Kansas view on Brownback’s veto, medical marijuana
Tax bill veto – In a day marked by moments of high drama and low comedy, the Legislature failed last Wednesday to override Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of a two-year, $1 billion tax increase designed to close a massive budget hole in the state. The Legislature must keep trying. While they’re working on it, area voters should feel free to make their views known to recalcitrant senators who want to extend the state’s fiscal disaster.
Brownback looks at the wreckage of his 2012 tax cuts and sees a mighty success for the people of Kansas. We see a fiscal calamity that Kansans just can’t escape. Wednesday was a sad day for our state, and we have our governor to blame.
As the Legislature responds to Brownback’s veto, it’s important to listen to the truth instead of the ginned up rhetoric of an unpopular governor who desperately wants to hold on to his idea that wealth and prosperity can be found by cutting taxes for the rich.
Brownback wants Kansans to believe that in vetoing a historic tax increase measure he was protecting their interests. He was doing no such thing.
Here’s hoping that lawmakers weren’t bluffing when they said that other tax plans are waiting in the wings that the Legislature can act quickly upon. But history tells us that isn’t likely to be the case.
Medical marijuana – Kansas’ backward, mean-spirited stance on medicinal marijuana has gone on too long. It’s time to stop dismissing the possible good and show more compassion for suffering patients in our midst.
This story was originally published February 27, 2017 at 5:05 AM with the headline "Kansas view on Brownback’s veto, medical marijuana."