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The Dirty Little Secret in Topeka

Now that I have your attention, let’s talk Topeka politics, specifically what goes on when the House & Senate finally get to the point where legislation on the budget is being hashed out on the floor of each chamber. I’ve been there watching them late into the night, when caffeine only makes things stranger rather than clearer. Let me tell you a little secret the Democrats and liberal-leaning Republicans don’t want you to know: Republicans might outnumber Democrats, but fiscal conservatives don’t have the majority.

That’s why a statement like this is so disingenuous:

Representative Melody McCray-Miller reminded the audience that it is Republicans who have been in the majority of both the House of Representatives and the Senate during this time.

Not so fast Rep. McCray-Miller, you seem to forget that the fiscal conservatives have been out-maneuvered time after time when Democrats team up with folks like Reps Quigley, Hineman, Swanson, Pottorff, Moxley, Hill, Craft, or their counterparts like Senators Vratil, Morris, Brungardt or Rep/now Sen. Huntington. (for brevity I’m not listing them all today)

When conservatives hold at least 21 Senate seats and 63 House seats you can start blaming them for not getting fiscally sound policies passed. Until then, the real blame goes to the Republicans who vote like Democrats and the Democrats who join them. It was those folks who set up the current fiscal train wreck.

Wednesday’s attempt to pass the Healthcare Freedom Act in the KS House falls short again

From the Kansas House Journal, March 24, 2010, beginning on page 1275 (page 21 of the pdf)

INTRODUCTION OF ORIGINAL MOTIONS
Having voted on the prevailing side, Rep. Peck moved, pursuant to House Rule 2303, that the House reconsider its adverse action on HCR 5032 in not adopting the resolution under that order of business, Final Action on Bills and Concurrent Resolutions (see HJ, page 1226). Roll call was demanded.

On roll call, the vote was: Yeas 75; Nays 47; Present but not voting: 0; Absent or not voting: 3.

Yeas: Aurand, Bethell, Bowers, Brookens, A. Brown, Brunk, Burgess, Carlson, Craft, Crum, DeGraaf, Donohoe, Faber, D. Gatewood, George, Goico, Gordon, Grange, Hayzlett, Hermanson, Hineman, C. Holmes, M. Holmes, Horst, Huebert, Jack, Kelley, Kerschen, Kiegerl, King, Kinzer, Kleeb, Knox, Landwehr, Light, Lukert, Maloney, Mast, McLeland, Meier, Merrick, Morrison, Moxley, Myers, O’Brien, O’Neal, Olson, Otto, Palmer, Patton, Pauls, Peck, Pottorff, Powell, Prescott, Proehl, Rhoades, Schroeder, Schwab, Schwartz, Seiwert, Shultz, Siegfreid, Spalding, Suellentrop, Swanson, Tafanelli, Vickrey, Wetta, Whitham, Williams, B. Wolf, K. Wolf, Worley, Yoder.

Nays: Ballard, Barnes, Benlon, Bollier, T. Brown, Burroughs, Carlin, Colloton, Crow, Davis, Dillmore, Feuerborn, Finney, Flaharty, Frownfelter, Furtado, Garcia, S. Gatewood, Goyle, Grant, Hawk, Henderson, Henry, Hill, Kuether, Lane, Loganbill, Long, Mah, McCray-Miller, Menghini, Neighbor, Peterson, Phelps, Quigley, Rardin, Roth, Ruiz, Slattery, Sloan, D. Svaty, Swenson, Talia, Tietze, Trimmer, Ward, Winn.

Present but not voting: None.

Absent or not voting: Fund, Johnson, Neufeld.

The motion of Rep. Peck to reconsider action did not prevail.

note:
Reps. Fund and Johnson were excused on verified illness.
Rep. Neufeld was excused on legislative business.

All votes on this issue in the last week (House votes & Senate Judiciary Committee) can be found on this Kansas Liberty webpage.

Listed below are those who voted against letting the people’s voice be heard. If you know a good candidate running in one of these districts, post their website link in the comments section. If you live in one of these districts and don’t know of or see someone good running, help us find the right candidates so we can change the Kansas House in 2010!

  • Grant, Robert, registered Democrat, District 2, County: Bourbon/Cherokee/Crawford
  • Menghini, Julie, registered Democrat, District 3, County: Crawford
  • Feuerborn, Bill, registered Democrat, District 5, County: Anderson/Franklin/Miami
  • Brown, Tony, registered Democrat, District 10, County: Douglas/Franklin
  • Rardin, Gene, registered Democrat, District 16, County: Johnson
  • Quigley, Jill, registered Republican, District 17, County: Johnson
  • Neighbor, Cindy, registered Democrat, District 18, County: Johnson
  • Furtado, Dolores, registered Democrat, District 19, County: Johnson
  • Benlon, Lisa, registered Democrat, District 22, County: Johnson
  • Talia, Milack, registered Democrat, District 23, County: Johnson
  • Slattery, Mike, registered Democrat, District 24, County: Johnson
  • Bollier, Barbara, registered Republican, District 25, County: Johnson
  • Colloton, Pat, registered Republican, District 28, County: Johnson
  • Frownfelter, Stan, registered Democrat, District 31, County: Wyandotte
  • Ruiz, Louis, registered Democrat, District 32, County: Wyandotte
  • Burroughs, Tom, registered Democrat, District 33, County: Wyandotte
  • Winn, Valdenia, registered Democrat, District 34, County: Wyandotte
  • Henderson, Broderick, registered Democrat, District 35, County: Wyandotte
  • Long, Margaret, registered Democrat, District 36, County: Wyandotte
  • Peterson, Mike, registered Democrat, District 37, County: Wyandotte
  • Crow, Marti, registered Democrat, District 41, County: Leavenworth
  • Ballard, Barbara, registered Democrat, District 44, County: Douglas
  • Sloan, Tom, registered Republican, District 45, County: Douglas
  • Davis, Paul, registered Democrat, District 46, County: Douglas
  • Mah, Ann, registered Democrat, District 53, County: Douglas/Shawnee
  • Kuether, Annie, registered Democrat, District 55, County: Shawnee
  • Tietze, Annie, registered Democrat, District 56, County: Shawnee
  • Gatewood, Sean, registered Democrat, District 57, County: Shawnee
  • Lane, Harold, registered Democrat, District 58, County: Shawnee
  • Hill, Don, registered Republican, District 60, County: Lyon
  • Henry, Jerry, registered Democrat, District 63, County: Doniphan/Atchison
  • Carlin, Sydney, registered Democrat, District 66, County: Riley
  • Hawk, Tom, registered Democrat, District 67, County: Riley
  • Roth, Charles, registered Republican, District 71, County: Saline
  • Trimmer, Ed, registered Democrat, District 78, County: Bulter/Cowley
  • Finney, Gail, registered Democrat, District 84, County: Sedgwick
  • Loganbill, Judith, registered Democrat, District 86, County: Sedgwick
  • Goyle, Raj, registered Democrat, District 87, County: Sedgwick
  • Ward, Jim, registered Democrat, District 88, County: Sedgwick
  • McCray-Miller, Melody, registered Democrat, District 89, County: Sedgwick
  • Dillmore, Nile, registered Democrat, District 92, County: Sedgwick
  • Barnes, Melany, registered Democrat, District 95, County: Sedgwick
  • Swenson, Dale, registered Democrat, District 97, County: Sedgwick
  • Flaharty, Geraldine, registered Democrat, District 98, County: Sedgwick
  • Garcia, Delia, registered Democrat, District 103, County: Sedgwick
  • Svaty, Don, registered Democrat, District 108, County: Ellsworth/Dickinson/Saline
  • Phelps, Eber, registered Democrat, District 111, County: Ellis
  • Healthcare Freedom Act in KS House fails on Tuesday, one last chance to pass it on Wednesday

    The final action vote in the Kansas House on HCR 5032 failed to receive the required 84 votes needed for a proposed constitutional amendment. Today’s vote was 75-47. One Republican, a supporter of the bill, voted nay in order to keep open a procedural option of asking for a vote to reconsider so at the moment the bill is not dead, however it is in need of an additional 8 supporters. Below is a list of how each one voted today.

    Republican YEAS: Aurand, Bethell, Bowers, Brookens, Brown A, Brunk, Burgess, Carlson, Colloton, Craft, Crum, DeGraaf, Donohoe, Faber, George, Goico, Gordon, Grange, Hayzlett, Hermanson, Hineman, Holmes C, Holmes M, Horst, Huebert, Jack, Kelley, Kerschen, Kiegerl, King, Kinzer, Kleeb, Knox, Landwehr, Light, Mast, McLeland, Merrick, Morrison, Moxley, Myers, O’Brien, O’Neal, Olson, Otto, Patton, Pottorff, Powell, Prescott, Proehl, Rhoades, Schroeder, Schwab, Schwartz, Seiwert, Shultz, Siegfreid, Spalding, Suellentrop, Swanson, Tafanelli, Vickrey, Whitham, Wolf B, Wolf K, Worley, Yoder.

    Republicans voting no – and links to their contact info so you can ask them to reconsider their vote and vote yes.

    Republican NAYS: Bollier, Hill, Quigley, Roth, Sloan (all were no votes on Monday as well). Also voting no today was Peck, a co-sponsor of the bill, so he would be on the prevailing side (in this case, the nays) and could ask for a vote to reconsider on Wednesday.

    Contact the Democrats below and ask them to once again vote yea. They will be under pressure to change their vote.

    Democrat YEAS: Gatewood D, Lukert, Maloney, Meier, Palmer, Pauls, Wetta, Williams.

    Contact the Democrats below and ask them why they voted nay and ask them to change their vote.

    Democrat NAYS: Ballard, Barnes, Benlon, Brown T, Burroughs, Carlin, Crow, Davis, Dillmore, Feuerborn, Finney, Flaharty, Frownfelter, Furtado, Garcia, Gatewood S, Goyle, Grant, Hawk, Henderson, Henry, Kuether, Lane, Loganbill, Long, Mah, McCray-Miller, Menghini, Neighbor, Peterson, Phelps, Rardin, Ruiz, Svaty (voted yes on Monday), Slattery, Swenson, Talia, Tietze, Trimmer, Ward, Winn.

    These Representatives didn’t vote. Keep in mind that they may have not been able to vote due to illness. Contact the Representatives below and ask them to make an effort to vote for the Healthcare Freedom Amendment.

    Didn’t Vote: Fund (most likely would have been a yea, is currently hospitalized according to fellow House members), Johnson, Neufeld (voted yes on Monday).

    Complete House Roster is found here.

    When you say you are a Republican candidate, shouldn’t it mean something specific?

    There’s been a lot of talk lately about a proposed RNC resolution regarding candidates who want Republican Party support. It’s been referred to as a number of things, some saying it’s a litmus test, others saying it’s just so voters will know that the Party only supports candidates who agree with the Party (the Republican voters) most of the time. After all, if the brand stands for anything under the sun, does it really stand for anything? Liberals claimed it was too conservative, some conservatives claimed it was too liberal. And the press did its best to make it something it wasn’t, labeling it a litmus test when it was simply a statement that says if you are with us most of the time, we’ll support you and if you aren’t, we won’t.

    In response to all the misinformation this resolution was getting some RNC members proposed a couple of alternative resolutions. One of them is based on what the Republican Party Platform says which seems very logical to us. We’ve posted this one below. What do you think? Share your thoughts here as I’m sure our RNC members will drop by to see what you think.

    Proposed RNC Resolution on Accountability of Candidates To the Voters

    WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan believed that the Republican Party should support and espouse conservative principles and public policies; and

    WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan also believed the Republican Party should welcome those with diverse views; and

    WHEREAS, the Republican National Committee shares President Ronald Reagan’s belief that the Republican Party should espouse conservative principles and public policies and should welcome persons of diverse views; and

    WHEREAS, Republican faithfulness to its conservative principles and public policies and Republican solidarity in opposition to Obama’s socialist agenda is necessary to preserve the security of our country, our economic and political freedoms, and our way of life; and

    WHEREAS, Republican faithfulness to its conservative principles and public policies is also necessary to restore the trust of the American people in the Republican Party, to prevent the emergence of a third party movement, and to lead to Republican electoral victories; and

    WHEREAS, in addition to supporting candidates, the Republican National Committee provides financial support for Republican state and local parties for party building and federal election activities, which benefits all candidates and is not affected by this resolution; and

    THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Chairman of the Republican National Committee is empowered to take into account a candidate’s faithfulness to the Republican Party’s conservative principles and public policies, as established in the Republican Party’s national platform and resolutions by the RNC, in making the decision, in the best interests of the Republican Party and its principles and consistent with the Rules of the Republican National Committee, that a candidate shall receive financial support from the Republican National Committee; and

    RESOLVED, that the Chairman of the Republican National Committee shall require that, as a condition to a candidate’s receipt of a contribution or coordinated expenditure from the Republican National Committee, the candidate agrees to refund such funds if the candidate endorses a Democrat candidate in that race during that election cycle or endorses a Democrat candidate for President in the next Presidential election; and

    RESOLVED, that upon the approval of this resolution the Republican National Committee shall deliver a copy of this resolution to each of Republican members of Congress, all Republican candidates for Congress, as they become known, and to each Republican state and territorial party office.

    Chief Sponsor:
    James Bopp, Jr. NCM IN

    Co-Sponsors:
    Avie Axdahl NCW MN
    Donna Cain NCW OR
    Cindy Costa NCW SC
    Debbie Joslin NCW AK
    Peggy Lambert NCW TN
    Carolyn McLarty NCW OK
    Pete Rickets NCM NE
    Steve Scheffler NCM IA
    Helen Van Etten NCW KS
    Solomon Yue NCM OR

    Proposed RNC Resolution to Keep U.S. Missile Technology from China

    Below is the text of a proposed resolution for the RNC to consider at it’s upcoming winter meeting. President Obama recently shifted authority for approving sales to China of missile and space technology from the White House to the Commerce Department — a move critics say will loosen export controls and potentially benefit Chinese missile development.

    President Obama issued a “presidential determination” on Sept. 29 that delegated authority for determining whether missile and space exports should be approved for China to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.

    The presidential notice alters a key provision of the 1999 Defense Authorization Act that required that the president notify Congress whether a transfer of missile and space technology to China would harm the U.S. space-launch industry or help China’s missile programs.

    Section 1512 of the 1999 law requires the president to certify to Congress in advance of any missile equipment or technology exports to China that the export will not harm the U.S. space-launch industry and that “missile equipment or technology, including any indirect technical benefit that could be derived from such export, will not measurably improve the missile or space launch capabilities of China.”

    Why was this law necessary? Because Clinton-Gore Administration was very willing to sell missile technology to China in the 1990s. As a result, sensitive technology was passed along to China which may be used to vaporize American cities. But laws don’t seem to apply to President Obama, who governs by his own will while his media cheerleaders look the other way.

    It was foolish for us to do this in the 1990s and is even more dangerous for us to do it now.

    The chief sponsor of this resolution is Kansas National Committeewoman Helen Van Etten. Talking with her today she said,

    “I feel the Republican National Committee needs to call on President Obama to restore strict limits on the transfer of missile and space technology to China and call on Congress to exercise its oversight authority to ensure that the Obama administration does not undermine United States security and sovereignty by selling valuable missile and space technology to China. “

    If you agree, let your RNC representatives know as they’ll likely be voting on this later this month when they meet in Hawaii. You can find the Kansas RNC member info here and the other states’ RNC member info here.

    Proposed Resolution to Keep U.S. Missile Technology from China

    WHEREAS, President Obama’s socialist policies are advanced through unprecedented and colossal deficit spending involving trillions of dollars with this deficit spending being financed in significant part by Chinese purchase of U.S. treasury bonds; and

    WHEREAS, China is the largest creditor of the United States, holding more than $750 billion dollars in U.S. government debt yet the Obama administration continues to try to persuade China to buy more U.S. treasury bonds and fails to address China’s concern about the devalued dollar due to Obama’s deficit spending; and

    WHEREAS, on September 29th 2009, Obama shifted authority for approving sales of missile and space technology to China from the White House to the Commerce Department; a shift that loosens export controls and benefits Chinese missile development, and increases the possibility for “mishandled” missile technology transfers to China; and

    WHEREAS, in the Clinton administration such a transfer of technology improved China’s long-range nuclear missile accuracy and reliability and also enabled the Chinese military to demonstrate an anti-satellite missile capability, which has become a major threat to U.S. military’s heavy reliance on satellites for command, control, and communication; and

    WHEREAS, the Annual Report to Congress: Military Power of the People’s Republic of China, 2009 states that China continues to develop and field disruptive military technologies, including those nuclear, space, and cyber warfare, that are changing regional military balances and that have implications beyond the Asia-Pacific region; and

    WHEREAS, China has already begun to initiate hostile activities such as waging cyber warfare by attacking the Pentagon and White House computer networks; and

    WHEREAS, the American people have good reason to be concerned about the demonstrated hostile actions and intentions of China directed toward the United States, Taiwan, and the rest of the world; and

    WHEREAS, the American people have good reason to be concerned about the foreign policy implications of huge deficits that create a dependence on hostile foreign nations for financing; and

    WHEREAS, the American people have good reason to be gravely concerned that President Obama is willing to trade missile technology to China in order to finance the huge deficits needed to fund his socialist policies;

    NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED

    THAT the Republican National Committee calls on President Obama to restore strict limits on the transfer of missile and space technology to China and calls on Congress to exercise its oversight authority to ensure that the Obama administration does not undermine United States security and sovereignty by selling valuable missile and space technology to China

    AND FURTHER THAT upon the approval of this resolution the Republican National Committee shall deliver a copy of this resolution to each of Republican members of Congress, all Republican candidates for Congress, as they become known, and to each Republican state and territorial party office.

    Chief Sponsor:
    Helen Van Etten, National Committeewoman for Kansas
    Co-Sponsors:
    Cathie Adams, State Chairman for Texas
    Bruce Ash, National Committeeman for Arizona
    Evie Axdahl, National Committeewoman for Minnesota
    James Bopp, Jr. National Committeeman for Indiana
    Donna Cain, National Committeewoman for Oregon
    Cindy Costa, National Committeewoman for South Carolina
    Demetra DeMonte, National Committeewoman for Illinois
    Peggy Lambert, National Committeewoman for Tennessee
    Carolyn McLarty, National Committeewoman for Oklahoma
    Randall Pullen, State Chairman for Arizona
    Pete Ricketts, National Committeeman for Nebraska
    Steve Scheffler, National Committeeman for Iowa
    Ruth Ulrich, National Committeewoman for Louisiana
    Solomon Yue, National Committeeman for Oregon