THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL NEWS SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2012 11Awww.cjonline.com

Donovan: Critics question role in tax reformFor some, lawmakers tinkering with

laws close to their own purse is a clear conflict of interest. Others view legisla-tors' real-life expertise as pivotal to re-form in industries they know better than their elected brethren.

Donovan, who served 21/2 terms in the House and 41/2 terms in the Senate prior to re-election in November, makes no apology for welding practical lessons from the auto marketing business into the fabric of government.

It is no secret he sells cars for a living. Dealership signs visible from the high-way in Wichita spell out his name in gi-gantic letters.

"Of course it's good if we could start up — not just car sales — but everything else we sell in this state," he said.

In the House, Donovan helped defeat a bill written to allow individuals in Kansas to broker car sales. He rode shotgun in the Senate to maintain a tax break on manu-facturer rebates for buyers of new cars.

The sweet spot of Donovan's work on vehicle sales revolved since the 1990s around taxation. He was motivated by re-

alization Kansas had the country's high-est property tax on cars, and the state's residents drove the nation's oldest fleet of vehicles. He joined a bipartisan group of legislators to slash the tax on cars by more than 50 percent.

He took heat as the Cadillac dealer from Wichita, but not from former Tope-ka Rep. Joan Wagnon, executive director of the Kansas Democratic Party.

"I'm quite sure some would criticize him roundly," she said. "I've also promot-ed the sale of new cars because it benefits the economy, and I've never had any kind of interest at all."

After success registered by the tax roll-back in Kansas, vehicle prices crept high-er and taxes escalated. Then, the econo-my tanked.

"Toward the end of 2008, the market didn't slow down. The market stopped all over the country. You could feel it like someone turned out the lights," Dono-van said.

In the 2012 session, Donovan respond-ed by dialing up Senate Bill 415 to guide state government purchases of vehicles. It mandated agencies buy cars manufac-tured in Kansas unless a 3 percent lower price could be secured for models made elsewhere. General Motors, maker of the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick LaCrosse in Fairfax, was the only eligible producer.

Rep. Anthony Brown, R-Eudora, helped bury the Senate-passed bill in a House committee.

"The preference is creating winners and losers," Brown said. "I thought we were up there to do what's good for Kan-

sans. Not for one company."As chairman of the Senate Tax Com-

mittee, Donovan responded by author-ing Senate Bill 421 to provide purchasers of new or newer used vehicles a reduc-tion in property taxes.

Under Donovan's bill, the assessment rate on vehicles would be cut from 20 percent to 12 percent over a four-year pe-riod. Autos would be subject to a new 20-mill property tax levy. To help counties losing revenue, vehicle depreciation rates would be slowed. The minimum annual tax of $24 for most older cars would shoot up to $36.

He said the adjustments would deliver a statewide decrease in taxes on vehicles, but result in an increase in overall tax col-lections through generation of economic activity.

"It's good for the car buyer," Donovan said. "What happens when somebody trades an eight-year-old car in on a brand new car? The city and state collects a hell of a big chunk of sales tax. Plus more property taxes."

The Senate's other major automobile dealer, Republican Sen. Jeff Longbine, recoiled at the thought of voting on tax

legislation directly influencing his bal-ance sheet.

"I can't," said Longbine, a marketer of Buick and Chevrolet vehicles in Empo-ria.

Donovan's bill, which failed to get out of the Senate, was opposed by the League of Kansas Municipalities because it gut-ted receipts to local governments an esti-mated $25 million in the first year, $42 million on top of that in the second year and $53 million more in the third.

Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, said Donovan's approach transferred the burden from property tax on vehicles to property tax on homeowners.

"We're shifting, once again, the tax burden," Holland said. "I'm not sold on the fact that just by doing that, in itself, is going to result in any sort of appreciable increase in either new or newer vehicle purchases."

Undeterred, Donovan is at work on a new edition of tax reform to be unveiled in the 2013 legislative session.

Tim Carpenter can be reachedat (785) 295-1158 or timothy.carpenter@

cjonline.com. Read his blog at cjonline.com/blog/political-runoff.

Continued from Page 1A

Citizen: Personal, professional roles influence jobIt also exemplifies the chal-

lenge facing members of Kansas' citizen legislature as they maneu-

ver through the intersec-tion of per-sonal business and political duty.

Avoidance of ethical di-lemmas in the form of con-flicts of inter-est has always created ten-sion among public ser-

vants, but current Kansas repre-sentatives and senators are tested more than in the past.

"The idea of a citizen legislature is very much a challenge," said

Bob Beatty, a political scientist and analyst at Kansas First News. "What state governments do now can be incredibly complicated and also involves a lot of money. To ask the average citizen to hold down a regular job while also dealing with responsibilities of being a legislator is very, very, very difficult."

The defining characteristic of the formula in Kansas is that work of the 165 legislators remain a part-time avocation. Members also are to stay engaged in their respective communities through work or service. By contrast, the U.S. House or Senate and state legislatures in California and Illi-nois call upon members to be full-time professionals who don't have outside duties.

In a citizen legislature, mem-bers are expected to be mindful of stepping into legislation distinctly

beneficial to his or her profes-sional interests.

Where does the banker, archi-tect, pharmacist or nurse draw the line between personal and public interest?

Should teacher-legislators vote on budget bills with bearing on their salaries? Should farmers serve on an agriculture commit-tee? Is it proper for the leader of a nonprofit organization to write bills regarding the tax-exempt sta-tus of those groups? Can legisla-tors who own temporary-staffing companies bid on state govern-ment contracts? Ought a legisla-tor file a lawsuit against the state about spending decisions he didn't endorse?

Sen. Les Donovan, a Wichita Republican who owns a Cadillac dealership and authored bills to boost car sales, said legislators in-evitably struggled to maintain

balance amid 1,000 bills thrust in front of them each session.

Recusal from voting should be a more common occurrence, he said, but this avenue of conflict avoidance won't be a panacea be-cause it muffles the voice of con-stituents.

"It's not as easy as it sounds," Donovan said. "If it was, any at-torney legislator could hardly vote on anything. They represent all these different entities."

Each citizen legislator in Kan-sas, by design, is to bring into the Capitol a set of experiences and perspectives drawn from the masses. The system is intended to avoid government by elites.

"It means you have people who are grounded in the community," said Joan Wagnon, executive di-rector of the Kansas Democrat-ic Party and a former Topeka House member. "People who un-

derstand they are doing their civic duty, but this isn't their only re-sponsibility."

Clay Barker, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, said the promise of a part-time legislature surpassed pitfalls.

"The citizen legislature is an historic part of the Kansas politi-cal system," he said. "They're ac-tive in their communities, they have jobs, they're current in what's going on. They aren't the full-time professional who could almost be living in a bubble out-side their communities."

Barker and Wagnon concurred that citizen legislatures had dis-advantages.

"The legislator may not have the expertise that they can devel-op over time that a full-time legis-lator would have," Barker said. "As a result, lobbyists have more in-fluence in a citizen legislature be-

cause they have a niche area they know a lot about."

He also said the temptation to improperly influence bills re-mained a danger.

"In a way, if they work in a really narrow area, they can almost act as a lobbyist for their own profes-sion," he said.

Wagnon said modest state compensation and grueling work schedules of a citizen legislator damaged recruitment of candi-dates in Kansas for two-year terms in the House and four-year terms in the Senate.

"It's becoming more and more difficult to find people that can leave their jobs and serve," Wa-gnon said. "Especially, if you're from a long way away, coming from Liberal, coming in from western Kansas, is a hardship if you make that drive every week. It pulls you away from your family."

Continued from Page 1A

thad allton/the capital-journal

Sen. Les Donovan, R-Wichita, and owner of a car dealership, draws bipartisan criticism for promoting bills reducing property taxes on sales of new vehicles.

Joan Wagnonis the executive director of the Kansas democratic party