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State Spending

Either get out or get to work

Feb 7th, 2009
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Gov. Sebelius caring for Greensburg tornado victims

Gov. Sebelius caring for Greensburg tornado victims

I’m going to make a simple request of Gov. Sebelius: Either get out or get to work.

Over the past six years your administration has created far too many problems for the taxpayers of this state to put on hold while you prance around Washington trying to sell yourself for a job you already told everyone you didn’t want.

Leadership doesn’t mean you propose a budget that neither takes into account the full extent of the crisis facing our state nor realistic solutions to the problem. Honest and truthful leaders don’t tell the voters they are staying to solve a budget crisis, criticize legislative leaders trying to find solutions to our money problems and then jump ship when you see greener pastures.

Those actions are not the actions of an honest, trustworthy leader. They are the actions of a self-seeking, egotistical politician. So if you are unwilling or unable to do the work of the citizens of Kansas, move on so true Republican leaders can find solutions to problems you helped create.

Kansas’ problems simply can’t be trumped by your sales pitch to the Obama administration. Either get out or get to work.

Lower energy costs, a balanced budget

Jan 16th, 2009
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Lower energy costs, a balanced budget.

That’s the call that is hopefully being sounded through the statehouse this legislative session.

The expansion of the Holcomb power plants was a dominate issue in last years session. As we’ve previously discussed, the failed veto override can be attributed to just one house vote.

Environmentalists and others are already lining up to prevent another attempt to get the plant built. The Wichita Eagle didn’t even wait for the November elections before publishing an anti-power editorial.

Kansans should press their legislative leaders not to refight last session’ s coal wars with Sebelius. Instead, the Legislature should join entities such as the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy advisory group and Kansas Energy Council in planning how to power Kansas cleanly and comprehensively long term.

The Wichita Eagle Editorial Board, Oct. 28, 2008

Many others have decided that the current budget crisis can be used to try to silence the power plant supporters. Never mind the nearly $5 billion in investment the expansion would bring to a state over $1 billion in the hole.

The fact is state spending and the plants can’t be separated. The budget crisis the state finds itself in only makes the expansion of Holcomb even more important than ever. KRA has posted an online petition to encourage our legislators to look again at the expansion project.

“I encourage you to develop energy policies that are based on proven science to meet our growing need for electricity and allow our economy to grow, while preserving our quality of life in Kansas.”

Follow the link to sign. Signatures collected will be submitted to your state Representative and Senator to let them know you support the nearly $5 billion in economic development the project would bring to the state.

Lower energy costs, a balanced budget. That’s something all Kansans can believe in.

Senate prescription for change: Take two pills in ‘moderation’?

Dec 16th, 2008
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Leadership Vote RecordPolitical change came to many parts of the country and Kansas as well, but leadership elections in the Kansas Senate showed little change.

A blog post by Americans for Prosperity is getting quite a bit of attention on the political blogosphere. The post proposes probable votes of Republican Senators in the recent leadership elections.

It wasn’t the attention the post gathered that I found interesting, rather it was the lack of attention from any Kansas Senate member that I found interesting. Committee assignments left little doubt of who supported liberal leadership and who didn’t.

Julia Lynn was first elected by precinct leaders to replace former Sen. Kay O’Connor two years ago. This November was her first general election to the Kansas Senate.

Lynn’s campaign was infused with thousands of dollars from the Senate Leadership PAC. This is the same PAC that infused $45,000 into KTRM to fund their KKK press releases and their mailers against Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook saying she didn’t want parents to be able to get help for their sick children.

Lynn describes herself as a conservative and has a pro-life voting record. So why Sen. Lynn has decided to associate herself with this crowd is a little confusing. Is power so greatly desired by some that they’re willing to do anything to get it?

When asked by Kansas Liberty why she cast her vote for liberals, Lynn just flat out lied.

“What I looked at was how much experience they had with the budget and their breadth of knowledge, and the current leadership obviously had a depth of operational knowledge.”

This is the same leadership team that refuses to rule out tax increases to fix the state’s budget crisis. This is the same leadership team that oversaw massive spending increases the past four years. This is the same leadership team that allowed the budget to get where it is in the first place!

Julia, just tell the truth. They bought your seat with Senate Leadership PAC money and now you have to pay them back. Politics would be so much nicer if people just told the truth.

Now, here’s the part I don’t understand.

“Contrary to popular belief, Derek Schmidt is an extremely capable, conservative Republican, and I think our current leadership team knows what we need to do.”

Huh? Schmidt a conservative? The leadership team knows what to do? They can’t rule out tax increases, but they know what to do?

Barnett was probably the biggest surprise. Conservative Susan Wagle was his running mate just two years ago but Barnett decided not to vote for her.

Unlike Lynn, Barnett has a record of leadership roles for conservative causes, most notably during the 2007 session when the now all-too-apparent-fatally-flawed gambling bill was passed.

It’s these outspoken roles and votes in the past that make his leadership vote so confusing. It doesn’t make sense why you would vote for a team that will use their power to stop legislation that you want passed. What good is a chairmanship if leadership won’t allow a floor vote?

Leadership votes will be hard to explain to conservative activists, especially if Barnett chooses to try for higher office again. This is especially true when you look at the quality of candidates conservatives have for Governor (Sam Brownback) and in the first congressional district (Tim Huelskamp.)

Sebelius: At the helm of a financial shipwreck

Dec 8th, 2008
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News finally broke today of what had been whispered about by legislators for a few days; the state of Kansas is broke and can’t pay its bills.

Kansas public schools only got 75% of the payments they should have received in December. The reason? It’s simple really, the state doesn’t have the cash.

“We do not have enough cash in the bank,” said Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ budget director Duane Goossen.

And I guess it depends on your point of view what the cause of the missed payment is. According to many news outlets, it’s just a sign of the slipping economy (as opposed to massive overspending by Kansas bureaucrats.)

If signs of economic troubles weren’t already clear, here is another one. A monthly payment of $220 million split among the state’s 297 public school districts was delayed four days this week.

And what, just what, might have been done to avoid this? Well, here’s a hint, don’t spend so much!

As American’s for Prosperity’s Alan Cobb said:

“Isn’t it worth mentioning the impact of four years of large budget increases on the current budget situation? If the budget had simply increased at 5 percent, hardly a small number, each year since 2004, we would have more than $2 billion in the bank now.”

Yes, I do think it’s worth mentioning.

But apparently the Kansas press doesn’t. A Google News search turned up only a rehashed AP article and a breaking story from the Journal-World. You would think the state of Kansas literally defaulting on it’s payment obligations would be news, but not in Kansas.

Here’s something else worth mentioning that I’m sure the Kansas press won’t; this ship was run aground by none other than Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

During her six years in office state spending has risen at astronomical rates. State obligations in the form of more bloated education spending were set in stone by hand picked Supreme Court justices and now Kansas has defaulted on payments because the governor is unwilling to cut spending when the state needed it the most.

And for my favorite quote of the day came from newly appointed State Treasurer Dennis McKinney (D), who was upset that legislative leaders finally got a clue and stopped letting bids for statehouse renovations.

“Now is the time to build highways and renovate the Statehouse because it costs the taxpayers less…”

Look, I’m no fan of the massive amounts of money wasted by public education, but don’t you think meeting our educational needs are more important than plush new offices for legislators?

You have to ask yourself, this is the guy Sebelius chose to be our next Treasurer? Another grand move on her part.

And what’s worse, she couldn’t have gotten us into this royal mess without the help of liberal Republicans.

What’s that? Moderate? I’m sorry, but moderate means just that, taking things in moderation. Voting for massive increases in spending when the state doesn’t have the money isn’t moderation.

And then, in true ‘moderate’ form, it’s all blamed on tax cuts rather than massive spending.

Here’s a newsflash for all the ‘moderates’ out there (Republican or otherwise as no politician in Kansas is a liberal according to the Kansas press); Kansans aren’t taxed too little, you spend too much!!!

Ethically Challenged Commission ‘clears’ Umbarger

Dec 2nd, 2008
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Ethics Commission LogoI just received word this afternoon that the state Ethics Commission (or, as they shall henceforth be known to me, the Ethically Challenged Commission) has cleared Sen. Dwayne Umbarger (R-Thayer) of any issues regarding his funny campaign finance reports. Umbarger is Chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Umbarger filed finance reports in late July for the primary election cycle where he showed using campaign funds to build a carport. He claimed that the expense was valid because he needed a place to store his campaign materials. However, photos taken of the new building showed only half walls with the bottom portion open to the elements and, surprise surprise, no campaign materials.

A day later, Umbarger filed an amended report returning the funds.

Umbarger’s finance report also shows quite a bit of funny money being spent with hundreds of dollars spent on fuel within a two or three day time period. His October filing shows multiple reimbursements for the fuel because of a Commission advisory that the expenditures were illegal, issued back in 2007, before his purchases.

I guess it’s okay to break the law as long as you fix it…sometime. I’m curious what the statutes say about how long you have to break a campaign finance law without ‘fixing it’ before there’s action on the part of the Commission.

What hasn’t been answered is how the information about the closed investigation got out in the first place. Neither the Commission or the candidate being investigated is supposed to speak publicly during an investigation, but I’m not sure what restrictions there are after an investigation has ended.

How does the state of Kansas benefit by having an unelected Commission decide who’s fined and who isn’t? How do citizens benefit from closed door hearings and dismissal of relevant charges?

What does the future of our state budget look like if the Senate Ways and Means chairman can’t even be honest about the commingling of his personal and campaign accounts?

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Related:

Kansas Meadowlark: Did Senator Umbarger violate ethics rules buying a carport with campaign money? Umbarger clairvoyant?
Kansas Liberty: New campaign finance charges leveled against Umbarger
Kansas Liberty: Primary opponent says Umbarger violated campaign finance law
Kansas Liberty: Umbarger yields to ethics pressure, repays fund

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