Kansas views on Ex-Im Bank, tax experiment, voting audit, school funding, anonymous bills
Ex-Im Bank – Has U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Wichita, forgotten where he came from? Pompeo voted against reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank. Pompeo called the bank “another government program that will cost American jobs and harm American taxpayers.” In fact, the Boeing Co., a principal buyer of aircraft components manufactured in Wichita, is one of the largest users of the Export-Import Bank. Even more importantly to us in Cowley County, General Electric, our biggest high-tech employer, is another large user of the bank. Pompeo has let his libertarian philosophy blind him to the obvious interests of his constituency.
Tax experiment – Gov. Sam Brownback’s self-proclaimed economic experiment has had plenty of time to work. Yet each passing day brings more proof of what many predicted all along: The supply-side, tax-cutting strategy wouldn’t be the “shot of adrenaline” into the Kansas economy Brownback promised, but would exact a costly toll. Some three years after Brownback launched his experiment, job growth has been lackluster. Kansas trails neighboring and peer states in a number of economic indicators – and those states didn’t resort to deep income tax cuts that wrecked Kansas’ budget, and led Brownback’s camp in the last legislative session to pass the biggest tax increase in state history.
Voting audit – Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach no doubt considers Beth Clarkson a pesky thorn in his side. The truth is that the Wichita statistician is a far greater champion of election integrity than Mr. Voter ID himself. Clarkson, chief statistician for the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University, is suing to obtain audit logs for electronic voting machines at some election stations in Wichita. Having identified potential irregularities, she wants to audit a random sampling from stations where more than 500 people voted in the November 2014 gubernatorial contest between Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and his Democratic challenger, then-Rep. Paul Davis. The courts should grant her access to the records. She is a public citizen, and we are talking about the essence of our democracy.
School funding – At a recent meeting of the Special Committee on K-12 Student Success, legislators gathered information on spending for classroom education, school bonds and teacher pensions. This committee needs to be much more than a Republican excuse for further shortchanging school districts. Future meetings must take serious looks at how the state can funnel more money into classrooms while continuing to support excellent extracurricular programs, student support services and top-flight administrators who care deeply about the children in their care.
Anonymous bills – It appears most Kansas legislators have little interest in attaching their names to the bills they introduce each year. Their preference is to have their proposed legislation introduced as committee bills, which they say gives the measures more weight. In the spirit of transparency, and responsibility, each piece of proposed legislation should carry the name of the person who introduced it, with the exceptions of those that truly are committee bills.
This story was originally published November 1, 2015 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Kansas views on Ex-Im Bank, tax experiment, voting audit, school funding, anonymous bills."