Loyalty test on Sedgwick County contracts?

Chairing the Sedgwick County Commission mainly entails presiding at meetings. Yet current Chairman Jim Howell played a role in having local subcontractor Bothner and Bradley sacked from a county road study because he “personally” disliked the firm and baselessly suspected it was involved in last summer’s Quit the Cuts campaign against the county budget.

Whatever his reason, one commissioner should not be micromanaging which vendors a contractor is using on an ongoing contract. County Commission decision-making is supposed to require three votes and a public meeting.

It’s a further concern that the firm is not only highly respected – with an array of top business, nonprofit and public sector clients and projects to its credit – but also women-owned, by Vera Bothner and Tami Bradley. The September 2015 request for proposals for the Arkansas River Crossing-95th Street South Corridor Plan included standard language about the county being “desirous” of allowing as many Kansas vendors as possible to participate, including businesses owned by minorities and women.

Worst of all, the incident sends a chilling message about the willingness of Howell and the conservative commission majority to retaliate against those even perceived to be less than 100 percent supportive of the ideology-driven budgetary and other changes underway at the county. “If they’re working with us as our partners, I want their support across the board,” Howell told The Eagle.

Elected officials should protect free speech, not try to use the government contracting process to punish and discourage it. And when will Howell realize the current commission’s problem isn’t its communications but its actions?

This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Loyalty test on Sedgwick County contracts?."