Letters on protest votes, crossing over for Davis, Orman, sales tax

Collateral damage with protest votes

When I hear some moderate Republicans say that they are going to vote for Democrat Paul Davis for governor, independent Greg Orman for U.S. Senate and Democrat Jean Schodorf for secretary of state, I wonder if they fully understand the collateral damage of this decision.

It has been a problem for years to keep the Republican Party unified. It was an issue when I was Sedgwick County Republican chairman in 1989-90. When a conservative is on the ballot, the moderates cast a protest vote for the Democrat. When a moderate is on the ballot, the conservatives just don’t vote (they can’t bring themselves to vote for a Democrat). A Democrat then only has to claim to be a moderate and gets elected. Anyone still think that former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is a moderate?

A Davis victory means that a liberal Democrat from Lawrence who was a delegate for President Obama will be making appointments to the appellate courts. You think that the courts will become any less liberal?

A vote for Orman could very possibly mean that Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and the Democrats retain control of the U.S. Senate. I can’t think any Republican would like to see this happen.

Cross over for Davis

Since 1936, Kansas has had 19 governors, if you exclude the 11-day governor in 1957. Of those 19 governors, 12 have been Republicans and seven have been Democrats. The 12 Republicans served 44 years (56 percent) and the seven Democrats served 34 years (44 percent).

I believe during those 78 years, Republican was the majority party. One must conclude that our Republican parents, friends and neighbors have crossed over and voted for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate often. Maybe then it is not so surprising that many Republicans are crossing over this year. Four years of a failed Brownback administration are enough to justify such a crossover.

Party loyalty became a thing of the past when Brownback was a party to deceitful campaigns against incumbent Republican senators in the August 2012 primary elections. The governor did this because the senators would not cater to him and vote as he wanted. They were loyal to their constituents. To deserve loyalty one must first be loyal.

Re-electing Brownback will not serve us well over the next four years. I dreadfully fear the results of his income tax elimination “experiment.” It has not been and will not be good for Kansas in the future.

I urge Kansas Republicans everywhere to cross over, as they have before, and vote for Democrat Paul Davis to be our next governor.

Lack credibility?

Why does Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., need all those out-of-state politicians trying to convince his constituents how to vote? Is his credibility not enough to convince his fellow Kansans?

Roberts voted against the farm bill that benefits Kansas farmers. He forgot who got him into the Senate. What is his excuse for missing most of the Senate Agriculture Committee meetings?

If independent candidate Greg Orman has the initiative to become a multimillionaire and develop numerous companies, we need him in positions of leadership.

Tax smells bad

I received a flier in the mail last weekend urging me to “vote yes” for an increase to Wichita’s sales tax rate. The flier threatened me with dire consequences if I vote “no,” namely that the city will not be able to supply me with water past the year 2020.

At its heart, this flier reflects the view that someone who uses little water but purchases goods in the community should pay 1 percent more on those purchases so that people who insist on flooding their lawns each year with hundreds of gallons of city water won’t have to pay such large water bills in the future. Why is the pro-sales tax lobby so intent on redistributing income in this manner, when simply raising water rates to pay for any needed improvements would prevent the threatened consequences and ensure that the cost of such improvements is borne by the people who use them most?

Something smells bad here, and I suspect it’s not algae bloom in Kansas reservoirs.

Out of economy?

Imagine my surprise when I opened the mail recently. I learned from a campaign mailer that the proposed sales tax will “pull $400 million out of our economy and send it to City Hall.” I imagined the box where government officials plan to hide the money and keep it from helping our local economy.

It’s time for us to put on our critical-thinking caps. You may not like the proposed way that money is to be collected or how decisions have and will be made. That’s your position to determine after visiting wichita.gov/salestax and reading the city information mailer. However, the story that local road, water, transit system and job creation infrastructure improvements will take money “out of our economy” might be one you want to challenge as you decide your vote.

Letters deadline

Letters to the editor about the Nov. 4 election must be received by noon Thursday to be considered for publication.

This story was originally published October 28, 2014 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Letters on protest votes, crossing over for Davis, Orman, sales tax."