Kansas views on open government, school consolidation, judicial selection, ballot bill
Open government – If Kansans don’t know what their state government is doing, it should be their own fault, not the result of closed meetings or hidden e-mails. That’s the spirit of a pledge that a new coalition of open government advocates is asking Kansas legislators to sign. The pledge doesn’t include support of any specific legislation, but it asks lawmakers to keep in mind throughout the legislative session that they are working on behalf of the Kansas public and whatever they are doing should be done in an open and transparent manner. It is a pledge that all state officials should be willing to support.
A group of nonprofits formed the Open Kansas Initiative. They are asking lawmakers to sign a pledge to be more transparent. It will be instructive to voters who signs the pledge to conduct government in the open and who wants to cower in the shadows of secrecy.
Consolidation – Reducing the number of school districts in Kansas is a bad idea. Making 99 of the state’s 105 counties have one school district is a particularly bad idea. Many rural communities would find themselves without a school district office and perhaps without a school board.
Judicial selection – The inability to control the selection of state Supreme Court justices has long frustrated Gov. Sam Brownback and his allies. Thanks to a legislative vote last week that frustration is destined to last for at least one more year, which is good news for Kansas. In a preliminary vote, a majority of the House approved putting the governor in charge of selecting justices to the state’s highest court. But they lacked the two-thirds approval needed to place a constitutional amendment on the statewide ballot.
Ballot bill – If it is to conduct the people’s business in a timely manner this year, the Legislature must avoid solutions in search of problems. The House Elections Committee held a hearing on House Bill 2507, which would remove candidates’ city of residence from ballots. Rep. John Alcala, D-Topeka, responded to the bill by saying, “I’ve never heard this issue come up and I would be surprised if any of you have.” We haven’t heard this issue come up either.
This story was originally published February 7, 2016 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Kansas views on open government, school consolidation, judicial selection, ballot bill."