Print edition: 
From pirates and rappers to the federal debt and the Cold War, Sedgwick County commissioners delve into varied topics at the end of their televised meetings.
Some commissioners regularly use the time, called "other" on the agenda, to talk about matters not directly related to issues up for vote by the board.
So much so that the board's chairman thinks it may be time to set some rules, although he recognizes it may be difficult to "impose too much restriction on that."
"Our constituents elected us to attend to county business," Chairman Dave Unruh said. "I think we should reel ourselves back in a little bit.
"I don't think all the commissioners will agree with me. I don't believe the Sedgwick County bench should become a bully pulpit for pronouncements about national political issues."
Other commissioners say it's their time to speak and gives constituents more insight into their elected officials.
Since Feb. 2, commissioner Richard Ranzau has spent part of his time at the end of the meeting talking about the federal debt.
Each week, he looks into the audience and camera and tells residents what each taxpayer in the country ostensibly owes toward the federal debt.
Ranzau has voted against accepting the overwhelming majority of federal grants and sometimes talks more at the end of the meeting about why he did so.
Commissioner Karl Peterjohn each week updates residents about how many people are in the county jail. He also often talks about national and world events.
Last week, for example, he called for the resignation or firing of New York Times columnist David Carr, who recently called Kansas and Missouri the place of the "dance of low-sloping foreheads," referring to Neanderthals.
At the May 18 commission meeting, Peterjohn criticized the Obama administration for inviting a rapper "who had not only praised cop killers, but had traveled to Cuba to see one of them who had been convicted of killing a law enforcement officer in New Jersey. And he's in the White House. He also made ... odious comments concerning the 43rd president of the United States," George W. Bush.
Peterjohn used time at another meeting to talk about people killed by Somali pirates.
Peterjohn also gives historical lessons from time to time about matters such as the Cold War and the Reagan presidency.
Perceived as critical
Unruh said he was particularly concerned about commissioner comments that have been perceived as critical of the president.
"I really think we should not use this time to criticize the president of the United States," he said.
At times in the past, commissioners called news conferences "to make those sorts of pronouncements," Unruh said. "To say it from the bench, sometimes it implies some kind of (board) endorsement. I think the implication is there, and I just don't think it's the appropriate thing to do."
Peterjohn said he looks at the time as a "way for the commissioners to talk to the public in an unfiltered and direct way" that is not reduced to sound bites on TV news or a few quotes in the newspaper that he said might not completely represent his position.
Although he is an elected official, he said, "we remain citizens and don't give up our citizenship when we become elected."
Commissioner Jim Skelton once questioned the federal government's leadership at the end of a commission meeting: "I think the executive branch of our government needs to wake the heck up."
He also called for the president to "stop this stimulus garbage." Skelton said he was "tired of policies that water down the dollar" and voiced his "extreme displeasure at our president and our administration."
He said later he didn't think commissioners should be restricted about what they speak about as long as it's not about a personnel or legal issue.
"I think whatever is on your mind is what you can say," Skelton said.
Commissioner Tim Norton started the end-of-meeting comments in 2001, mostly talking about upcoming community events or issues of importance to residents in his district. He often doesn't say anything during his turn at the end of the meeting.
He declined to comment about what other commissioners talk about but did say, "I think I'd rather our conversations be more germane to what are traditionally local issues.
"I just try to stay focused on what is the public good and what I believe I should be involved in in our community."
How Ranzau uses time
Ranzau said "at some point I was told, 'You can talk about anything.' I saw Karl talking about his things."
After updating residents about the federal debt, "sometimes I use the time to expound more on the philosophy that I have with respect to something that came up earlier on the agenda."
He also will mention events going on at the Kansas Pavilions, formerly the Kansas Coliseum, which is in his district in the northern part of the county.
"I think it's something that I'll use more as the time goes by for different things," Ranzau said.
He said that he's been surprised to learn how many people watch the meetings on TV or later online on the county's website.
"This provides me a way to share my views and people get to know me through that process a little bit more,'' he said. "It's just another avenue to communicate with the voters and people who watch."
