Citing Pelosi incident, Sedgwick County quits national association

Severing ties with a group perceived as too liberal by the Sedgwick County Commission majority, Chairman Richard Ranzau led the commission off the agenda to quit the National Association of Counties.

Ranzau said he doesn’t think the county gets its money’s worth from its $10,000-a-year membership.

And he said that early in his commission tenure, he attended a Washington meeting of NACo where then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke on the Affordable Care Act and famously said “we have to pass the bill so you can know what’s in it.”

“That kind of tells you about the slant of the organization,” Ranzau said.

After the meeting, he said “the vast majority of what they do is liberal” and that the organization “refuses to allow any conservatives to be in leadership.”

Commissioners Karl Peterjohn and Jim Howell voted with Ranzau to exit the organization.

NACo takes advocacy positions on a variety of issues before Congress. The organization has voiced support for clean air and clean water action by the federal government, but with substantial participation by counties in making decisions of how to implement plans locally.

Last week, a NACo vice president testified to congressional committees against a proposed rule known as Waters of the United States. The rule is designed to clarify which streams, ponds and other water bodies feed into federally protected rivers and therefore fall under the pollution controls of the Clean Water Act.

Nationally, conservatives have opposed the rule, calling it an example of federal over-regulation – the same position taken by NACo.

Ranzau initially tried to tie withdrawal from NACo to a vote on whether to replace a NACo-sponsored medical discount card with an alternative card. About 3,800 county residents have the card that provides discounts on health services and prescriptions.

Commissioner David Unruh requested the items be separated. He and Commissioner Tim Norton voted to stay in NACo.

Unruh said he was also at the meeting where Pelosi talked about the health care bill, and said he agreed that the statement Ranzau cited was “an ignorant statement.”

But, he said, “I don’t think it would be an example of a reason to get out of NACo.”

Norton said the organization has been helpful to him, allowing him to network with federal officials and share ideas with other counties on issues such as health and corrections.

Norton serves on the NACo steering committee for health and several subcommittees. He said county officials get out of their membership what they put into it.

Last year, the commission renewed its NACo membership through December of this year.

Commissioners also Wednesday formally finalized their earlier decision to withdraw from the Regional Area Economic Partnership, a south-central Kansas consortium of cities and counties.

This story was originally published February 11, 2015 at 10:49 AM with the headline "Citing Pelosi incident, Sedgwick County quits national association."