nomination for the United States House of Representatives from the fourth district of Kansas.

    Joe the Plumber for Jim Anderson

    Joe the Plumber, who gained national attention for his questioning of candidate Barack Obama, appeared in Wichita on January 28 at a town hall meeting on behalf of Jim Anderson.

    Speaking before — should I refer to him as “Joe” or “Plumber”? — Anderson said he was born in Boise. After college, he started working for Eastern Airlines as a pilot, finishing his career with ATA Airlines. His job brought him to Wichita, but then his job was eliminated. Although offered a position in another town, he and his wife decided to stay in Wichita and raise their three children here.

    Anderson said he has always wanted to make a contribution to government, and that’s why he’s running for Congress. He said he can’t take it anymore watching our country “slip down the slope into socialism.” When the fourth district position became open, he said this is the time to run for office.

    Anderson said he is a Reagan Republican and believes in limited government based on the enumerated powers in the Constitution. Everything else, he said, is supposed to be relegated to the states, but that’s not the way it is right now. He said he supports the Fair Tax, which he said would be the best way to generate revenue for a limited government.

    2010 is a turning point for our country, he said, and he told the audience that it’s crucial to stand up and speak loudly.

    Joe the Plumber said he’s received many requests to campaign for candidates across the country, but he’s being selective in who he decides to campaign for. It’s about the individual, and not party politics, he said.

    When he speaks across the country, often at tea parties, Joe said he speaks on four issues: individual responsibility, accountability, education, and the Constitution.

    On individual responsibility, Joe said that our political leaders and celebrities are quick to lay blame elsewhere when caught doing something bad. “Freedom means responsibility,” he said, and Americans have accepted responsibility for a long time. The tea party movement is evidence of people taking responsibility, he said.

    Joe said that parents need to take more responsibility for their children’s education.

    Joe said that Jim Anderson truly wants to represent the fourth district. It’s a big job and responsibility, he said, being a public servant. He said that Anderson wants to serve his fellow man, and there’s no higher calling than that.

    Answering a question from the audience, Anderson said that state’s rights are very important to him. He said that we should be running our own state, rather than tolerating so much federal government intervention. He said he supports term limits for federal elected officeholders. He said he will not vote for any earmarks.

    Mick Huckabee for Dick Kelsey

    Former Arkansas governor, presidential candidate, and winner of the 2008 Kansas Republican Caucus Mike Huckabee appeared in Wichita on February 24 on bahelf of candidate Dick Kelsey.

    Before Huckabee’s appearance, Kelsey spoke about his campaign for Congress. “Leadership does make a difference,” he said, and our country is in need of leadership that is willing to take a stand and find solutions to tough problems. In the campaign there are four conservatives, and Kelsey said he is the only one who has a proven voting record. The type of experience he has gained, he said, will be necessary to be effective in Washington.

    In his remarks, Huckabee told the audience of over 200 why it is important to elect Kelsey to Congress. He said he’s come to know Kelsey, and has talked to people who have served in the Kansas Legislature with him. Huckabee said Kelsey is a principled individual who has convictions. He’s not bull-headed, though, Huckabee said, as Kelsey knows that it is the responsibility of legislators to make things function.

    Huckabee added that Kelsey brings experience to the race, and that he has a record that is consistent with what he’s campaigning on. “You will not find him saying things as a Congressional candidate that are polar opposite of the way he voted here in Kansas. … That alone is the best reason that I can possibly think of to elect him.”

    Huckebee said that although times may be tough now, America will rebound. He said America will see a political and spiritual revival. Electing people like Dick Kelsey is part of making this happen.

    He also said that those who value low taxes and those who are worried about the national debt should vote for Kelsey, as should those who believe in the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.

    Answering a question, Huckabee said that Republicans will take back the House of Representatives in this year’s elections, and they have a good shot at taking back the Senate, or getting close. The Democrats are in a state of disarray, he added. Republicans need to have a clear and concise message, as they shouldn’t assume they’ll win just because voters are angry at Democrats. He added that third party conservative or libertarian candidates mean defeat for Republicans.

    Huckabee said he hasn’t decided on another campaign for the presidency, saying he hasn’t ruled it out.

  • Kansas Republican online efforts lag

    If online political activity has any value, Kansas Republicans aren’t providing much. Many Kansas Republican websites and online outreach efforts are stale and lagging behind in providing timely and quality information.

    As of today, the most recent post on The Kansas Trunkline (promoted as “The Official Blog of the Kansas Republican Party”) is dated November 30, 2009. That’s coming up on three months old. If blogs have any defining characteristics, one is frequent updates with timely material. That’s not happening here.

    This blog is promoted on the front page of the Kansas Republican Party website. That site doesn’t fare much better with regard to timely updates. The most recent news item is from January 25. The Twitter feed displayed there has four posts for all of 2010. The site doesn’t have accurate information about who is — and how to contact — the executive director of the party.

    On the Kansas Republican Party’s Facebook page, the most recent post is from December 1, 2009. The Kansas Young Republicans Facebook page, however, does better.

    Even efforts using cutting-edge technology from campaigns aren’t doing better. SamForGov — that’s Sam Brownback’s campaign application for the iPhone — has an event from November 2, 2009 as the latest campaign event. Under “Campaign Updates,” the only item is a news release from September 3, 2009. The front page of the app still displays an invitation to Kansas Days. That event took place nearly four weeks ago.

    Some local Kansas Republican Party organizations do better. The Johnson County Republican Party seems to be up-to-date with useful information. The Sedgwick County counterpoint doesn’t fare as well.

    The Kansas Democratic Party has a revamped blog that allows for “community bloggers,” although so far only one has signed up. The blog has 10 posts so far for February. Not exactly a fount of information, but better than the stale Republican blog and websites.

    There’s a saying: “You are who Google says you are.” Google, of course, finds relevant websites based on what people say they’re looking for. But when Google (and other search engines) returns these websites with their stale news and out-of-date events, people lose confidence in the organizations that created the sites. Having visited once and finding little of value, people are not likely to return again.

    This is the case if Google even returns these sites in response to searches, as freshness and frequency of updates is thought to be a major factor Google uses in deciding which sites to display to users.

    As a Republican activist, I urge those in charge of these sites to make a commitment to providing fresh, timely, and relevant content. Part of how to accomplish this is to avoid delegating responsibility for the websites and blogs to “tech guys.” That’s because when it takes communication with technical support — and the possibility of receiving an invoice — to update a website or blog, the hassle factor means it doesn’t get done.

    Instead, party leaders, staff, volunteers, and activists need to know themselves how to update websites and blogs. This requires that these sites be built upon technology platforms — like WordPress blogs, for example — that allow for and encourage end-user updates and maintenance. It also takes a commitment by leadership and staff to be trained, and then ongoing disciplined effort to keep the sites updated.

  • ‘For Liberty’ to be shown in Wichita

    On Sunday, April 18, the Wichita State University chapter of Young Americans for Liberty is showing the film For Liberty: How the Ron Paul Revolution Watered the Withered Tree of Liberty. The film’s description is:

    As the 2007-08 presidential campaign cycle offered up the usual slate of Washington insiders, Ron Paul, an obscure Congressman from Texas brought an alternative voice that challenged the political establishment.

    Advocating a philosophy of sound money, a non-interventionist foreign policy, strict Constitutionalism, and individual liberty, Dr. Paul inspired a unique grassroots movement unmatched in American history — the repercussions of which continue to reverberate today and into the future of the American psyche.

    For Liberty: How the Ron Paul Revolution Watered the Withered Tree of Liberty follows this historic campaign from the perspective of grassroots activists, and showcases the unique, often bizarre, yet groundbreaking projects they undertook as they brushed aside traditional campaign methodology.

    The film will be shown Sunday, April 18 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Wichita State University CAC Theater. The event’s Facebook page is “For Liberty” Screening.

  • Your Kansas Tax Dollars: Efficient, Effective & Targeted?

    Following is a press release concerning an event of interest this Saturday in Arkansas City.

    Arkansas City (February 16, 2010) – “In any economy, but especially our current economy, the use of tax dollars is an issue every Kansas taxpayer should be interested and involved in. As we visit with citizens, we’re finding they do not truly understand how their state tax dollars are spent. Unfortunately this makes it difficult for them to participate in the discussion over how to solve our state’s fiscal crisis, and we certainly want and need their input. We are excited about the opportunity to have a broad public dialogue regarding use of tax dollars,” said Steve Abrams and Kasha Kelley, 32nd District Senator and 79th District Representative respectively.
    (more…)

  • Americans for Prosperity model budget to be presented

    This Friday Derrick Sontag, Kansas State Director for Americans for Prosperity, will address members and guests of the Wichita Pachyderm Club. His topic is “An update on the budget shortfall in Kansas, how we got there through excessive spending, and how our state’s tax burden compares with neighboring states.”

    AFP’s model budget for Kansas is titled Commonsense Budget Proposal. It contains “a roadmap for legislators seeking to make Kansas government more efficient — and less costly — without turning to Kansas taxpayers,” according to Sontag.

    All are welcome to attend 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). Park in the garage just across Broadway and use the sky walk to enter the Bank of America building. Bring your parking garage ticket to be stamped and your parking fee will be only $1.00. There is usually some metered and free street parking nearby.

  • Eric Payne, Joseph Scapa address county Republicans

    Last night’s meeting of the Sedgwick County Republican Party featured speeches by two candidates for the Republican party nomination for the Kansas House of Representatives from the 87th district. Democrat Raj Goyle is the incumbent, and he is not seeking re-election.

    Eric Payne (campaign website) and Joseph Scapa (campaign website not available) each spoke for about 15 minutes. Both are young businessmen running for office for the first time. The filing deadline is not until June, so more Republicans could enter this race. No other party has announced a candidate. Payne has been running for six months and has raised substantial campaign funds. Scapa announced his candidacy at the end of January.

    Eric Payne 2010-02-18 Eric Payne

    Payne, who works in his family’s propane business, told of growing up in Salina and graduating from Kansas State University. He said that after building a house in the 87th district, he became concerned about Goyle’s representation of the district.

    Payne said that Kansas government needs to be run as he does his business, keeping expenses low and running as efficiently as possible. He noted the all-time high number of Kansas government employees, presently numbering 40,000. He noted that Kansas government spending has increased rapidly since 2004 while revenue increased at a slower pace, which he called unsustainable. This happened while the Kansas economy and population remained relatively stable, he said.

    He spoke in favor of limited government, mentioning four core principles: lowering the tax burden, refocusing government agencies on their core missions, improving efficiency and transparency in spending, and promoting a common sense government.

    Payne said that Kansas needs to be a leader in attracting business and driving our economy through entrepreneurship and productivity, two concepts he said were not foreign to Wichitans.

    He called for simplification of the Kansas tax structure, one that would have low rates on a broad base.

    Payne said he is a pro-life Republican, committed to protecting traditional family values. He supports the second amendment right to self-defense.

    Joseph Scapa 2010-02-18Joseph Scapa

    Scapa said he was born and raised in Wichita, attending North High School, Wichita State University, and Tabor College. He was president of Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs at WSU. He said he learned about marketing and business during this time. After working in Management for three years, he has worked as a real estate agent for ten years. He has also served as a substitute teacher in the Wichita public school system.

    Scapa said the he’s been planning to run for office for about two years. He said he is a Todd Tiahrt conservative. He wants to make Kansas one of the most business- and family-friendly states. He said the current representative of the 87th district doesn’t represent the values of the district.

    He said we should reduce the size of government, which has increased the tax burden on individuals and business. We’ve moved too far away from the Constitution, he said, and we need to return to sustainable government and the Constitution.

    People need to know that their tax dollars are being spent wisely, he said, and this requires transparency and integrity.

    Reducing the tax burden would help create jobs, and he said he would sign a no new tax pledge.

    He said that he is in favor of consolidating school districts to reduce costs. Other agencies could be consolidated where there are duplication of services. He referenced the quote: “Nobody spends someone else’s money as carefully as he spends his own,” saying that if we did that with the Kansas budget, we’d start cutting a lot of things.

    On education, Scapa said we need to produce students that are competitive in the job market. Parents need to control the direction of their children’s education, and he supports school vouchers. He said that financial literacy is important to teach. Citing his experience helping young couples buy their first home, he said this is not being taught in schools.

    Scapa said he believes in the second amendment and is strongly pro-life.

  • Mary Ann Glendon to appear in Wichita for Pompeo

    Mary Ann Glendon, who was the United States Ambassador to the Holy See and is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, will appear in Wichita for two events on behalf of the Mike Pompeo campaign for the Republican party nomination for the United States House of Representatives from the fourth district of Kansas.

    Last year Glendon turned down an award from Notre Dame University when she learned that President Barack Obama would be receiving an honorary degree at the same time.

    There will be two events on March 2. One is a private lunch event for donors. The second is a free public event titled “Faith, Family, and Liberty.” It will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Wichita at 7:00 p.m. (doors open at 6:00 p.m.).

    For more information, contact Susan Pompeo at spompeo@cox.net or click on Former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican coming to Wichita.