Sandrine Lisk: Hold Sedgwick County Commission accountable

It’s time for citizens of Sedgwick County to openly and loudly voice their disapproval of County Commission Chairman Richard Ranzau’s new majority on the commission.

The recent decision by Commissioners Ranzau, Karl Peterjohn and Jim Howell to unnecessarily cut more than $300,000 from the county’s Women, Infants and Children program shows a callous disregard for the unborn, the poor and the defenseless citizens of Sedgwick County. It also shows that this new commission majority may not actually have the best interests of our county or its citizens.

Nationally, WIC serves 53 percent of all infants born in the United States up to their first birthday, as well as young children up to their fifth birthday plus pregnant and lactating women (through pregnancy and up to six weeks after birth or after pregnancy ends). In addition to nutritional supplements, WIC provides numerous health benefits to both the mother and her baby, helping to reduce long-term health care costs for babies born in the United States. These children are U.S. citizens, and not less so because of their parentage.

Sedgwick County was offered $2.2 million in federal grant money to administer our local WIC program. Instead of approving the funds, the new commission majority voted to turn down part of the available federal funds, then cut more than $300,000 unnecessarily from the WIC program. Why? In Ranzau’s own words, via e-mail: “There is no charity in government welfare programs.”

Ranzau also does not believe our county health department should be involved in the “breast-feeding business,” notwithstanding the research that breast-feeding provides numerous health benefits to both the mother and her baby, reduces children’s risk of obesity, Type 2 diabetes and asthma.

Ranzau is now proposing that the county and state eliminate all “illegal aliens” from the federal WIC program. When confronted with the fact that his immigration proposals would actually and unlawfully affect vulnerable U.S. citizen infants and children born to immigrants who have every right to WIC benefits, Ranzau flippantly replied via e-mail that concerned citizens who don’t want poor infants and children of undocumented immigrants to go hungry should “write a check or give them your food.”

It’s now up to all of us as decent and compassionate members of this community to clearly remind Ranzau whom he actually works for and whom the county money really belongs to. We must hold him accountable.

This story was originally published October 19, 2015 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Sandrine Lisk: Hold Sedgwick County Commission accountable."