Kansas views on LGBT protections, Kobach fraud, picking justices, passing speed
LGBT protections – Gov. Sam Brownback’s action last week to remove protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender state workers was shocking and ugly. Brownback seems to think his prerogative is to move Kansas backward, and create fears and stress for people who only want to do their jobs. The citizens of Kansas should speak up forcefully to tell the governor and the rest of the nation that this show of intolerance is not what their state is about.
As the rest of the nation becomes more tolerant and accepting, as court after court rules in favor of gay marriage, as gays now are issued marriage licenses, Gov. Sam Brownback is attempting to drag Kansas back into an era when it was acceptable to hate and ostracize someone just for the way they were born. Brownback will fail. We’re still in Kansas, but as we saw with a marriage license being granted in Saline County last week, even Kansas is changing.
Gov. Sam Brownback, who claims to be interested in job growth, ignored the fact that many companies have no interest in setting up shop in places with policies that discriminate against any worker in any way. The governor’s anti-gay mindset only gave the nation another reason to view Kansas as backward, unwelcoming and mean-spirited.
Kobach – Secretary of State Kris Kobach long has touted 75 reports of voter fraud that were documented having taken place between 1998 and 2008. Had those reports been found credible, the 75 out of 8 million votes cast during that time would have amounted to 0.0009 percent. But zero of them resulted in convictions. Zero. So the secretary began complaining that prosecutors simply weren’t doing their jobs. During last year’s election, Kobach said U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom was refusing to prosecute cases Kobach had sent over. An Associated Press open records request uncovered last week that Kobach never has sent any cases to Grissom. How long will Kansas stand for a fraudulent secretary of state?
Picking justices – Kansas Supreme Court justices must wonder what to do. They serve in nonpartisan and apolitical roles, yet they increasingly face a hostile set of conservative legislators and governor who want to trample their judicial independence as a separate branch. Gov. Sam Brownback has made no bones about his goal to control the process to appoint justices to the court. But we already have a time-tested process to fill court vacancies. A judicial nominating commission interviews and reviews applicants and comes up with three finalists for the governor to appoint a justice to the high court. Kansas’ three branches of government serve best when they remain independent of each other. Leave today’s selection system in place.
Passing speed – Amid plenty of trash legislation often proposed just for effect or to grind an ax, some good, commonsense lawmaking still happens in Topeka. Such is the case with state Rep. Travis Couture-Lovelady’s bill to allow drivers to exceed the speed limit by 10 mph while passing another auto going under the speed limit on a two-lane highway in Kansas. This is so commonsense, one wonders why it isn’t already legal.
This story was originally published February 15, 2015 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Kansas views on LGBT protections, Kobach fraud, picking justices, passing speed."