Delegation should hold more forums

The size and passion of the crowd at the public forum held Wednesday night by the south-central Kansas legislative delegation confirmed the need for more such gatherings, which have dwindled to one a year. Too bad only a dozen or so lawmakers attended.

The rest of the 51-member regional delegation needs to hear the message, too – many south-central Kansans are paying attention to what their state government is doing.

The new delegation chairman, Sen. Michael O’Donnell, R-Wichita, told The Eagle editorial board Thursday that he favors holding “a couple of meetings during the session” and also will encourage legislators to host smaller events, “because the best thing that, in my opinion, we can do is have direct contact with the people we represent and the people we answer to.”

He’s right. But more forums would be better, as the pent-up demand for such an opportunity to address legislators directly was evident Wednesday.

About 30 people aired their concerns at the forum, which filled the jury room at the Sedgwick County Courthouse and ran out of time before 20 others could get their desired turn at the microphone.

Lawmakers heard about the bleak reality for uninsured Kansans such as Marcillene Dover, a Wichita State University student who has multiple sclerosis. She pleaded with them to expand KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program. Dover noted that by claiming the state can’t expand Medicaid until it eliminates its waiting lists for other services to disabled Kansans, the Brownback administration seeks “to divide us into pockets of people to pity” when it should “see us as people who are just trying to be happy and live our lives.”

Others spoke out on the state’s budget mess, troubled state mental hospitals and school-finance fights. Some rightly criticized the Legislature for having made it easy to carry a concealed gun legally, including on college campuses as of July 2017, and difficult to register to vote.

The previous delegation chairman, Rep. Mario Goico, R-Wichita, had proposed an online forum in lieu of regular public forums, noting that special interests dominated the comment periods and most legislators didn’t show up anyway.

But hearing from and interacting with the public – even the one-issue “usual suspects” – comes with the job of elected official, and such events are routine in Johnson County and elsewhere in the state. O’Donnell’s planned “couple of meetings” should lead to more.

This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Delegation should hold more forums."