Letters on sales tax, Medicare compact, Brownback, Ranzau, Roberts, Orman, GOP changes, rumble in jungle

Wrong to bundle sales tax items

The Wichita City Council placed the funding of critical infrastructure projects in jeopardy by bundling them with the controversial jobs development fund. If the voters vote “no,” the members of the council can blame only themselves.

Voters deserved the opportunity to vote on the projects individually. Everyone understands water, roads, public transportation and jobs, and every voter should have the choice to support funding a particular project or not.

The job development fund likely could not pass as a stand-alone measure. But by forcing the projects together in one package, the council has taken a big risk of killing valuable improvements to the city. Water, roads and public transportation, all critical parts of any city’s infrastructure, should not be held hostage to the creation of a controversial fund. Bundling the projects together is a high-risk political maneuver designed to force an unpopular project onto the voters.

A city council willing to risk critical infrastructure funding on a controversial project like the jobs development fund has no business getting to decide what projects are bundled together for a vote. Voters should be deciding on individual projects.

If ‘no,’ what then?

The television ads urging a “no” vote on the sales tax tell some bold-faced lies. I have read the city’s plan for the sales tax. It is detailed, with considerable safeguards to ensure that the money is spent as the plan dictates.

Some point to things in the past that the city has spent money on that they do not like. I have my own list, but the past is irrelevant. The question is what happens if we do not pass the sales tax.

Water bills will go up. Wichita will not increase the tax base because of less incentives to create new jobs. The streets will continue to deteriorate.

Worst of all is what will happen to transit. Four major routes likely will be cut. Some other routes will be decreased, and, consequently, there will develop huge gaps within the city limits where the paratransit service for disabled will not go. People who do not drive will lose jobs, lose livelihoods and maybe even put their lives at risk because of inability to get to medical services.

I hope all of those “no” voters will be happy counting their pennies while others are suffering.

Run Medicare?

If you want the current Topeka administration to run Medicare and if you don’t care what happens to all the money you invested your whole working life into Medicare, then voting for Gov. Sam Brownback is your choice.

Conversely, if you care about the quality of service you get through the federally run Medicare program, as I do, and are happy with both the service and the quality of that service, as I am, than vote for Paul Davis, as I will.

Be it also known that if Brownback is re-elected and the state takes control of Medicare, there will be an exodus of retired people from this state, taking their retirement money and taxes with them – as I, as much as I love this state, would be doing.

Back Brownback

It has to be stated that whomever we cast our vote for, that is the person we are choosing to represent our belief system. We are responsible for our decision.

I have watched Gov. Sam Brownback closely for the past six years, at both the national and state level. I have a solid belief in this man’s integrity and support of all issues involving life and morality. This is the foundation for my decision to cast my vote for him on Nov. 4. Brownback has a proven pro-life record; his opponent has proved the opposite. Please carefully consider your vote.

Justice, ads ugly

Justice can be ugly, and the recent court actions regarding the Carr brothers and Scott Roeder definitely reflect that. However, even uglier has been Gov. Sam Brownback’s use of the horrible 2000 multiple murders in his campaign advertising.

Now that Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller’s assassin must be resentenced, imagine the fits this gives the governor’s team, not to mention those on the far fringes of the right-to-life movement who consider Tiller’s murder to be justified, or something close to it. I know I won’t hold my breath waiting to see grainy black-and-white photos of Roeder and references to this cold-blooded, premeditated murder in constant rotation on TV. That would be too distasteful to certain people who can assuredly be counted on to vote for Brownback.

All three of these murderers deserve the death penalty. The fact that they need to be resentenced rests largely on local judges, prosecutors and the staff members who apparently did not check to be sure they were following the letter of the law completely.

Re-elect Ranzau

As a resident of Sedgwick County District 4 and active citizen, I closely follow the County Commission and plan to vote to re-elect Richard Ranzau in the Nov. 4 election. I urge other voters to do the same.

Ranzau fights against government waste of taxpayer money. When other commissioners wanted to sell a county asset without a bid process, he had the county sell it at auction for a much higher price.

He has been a staunch supporter of the Judge Riddel Boys Ranch and has vowed to continue the fight to reopen it. He knows the ranch makes our community a safer place to live, and it plays a vital role in changing boys’ lives.

Ranzau is a man of integrity and foresight, and has a commonsense approach to meeting the priorities of our community. He believes in providing opportunity for everyone in the community, not just the politically connected few.

Ranzau is the clear choice for re-election to the Sedgwick County Commission.

Not independent

Washington, D.C., is out of touch, and it isn’t listening. When we go door to door across the state, we hear just how frustrated Kansans are. They tell us they dislike Obamacare, disapprove of the run-up to nearly $18 trillion in debt, and think President Obama needs to be stopped from overstepping his authority. So it’s not too surprising that on first glance, an “independent” candidate sounds appealing.

But U.S. Senate candidate Greg Orman isn’t the independent he claims to be. And sending him to the Senate isn’t going to fix problems in Washington. Sending him to the Senate will double down on Obama’s failed policies.

Electing an independent certainly sounds appealing, but when the “independent” is really just a liberal wearing a different hat for convenience, Kansans won’t stand for it. We deserve a senator who can represent us. We can’t let Orman become our next senator and simply act as a rubber stamp for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

We need to send a message to Washington officials that we don’t like the path they are taking us down, and vote against Orman to show that we won’t stand for it.

Repeat history?

It’s been only six years since the policies of the Republican Party delivered this nation to the brink of economic Armageddon, and now the party hopes to take over the U.S. Senate.

If the people of Kansas and the United States allow this tragedy to occur, they will receive exactly what they deserve. There likely will be a phony impeachment process of our president. There may be more costly government shutdowns, which would further tarnish our credit rating. There will be further wasteful reinvestigations of matters already fully investigated. There will be further attacks on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. There likely will be further attempts to destroy the U.S. Postal Service in the insane hope of privatizing it. There will be more and more attacks on the middle class, labor unions, voter rights, women’s rights, the elderly and disabled, and public education. There will be no chance for immigration reform, reinstating the Voting Rights Act, correcting the mess of campaign financing or passing a meaningful jobs bill.

In short: two more years of gridlock.

It is tragic that the historic errors of history must be repeated again and again, and that the very wealthy conspire to buy our elections.

GOP has changed

In 2008, Barack Obama campaigned on “change you can believe in.” Sadly, after he was elected it became apparent that he wouldn’t be able to deliver on all that he wanted to do, with the adversity he would face.

The famous statement by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., set the tone for the next few years: “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” But believe it or not, “change” has happened in politics over the years.

Just take a look at a summary of the 1956 Republican Party platform: Provide federal assistance to low-income communities; protect Social Security; provide asylum for refugees; extend minimum wage; improve the unemployment benefit system so it covers more people; strengthen labor laws so workers can easily join a union; assure equal pay for equal work regardless of sex.

Now, sadly, there is an example of “change.”

Rumble in jungle

On Oct. 30, 1974, an epic boxing match took place in Kinshasa, Zaire (now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo). It was the Heavyweight Boxing Championship between then-champion George Foreman and former champion Muhammad Ali. It was the prizefight that introduced the tactic of the “rope-a-dope,” which was intended to wear down an opponent and eventually catch him vulnerable. That’s what happened, as Foreman literally punched himself into weariness, and Ali knocked him out in the eighth round.

I feel saddened by Ali’s battle with Parkinson’s disease. However, I still admire the courage of “The Greatest” in battling this health bout, which is tougher than any boxing match.

Ali won the championship belt three times; Foreman won it twice – the last time at age 45. Both men, in separate ways, demonstrate that “good sportsmanship” is remembered and honored, even 40 years later. “The Rumble in the Jungle” economically boosted the nation of Zaire, and it is regarded as one of the greatest sporting events of the 20th century.

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 29, 2014 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Letters on sales tax, Medicare compact, Brownback, Ranzau, Roberts, Orman, GOP changes, rumble in jungle."