Kelly accused of pressuring ‘her own Catholic people’ on abortion vote as tempers flare

A Republican lawmaker accused Gov. Laura Kelly on Tuesday of pressuring Catholic Democrats to vote “against their own faith” in rejecting an anti-abortion amendment to the Kansas Constitution as legislators fought bitterly over whether to approve the governor’s sweeping plans to reorganize state government.

Tempers have been rising in the Legislature since the House on Friday voted down an amendment asserting the state constitution doesn’t include the right to an abortion. But frustrations boiled during debates over Kelly’s plans for state agencies, including departments that oversee child welfare and energy policy.

Two House committees recommended rejecting the plans, a first step in formally killing them. Both votes were marked by heated discussion and accusations that lawmakers were playing politics.

“How dare you to try to politicize this after the vote that you all took on Friday when your governor strong-armed her own people, her own Catholic people, to vote against their own faith along party lines. You can’t dare bring that into here,” Rep. Sean Tarwater, a Stilwell Republican, told Democrats.

Tarwater didn’t elaborate during the meeting. Democratic lawmakers have publicly dismissed the idea Kelly pressured them or threatened political retribution.

The remark by Tarwater, who is Catholic, underscored the depth of disappointment amendment supporters have over the failed vote. It also illustrated how sharp feelings among lawmakers over the vote have begun to seep into other areas.

The proposal garnered 80 votes in the House – four shy of the two-thirds support that would have placed it on a statewide ballot. Not a single Democrat voted for the amendment, even though a handful have supported anti-abortion legislation in the past. Kelly, who is Catholic, had previously condemned the measure in strong terms, saying it could return Kansas to the “dark ages.”

Kelly spokeswoman Lauren Fitzgerald said in a statement said lawmakers’ “rushed” decisions to reject the reorganization plans were “extreme political gamesmanship fueled by Republican leadership, and disappointing. This is a disservice to the people of Kansas.” She didn’t directly respond to Tarwater’s remarks.

Will Lawrence, Kelly’s chief of staff, also suggested Republicans were playing political games in the wake of the failed amendment vote.

“It appears to be that the leadership is putting a lot of pressure on people and I think it’s in response to what happened last week. The Legislature, apparently, is going to hold up everything until they figure out what to do with this amendment,” Lawrence said after a House committee voted down a plan from Kelly to make the Kansas Energy Office an independent agency.

In the wake of the amendment vote, Senate President Susan Wagle has vowed to block Medicaid expansion until the amendment passes. But Republican leaders have rejected the idea they are holding up other bills.

House Speaker Ron Ryckman, an Olathe Republican, said he had asked the committees to look at whether Kelly’s reorganization of state government “helps the state or doesn’t help the state.”

Lawmakers face a 60-day deadline to block Kelly’s plans. If just the House or Senate vote down the order, the reorganization cannot move forward. But if lawmakers take no action, the governor can proceed.

Rep. Joe Seiwert, who chairs the House utilities committee, which considered the Energy Office plan, said the abortion vote had “nothing to do” with how the reorganization plan was handled. The Pretty Prairie Republican voiced concerns with the timing of the order, saying that Kelly could have offered the plan earlier. Lawrence said the governor offered the order roughly within the first two weeks of session.

Separately, the House budget committee recommended blocking a Kelly plan to combine the Department for Children and Families (DCF) and the Department of Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) into a massive new agency.

Tarwater made his comments in the budget committee as debate over the reorganization plan drew to a close. Earlier in the meeting, Rep. John Alcala, a Topeka Democrat, had said, “this gets to be real political. Let’s face it, everyone sitting around this table knows this is very political.”

Rep. Henry Helgerson, an Eastborough Democrat, also had said lawmakers were losing sight that it didn’t matter whether the proposal was a Democratic of Republican proposal.

“The system works good and bad because we decide to drop all the labels that we have and work together with the agency, whether or not it’s sponsored by a Democratic governor or a Republican,” Helgerson said.

Republicans beside Tarwater also took umbrage at the suggestion partisan politics were at play.

Rep. Will Carpenter, an El Dorado Republican, said “that has nothing to do with it from my standpoint whatsoever.” Rep. Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican, said she found the idea that party affiliation was driving the vote “insulting.”

Laura Howard, who leads both DCF and KDADS, has said the merger will improve services and make it easier to connect people with resources. But Republicans questioned whether a larger agency will be more efficient.

“I’ve never seen an organization become more efficient by getting larger,” Carpenter said.

But Democrats, nodding to the problems that afflict the state’s child welfare system, said Kelly deserves a chance to try her approach.

“It may work and it may not,” Rep. Barbara Ballard, a Lawrence Democrat said. “But I think we should give them that opportunity to work.”

This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 3:41 PM.