No one seems to like borrowing scheme

Include State Treasurer Ron Estes among those balking at Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan to borrow more than $300 million from the state’s pooled money investment fund. Estes “does not endorse the governor’s loan proposal,” his office said last week. No one seems to like the proposal, including Kansas Budget Director Shawn Sullivan. But as Sullivan told lawmakers, the alternatives may be even worse. The state faces a projected budget shortfall of more than $340 million this fiscal year. It could be very difficult – and harmful – to cut that much from state spending between now and the end of June. – Phillip Brownlee