The Topeka Capital-Journal

Editorial: Resort could be risky businessPosted: July 29, 2013 - 5:55pm

By The Captial-Journal

A request for proposals from developers interested in creating a resort at Clinton Lake State Park west of Lawrence elicited only one response — from Overland Park-based LodgeWell Resorts.The single response indicates developers aren’t as enthusiastic about a resort’s prospects as are some state officials, including Robin Jennison, head of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, and Steve Kelly, deputy secretary of the Kansas Department of Commerce.That doesn’t mean a resort at the lake isn’t a good idea. A state committee will review the project proposal and is expected to issue an announcement sometime this fall.No one on this side of the Douglas/Shawnee line would begrudge our neighbors to the east a nice chunk of economic development, but none of the reports we’ve read about the possibility of locating a resort on the lake have indicated how much public money would be spent on the project.Given the interest shown by some state officials and some legislators, and the fact the resort would be located in a state park, it is likely the state’s taxpayers will be asked to contribute something.Just how much public money could be spent on the development is a fair question that, hopefully, will be answered in the committee’s report this fall.Until then, judgment will be withheld but we will note the development would be a nice draw for the Lawrence and Douglas County community and the surrounding area.LodgeWell Resorts proposed to build a 175-room hotel, resort and conference facility at the lake. The word “resort” isn’t terribly descriptive standing alone, but state officials earlier said a study has found support for a resort that would include an outdoor sports center with everything from hiking to water sports.The thinking was such a resort could compete with the Ozarks for tourism dollars.That is a big stretch. Clinton has about 7,000 surface acres of water and Lake of the Ozarks offer about 50,000 surface acres of water. Lake of the Ozarks also already offers multiple resorts and other nearby tourist attractions that the Clinton Lake area can’t match.That said, a Clinton resort and conference center could be a good draw in its own right and would make a nice addition to the Lawrence and Douglas County community and the area’s economy.But state officials shouldn’t get so enamoured of the project they toss a lot of taxpayers’ dollars at it. There already are enough demands on that purse.

Kansas Medicaid mailing forms to 130K householdsQuestionnaires ask about income tax returnsPosted: July 30, 2013 - 6:03am

By The Associated Press

The Kansas Medicaid program is mailing questionnaires to 130,000 households asking who lives in each one and how many expect to file income tax returns next year.Kansas officials said Monday they are required to seek the information under the 2010 federal health care overhaul. Medicaid is a joint state-federal program covering health care for the needy and disabled.The forms are going to homes with children and pregnant women. They aren’t going to the elderly or disabled.The state is asking households to return the questionnaires by Sept. 15, so it can be collecting the information by October.The questionnaires ask households to list each resident, their relationships and who plans to file tax returns.

Brownback names Ney to lead securities agencyNey to be permanent replacement for ousted JackPosted: July 30, 2013 - 2:00pm

By Tim Carpenter

timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com

Gov. Sam Brownback promoted the interim commissioner Tuesday to serve as the state's top administrator of the securities industry after a scandal involving his predecessor.Josh Ney, a lawyer with ties to the governor's general counsel, took over leadership duties in the Kansas Securities Commission's office in February after the ouster of commissioner Aaron Jack.Jack's personnel decisions, lack of enforcement and personal conduct drew criticism inside and outside the Brownback administration. He resigned rather than be fired by the governor's office.The Senate is expected to consider the appointment of Ney during a special session of the Kansas Legislature scheduled for early September. He will undergo the standard confirmation hearing before a Senate committee.

Brownback said in a statement Ney’s leadership skills and legal experience made him a good choice to serve as commissioner of the agency responsible for protecting the interests of Kansas investors.“I am glad to welcome him to our team,” Brownback said.Ney, who declined an interview request, previously served on the Kansas Human Rights Commission and worked as an assistant attorney in Jefferson County and the city attorney for Linwood.He graduated from Washburn University's law school and bought the law firm owned by Caleb Stegall, who left private practice to serve as general counsel to the governor in 2011.“I am honored to have this opportunity to serve the people of Kansas,” Ney said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to advance our mission of protecting and informing Kansas investors."In February, Jack was ushered out of the securities commission job after the governor's chief of staff found evidence he had engaged in a "pattern of unprofessional behavior and disturbing employment practices."Jack portrayed his departure in February as voluntary, but chief of staff Landon Fulmer subsequently left no doubt Jack would have would have been fired if he didn't resign.During an interview in May with The Topeka Capital-Journal, Jack confirmed for the first time that he would withdraw from the Republican campaign for state insurance commissioner.

ABA disputes Brownback's take on judicial selectionGOP governor committed to applicant secrecy on Court of Appeals vacanciesPosted: July 30, 2013 - 5:10pm

By Tim Carpenter

timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com

The American Bar Association's president disputed Tuesday an assertion by Gov. Sam Brownback that the national legal organization endorsed Kansas' new method of selecting judges.Brownback said in a statement July 11 disclosure of the names of applicants for vacancies on the Kansas Court of Appeals would deter potential nominees and the ABA "recommends this method of selection." The governor was granted power by the 2013 Legislature to sidestep the state's judicial nominating commission and appoint the person of his choice pending Senate confirmation.ABA president Laurel Bellows issued a statement declaring the association "emphatically does not recommend Kansas' new method of judicial selection" because

it "invites partisan politics instead of merit-based review of a potential judge’s qualifications."She said the ABA opposed political efforts to deflate the role of independent nominating commissions and confer control over judicial selection to a governor.A spokeswoman for Brownback said the intent of the July news release was to point out the ABA was opposed to disclosure of names of applicants for vacancies. Brownback is standing by a decision to maintain confidentiality of those names, a move denounced by Democrats who questioned the governor's commitment to transparency.In the past, all names of judicial applicants and the three finalists selected by the Kansas nominating commission were disclosed before a governor made the final appointment."The ABA takes no position on the governor’s decision regarding disclosure of potential appointees," Bellows said.Brownback is expected to announce a Court of Appeals nominee in August prior to the September special session of the Legislature. The appointment will be on lawmakers' agenda.

Other special session topics bubble upLeadership vows to keep days narrowly focused on Hard 50Posted: August 6, 2013 - 3:37pm

By Andy Marso

andy.marso@cjonline.com

The leadership mantra for the upcoming special session is clear: Get to Topeka, fix the "Hard 50" sentencing procedure, head home.Gov. Sam Brownback, flanked by a phalanx of blue-uniformed police officers and be-suited prosecutors, laid down the ground rules Tuesday when he signed the proclamation calling legislators back to the Statehouse Sept. 3 to Sept. 5."My request is that it should be a one-topic special session," Brownback said, adding that House and Senate leaders agreed with him.But while leadership may squelch all but one piece of legislation, other state business will be conducted during the session. "One topic" is the mantra, but "one bill" was the standard outlined by Brownback and others who pushed for the session, which is estimated to cost about $40,000 per day.The state constitution mandates that the Legislature review the governor's appointments whenever it is in session. Brownback said there is a slate of candidates awaiting confirmation, including Department of Administration Secretary Jim Clark, and legislators will have to act on them. But he does not expect that to bog down the session."There is one legislative topic, is what my hope is," Brownback said. "By the constitution any appointments that have been made must be taken up."

One of the appointments up for confirmation will be Brownback's pick for a Court of Appeals position, an appointee as yet unnamed.Before this year appointees for the state's second-highest court were chosen by a non-partisan nominating committee that made public all the candidates. Brownback's refusal to name his candidates under the new selection process has proven controversial.Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, though he attended Tuesday's signing and spoke in favor of addressing the hard 50 issue as soon as possible, said the accelerated time line for Brownback's judicial appointment to be confirmed in the special session "does lend an air of reasonable suspicion to the timing of this."Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, went further, calling the special session a "diversion tactic."“When Attorney General Derek Schmidt requested the governor to call a special session, Schmidt suggested it be called in mid-September," Hensley said. "Instead, Brownback scheduled it for September 3rd – conveniently just four days after the deadline for naming a nominee to the Court of Appeals. It is obvious that he wants to rush this appointment through the Senate quickly to avoid any organized opposition to his nominee."Schmidt, when he requested the special session, asked that it occur no later than mid-September.Haley said he was concerned about having enough time to look into the governor's Court of Appeals pick."I think that for those other appointments that could be more easily vetted it would be appropriate (to hold confirmation hearings during the special session)," Haley said. "With this one, I'm hesitant, especially now 30 days out from the special session and not even knowing who might be appointed for one of the most important judicial positions in the state."Haley is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will be busy reviewing the hard 50 bill and vetting the judicial nominee when the special session begins.Other legislators will be idle until a bill appears in their chamber. Rep. Marc Rhoades, R-Newton, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said that spare time might be more efficiently used in informational briefings on zero-based budgeting. That method of appropriations, which requires agencies to start from zero and justify each dollar they receive regardless of what they received in previous years, is favored by conservatives.Rep. Ramon Gonzalez, R-Perry, a police chief who spoke in favor of the special session Tuesday, was adamant that the session should be brief, but said such side activities could be fine as long as they don't result in additional legislation."We can have info sessions, but don't bring them to the (House) floor," Gonzalez said.House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, agreed.“Legislators are free to schedule meetings as they see fit to best utilize their time in Topeka, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the special session," Merrick said in an emailed statement.

An anti-abortion group out of Wichita has told the Associated Press it plans to lobby for a "fetal heartbeat bill" that could ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.When asked if he had talked to such groups about the need to keep the session focused on the hard 50, Brownback said he had spoken to House and Senate leaders, who have the authority to bottleneck legislation."I've reached out to legislative leadership and I've asked them if they see this the way I do, that this should be a one-topic session, and they've agreed," Brownback said. "I haven't reached out to the broad community."Haley said the last special session, in 2005, remained narrowly focused in large part because the entire Legislature was engrossed in the topic, school finance.

Brownback signs resolution for special sessionFocus to be return of 'Hard 50' law to firm constitutional groundPosted: August 6, 2013 - 2:37pm

By Tim Carpenter

timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com

Gov. Sam Brownback stood with members of the thin blue line Tuesday in a frontal assault on anyone skeptical of plans to call a special session of the Kansas Legislature to fix the state's mandatory 50-year sentence for people convicted of vicious first-degree murders.Brownback and Attorney General Derek Schmidt held court in the Statehouse to outline the merits of a September gathering of legislators to bring Kansas criminal sentencing law into constitutional compliance with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June. The decision requires the state to shift responsibility for deciding application of the "Hard 50" from a judge to a jury."For proper punishment of those who commit heinous crimes we must have this special legislative session," the governor said. "The Hard 50 sentence services a vital public safety role by removing the most dangerous killers from society for at least 50 years."Brownback signed a resolution designating the special session would start at 8 a.m. Sept. 3 and end at 5 p.m. Sept. 5. Each day of the session is estimated to cost $40,000.Schmidt formally requested in late July the governor commit to calling House and Senate members to Topeka to grapple with the court's sentencing decision.Schmidt said 30 to 35 defendants across Kansas were in judicial limbo because they would be eligible for the five-decade sentence but had yet to go on trial or hadn’t been sentenced.

Quick work on a revised statute is expected to keep these individuals on track for that elongated punishment and prevent the sentencing crisis from being compounded by delaying a resolution until the regular session in January 2014, the attorney general said."At the end of the day, this is a problem where waiting would make matters worse. With each passing month there will certainly be additional crimes. We have to stop the bleeding first," Schmidt said.In absence of new law, Schmidt said, the longest minimum sentence for first-degree murder would be 25 years to life in prison. The attorney general said he expected defense attorneys to challenge imposition of a Hard 50 sentence on anyone who was caught in limbo.Schmidt said individuals incarcerated under the Hard 50 who had completed all avenue of appeal wouldn't need to be sentenced again in response to the Supreme Court's ruling. This provision of the Kansas criminal code was adopted in 1999.The state holds 69 people behind bars who engaged in aggravating circumstances while committing premeditated murder and were assigned a 50-year term, said Ray Roberts, secretary of the Kansas Department of Corrections.A wall of uniformed law enforcement officers, including Shawnee County Sheriff Herman Jones, stood with prosecutors and politicians to offer personal endorsement of the sentencing tool touted as a justified method of shielding the public from notorious killers."We look forward to the Legislature coming in to work jointly for this defined punishment that we need," the sheriff said.Jerome Gorman, district attorney in Wyandotte County, said a dozen cases were pending in his jurisdiction in which perpetrators qualified for the sentence. Failure to address the constitutional flaw will theoretically allow some of these defendants to leave prison in half that time, he said."It's hard for a victim's family to take when a 20-year-old is charged and at 45 is going to be released into society, but their family member will never be again," Gorman said.During the news conference, Brownback repeatedly urged legislators to restrict the special session to the sentencing issue. The idea of convening for that purpose received broad bipartisan support. Controversy has erupted about Senate review of the governor's appointments, including his pending selection to fill a vacancy on the Kansas Court of Appeals.

National Guard chief: Despite budget cuts, units ready to continue missionsBureau chief: Guard 'isn't immune,' but hasn't seen cuts to the forcePosted: August 5, 2013 - 4:08pm

By John Milburn

The Associated Press

National Guard Air and Army units should be able to maintain their readiness and deployment capabilities indefinitely despite a murky federal military budget outlook, the chief of the National Guard Bureau said Monday.Gen. Frank Grass told soldiers and airmen of the Kansas National Guard during a stop at the State Defense Building in Topeka that the 460,000-member force is capable of continuing missions both overseas and domestically.“When we can do that indefinitely as long as the resources are there and we keep our readiness high,” Grass said. “And this generation of Guardsmen and women expect to deploy.”He said he has spoken with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno about keeping Guard units in the mix for traditional rotations to Kosovo, the Sinai Peninsula and the Horn of Africa in coming years. Grass also would like to see the Guard continue missions in other countries for several months that could be integrated into two- or three-week annual training programs.Grass, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said while fewer soldiers and airmen may deploy in the coming years, those rotations will be shorter than in the past decade.He also said the National Guard isn’t immune to the federal spending challenges facing the Pentagon, but any decision about cutting the number of reserve forces in uniform hasn’t been made yet. The automatic budget cuts that took effect in March resulted in more than 48,000 National Guard technicians being furloughed through the end of the current fiscal year.In Kansas, the cuts affected 54 percent of the full-time employees of the Kansas National Guard, including some 1,100 technician positions. Grass said the balancing act is maintaining the Guard’s size and readiness while still finding efficiencies.“We’re almost in daily conversations right now trying to figure out how can the Guard pay our part of the bill but still keep a very strong Guard,” he said, noting he expects to have a meeting with the adjutants general soon.The National Guard share of the military’s budget is $25 billion.Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, Kansas adjutant general, said he and Grass discussed several ways Kansas is partnering with agencies to stretch resources and capabilities.

Legislators approve sale of Dillon home to Pioneer GroupHistoric preservation group's $700K bid from June auction standsPosted: August 5, 2013 - 6:43am

By Andy Marso

andy.marso@cjonline.com

Legislative leaders approved the sale of the Hiram Price Dillon home Monday, the final step in the state handing off the century-old property to a historic preservation group that bought it at auction.Gov. Sam Brownback and top lawmakers on the State Finance Council unanimously approved Pioneer Group's $700,000 bid, paving the way for president Ross Freeman's plan to restore the upper two floors and make those his company's headquarters while continuing to rent out the main floor for private functions.“I think that’s a great move," Brownback said after the sale was approved. "I think that will really help us out in the Capitol complex.”The Department of Administration, including newly-appointed secretary Jim Clark, recommended the sale.The 12,000-square-foot home is on the National Register of Historic Places and is directly west of the Statehouse. It is known for its Italian Renaissance-style architecture.The Legislature authorized the state to give a nearby church a parking lot in exchange for the Dillon House in 1989. The house has been largely vacant in recent years.House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey, R-Louisburg, asked if there would be a cost to the state to hold functions at the house after it was sold. Administration representative Linda Thomas said she was unsure. Brownback said it would likely be up to Pioneer Group.“Somebody’s going to have to rent it from them, I’d presume,” Brownback said.Freeman's winning auction bid came after a sealed bidding process yielded a highest offer of $351,000. The house was most recently was valued at $448,500, according to the Shawnee County Appraiser’s Office.Freeman estimated renovations to the house will cost about $3.5 million, including upgrading the electrical wiring, plumbing, and heating and air conditioning systems. He has said the bulk of the upgrades should be done next year.A bill was introduced during the 2010 legislative session that would have allowed the Kansas Arts Commission to begin raising $4.6 million to restore the Dillon House, but that plan fell through, and Brownback de-funded the commission the following year.Brownback referenced the cost of renovations Monday as the council discussed whether to approve the sale.“That facility really needs repair," Brownback said. "The last couple times I’ve been in there, it’s just really been degrading. Either we need to put some money into it or sell it to someone who will put some money in it.”The council also approved the sale of a parking lot in Hays and a building in Emporia, both of which belong to the Department of Commerce.The parking lot, which Thomas said was appraised at $25,000, sold for $32,000.The city of Emporia put in a top bid of $50,000 for the building, which Thomas said is directly across from the city's main offices.Thomas said the building was appraised at $86,000 and the adjacent parking lot also included in the sale was another $13,000.

Thomas said she presumed the location was the reason it didn’t receive any bids during the closed bidding process.The council unanimously approved that sale, as well.

State Dems want voting law change in special sessionKris Kobach says discussion on voting laws 'unlikely'Posted: July 31, 2013 - 10:24am

By The Associated Press

WICHITA — Some Wichita Democrats want Kansas legislators to use the special session in September to fix a problem they say exists in the state’s new voting laws.More than 12,000 voter registration applications are in suspense because individuals lacked proof of citizenship when they registered to vote through the state Division of Vehicles. The new law requires residents who register to vote to provide proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a birth certificate or valid passport.The Wichita Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/14i7WlV ) that Democrats want to fix the problem when legislators start meeting on Sept. 3. The special session was called to rewrite the state’s Hard 50 prison law in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that invalidated a similar law in Virginia.Rep. Jim Ward and Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau said they will try to offer an amendment to the sentencing law that will change the voter registration requirement.Legislators will be meeting to fix a provision in the Kansas law regarding mandatory prison sentences of at least 50 years. The Supreme Court ruled such laws are unconstitutional because they are imposed by judges not juries. Without the change, state officials say some convicted criminals could be released from prison earlier than expected, putting violent offenders back in the public.“If we’re being proactive to make sure that really bad criminals stay in jail, we should be equally proactive to protect voter rights for at least 12,000 Kansans,” Ward said.Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Republicans in the Legislature say any discussion on the voting laws is unlikely to happen, given the desire to keep the session focused on the sentencing law.Kobach said he thinks the Kansas voter registration law will hold up to U.S. Supreme Court scrutiny. He was the author of the Kansas law and had a hand in the Arizona voting law that was struck down by the Supreme Court. The Arizona law required election clerks to reject voter registration applications submitted without proof of citizenship. In Kansas, applications are accepted but not considered approved until citizenship documents are provided.The Republican secretary of state said voters still could register to vote in federal elections using a separate form that doesn’t require proof of citizenship as Kansas

does. That would allow voters to participate in congressional and presidential elections.Kobach disagrees that the Kansas voting law is impacted by the Arizona case.“All it said was if a voter used a federal (registration) form, that should be sufficient to register and vote for federal elections only,” Kobach said.Kansas has accepted the federal form to allow voters to participate in federal, state and local elections. Voters sign a sworn statement saying that they are citizens but they don’t have to provide proof.Legislators will most likely get one chance to amend the bill to fix the sentencing law. Republicans control the House and the Senate, and neither chamber is expected to approve amendments.“I think it’s a great opportunity to revisit this (proof-of-citizenship) issue,” Faust-Goudeau said. “It might get shot down, but I think it’s worth a shot.”Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, has asked GOP Attorney General Derek Schmidt for a legal ruling on the proof of citizenship law. Hensley asked for the opinion about six weeks ago but has not received a response.Hensley has been critical of Republican leaders who plan to hold confirmation votes during the special session on several appointments made by Gov. Sam Brownback.“If there are other issues introduced by the other side, I think it’s appropriate what Jim and Oletha have been saying” about raising the voter registration issue, he said.

Editorial: In Kansas, majority party doesn't have to conspireBy The Capital-Journal

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, sees conspiracy lurking in the shadows behind Gov. Sam Brownback’s decision to call the Legislature back into session on Sept. 3.Hensley, due to his position and tenure, often is called upon by his party to present the opposing opinion to initiatives promoted by Brownback’s administration and bills pushed by the Legislature’s dominating Republican contingent. Granted, it can be a lonely and thankless job.However, saying that the real goal of the special session was to gain quick confirmation of the governor’s nominee for a new position on the Kansas Court of Appeals smacks of a conspiracy theory. Such theories are often weak, as is Hensley’s.Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt issued the first call for a special session for the purpose of fixing a flaw in the state’s “Hard 50” sentence, one favored by prosecutors whose aim is to keep the most violent criminals behind bars for as long as possible.Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor — a Democrat, no less — endorsed Schmidt’s decision as did prosecutors in several Kansas counties who have pending

cases in which they hope to seek the Hard 50 sentence. Due to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a Virginia case, they probably won’t be able to do that unless the Kansas law is fixed before the cases go to court. Waiting until the Legislature convenes for its regular 2014 session apparently isn’t an option for them.Once the special session begins, it will have other work to do, including confirming appointments Brownback has made to different boards and commission since the 2013 Legislature adjourned earlier this year. The Senate also will be asked to approve Brownback’s nominee to the Kansas Court of Appeals. The governor hasn’t announced his nominee but must do so in August.That said, there’s no evidence to support Hensley’s claim the special session is an “orchestrated decoy” designed to get Brownback’s appointee onto the Court of Appeals “as fast and with as little public scrutiny as possible.”Decoys simply aren’t necessary. The chances of the Republican Senate rejecting a Brownback appointee to the court are slim, regardless of whether the confirmation hearing is conducted in September or January. Everyone knows that. And the Republicans in charge of the Legislature are seemingly immune to dissent and haven’t shown an inclination to be detracted by public scrutiny.So the confirmation will happen a few months early due to a special session called to address the sentencing issue. No conspiracy there.

Special session: Abortion off table, court seat in playBrownback calling lawmakers to Topeka to work on 'Hard 50' sentence reformsPosted: July 29, 2013 - 5:20pm

By Tim Carpenter

timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com

The House's top Republican expressed confidence Monday the upcoming special session of the Legislature won't be sidetracked by such subjects as abortion, while the Senate's leading Democrat labeled the session a ploy to mute scrutiny of an appointment to the Kansas Court of Appeals.Gov. Sam Brownback called the House and Senate to Topeka for three days in early September to correct potential constitutional flaws with the state's "Hard 50" statute allowing judges to sentence people convicted of murder to life in prison without the possibility of parole. It is now clear senators will be taking a bundle of votes on appointments by Brownback.House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, said the plan wasn't to broaden the focus so much that legislators could launch in full-fledged debates about bills that didn't gain approval during the regular 2013 session that ran from January to June."We're still in control of what happens," said Merrick, gesturing to his left and Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita.

He said unwelcome legislative proposals could be buried for the special session with referrals to an obscure committee. Each day of the special session will cost an estimated $40,000.Representatives of the Kansas Coalition for Life, a Wichita anti-abortion organization, suggested enough votes existed in the Legislature to pass a "fetal heartbeat" bill banning virtually all abortions in the state. Similar bills have been blocked in Arkansas and North Dakota.Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, said he was convinced a central goal of the special session was to gain confirmation of Brownback's choice for the Court of Appeals.The nomination will be the first under a new state law granting the governor liberty to select without adhering to recommendations of a nominating panel.Brownback has until the final week of August to make the pick.Hensley said the scheme offered by Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, R-Hutchinson, to vote on gubernatorial nominations in the special session indicated the process was "spiraling out of control before it starts.""I strongly believe that the people of Kansas are being misled," Hensley said. "This special session is an orchestrated decoy. It isn't about being tough on crime. It's about Gov. Brownback sneaking in his secret appointee to the Court of Appeals as fast and with as little public scrutiny as possible."During a meeting of top House and Senate leaders on the Legislative Coordinating Council, Bruce said following the standard process on the court appointment would delay final consideration by the Senate until start of the 2014 session in January.The council authorized expenditure of funding so the Senate Judiciary Committee, as well as the Confirmations Oversight Committee, could meet during the special session. Senators will consider 13 nominations previously endorsed by the oversight panel, as well as six more that should be ready for presentation to the oversight committee.Bruce said the Senate should break from tradition and divert Brownback's selection for the state's second-highest court away from the oversight group."It's my preference to have that handled through Senate Judiciary Committee as opposed to Senate Confirmation and Oversight," Bruce said.

Kansas Medicaid committee will meet later this yearLegislative Democrats: Medicaid oversight importantPosted: July 31, 2013 - 10:00am

By The Associated Press

After some hesitation from a top Republican, Kansas legislative leaders have decided that a committee monitoring the state’s overhaul of its Medicaid program will have two days of meetings later this year.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports (http://bit.ly/13lbaCo ) that Senate President Susan Wagle said this week that she wanted to hear from the leaders of the House and Senate health committees before committing to meetings of the oversight committee.Medicaid covers medical services for the needy and disabled. Gov. Sam Brownback turned over administration of most of the program this year to three private health insurance companies.Democrats said during a meeting of legislative leaders that they thought oversight is important. Wagle and House Speaker Ray Merrick then agreed to the meetings.Dates haven’t been set.

Huelskamp frustrated by stall tactics on Sunflower plantEnvironmentalists defend legal challenges to expansion of coal-fired facilityPosted: August 3, 2013 - 8:12pm

By Tim Carpenter

timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com

U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp serves on the front lines of the extraordinary battle over the fate of a proposed $2.8 billion coal-fired electric plant earmarked for the remote community of Holcomb within his congressional district.From the Republican congressman's perspective, the ruckus is fueled by ridiculous regulatory obstacles and ill-conceived litigation. Environmentalists engaged in the dispute find Huelskamp's approach dangerously deceptive.When he was a state senator in western Kansas, Huelskamp struggled to usher the project through a political gauntlet in Topeka only to be thwarted by regulatory obstacles and vetoes from Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius from 2007 to 2009. After election to Congress in 2010, Huelskamp found himself in the Washington, D.C., wheelhouse of Sunflower Electric Power Corp.'s approach to inflating its power portfolio."The Sierra Club, Earthjustice and whoever else is fundraising all these things, they want to drag it out," Huelskamp said. "The longer they drag it out, the more difficultly Sunflower, obviously, does have."In the wake of federal court rulings in 2011 and 2013 requiring detailed environmental study of the Holcomb expansion, the Republican lawmaker worked with Sunflower executives in Hays and lobbyists at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in Arlington, Va., to devise a strategy for retroactively undercutting courthouse losses.Huelskamp helped convince House colleagues to amend a bill to include an eight-line provision — now known as Section 5206 — in the 2012 farm bill, which never passed, and again in the pending 2013 version to counter judicial setbacks.Kirk Johnson, senior vice president of government relations at NRECA, said the bill sent to the Senate would prevent the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rural utility branch

from imposing newly interpreted restrictions on privately financed construction at power stations managed by cooperatives. The amendment respects Congress' intent and long-standing USDA practice, he said.It is a position of potential use to the association's 900 rural electric members, but of direct consequence to Sunflower."We worked with Kansas cooperatives and Sunflower on this issue," Johnson said.The text of the amendment speaks to Sunflower's status as a coal-plant partner since 2005 with financial backer Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association of Colorado and to Sunflower's rare position as a cooperative that defaulted on hundreds of millions of dollars in debt to the federal government for previous construction at Holcomb.In federal court, environmental attorneys argue the USDA's interest in Sunflower's business operations and future expansion shouldn't be surrendered because the cooperative broke its commitment to repay debt to the agency's Rural Utilities Service, or RUS.Sarah Saylor, senior legislative representative of the California environmental group Earthjustice, said the amendment carried by Huelskamp while serving on the House Agriculture Committee illustrated "special-interest earmark politics at its worst."Sunflower doesn't deserve access to the Rural Utilities Service's fast-track program allowing financially stable companies to move ahead with private projects without significant federal involvement, said Amanda Goodin, an attorney with Earthjustice representing the Sierra Club."A lot of government money has gone into this plant," she said. "It's just kind of a shell game."She disputed conclusions drawn by Huelskamp that organizations involved in this coal plant litigation primarily were interested in the fundraising potential of a protracted feud over building an 895-megawatt generating station. She also rejected Huelskamp's argument that Sunflower long ago offered to pay off its debt, but was inexplicably rebuffed by federal officials."That's preposterous," Goodin said of the notion of financial gain for environmentalists. "We're challenging this plant because of the very real impact on human health."Goodin said there was no evidence Sunflower stepped forward with cash to settle the federal debt. She said a thorough reading of Sunflower documents revealed nothing to back up the claim, she said."They have offered to pay back the loan more than once," Huelskamp said. "They went to RUS and said, 'Hey, we'd like to pay this back.' They would not accept the check."Cindy Hertel, spokeswoman for Sunflower, said Saturday the cooperative refinanced in 1988 its federal debt related to construction of Holcomb 1. Payments from Sunflower on that diminished obligation — that total wasn't available — ought to be completed by 2016, she said.Huelskamp said environmental outfits injecting themselves into the Kansas coal plant controversy had no interest in compelling Sunflower to repay old loans. The objective, he said, was to bind the project in regulation and litigation until it collapsed.

"It wasn't about loan repayment," he said. "It was another legal avenue by which they're trying to stop the project."He said the expansion would allocate 25 percent of new electricity to Kansas customers with the remainder exported by Tri-State to clients across a four-state region. Objections about sending enough electricity to power about 300,000 homes across state lines is ridiculous, the congressman said."Some of my favorite editorialists in the state are fairly critical that most of the power made would be exported," Huelskamp said. "Gosh, I wonder how many 747s we use in Kansas? How much beef do we eat? How much corn can we eat in Kansas? It's exports."While debate about a new Kansas coal plant continues on the federal level within USDA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the state's environmental regulators granted Sunflower a permit in 2010 to proceed with the project. Lawsuits in state and federal courts and questions about whether Tri-State requires the extra power remain in play.

Wakefield: Jenkins needs to own D.C. dysfunctionDemocrat lines up to challenge three-term GOP incumbentPosted: July 28, 2013 - 4:49pm

By Tim Carpenter

timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com

LAWRENCE — Attorney Margie Wakefield's political future hinges upon convincing a majority of voters in Topeka and other 2nd District territory that U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins lost touch with issues most salient to Kansans.Wakefield, who is seeking the Democratic Party's nomination in 2014 in a presumptive challenge to Jenkins, said time had come to resolve partisan dysfunction embedded in debates on health insurance, agriculture and education in Washington, D.C. In terms of Kansas, she said, a logical step would be defeat of Jenkins, a third-term Republican who sits near the top of current House GOP hierarchy."You can't keep in the same old groove that we've been going on in terms of Congress," Wakefield said in an interview. "It's not working for the American people. It's not working for Kansans."Do I have a magic wand? Do I think I can go to Washington and change things overnight? Certainly not, but I think I have skills that I can bring to it. You have to start one person at at a time."Wakefield hadn’t previously sought public office but serves as chairwoman of the Douglas County Democratic Party. Assuming victory in the August 2014 primary, she would be in line to challenge an incumbent with three general-election victories in the district and a campaign account that holds more than $1 million.

Bill Roe, spokesman for Jenkins' re-election campaign, said Wakefield was an advocate for the federal health insurance reform signed into law by President Barack Obama and supportive of a national system of limiting pollution through "cap-and-trade" market mechanisms. Jenkins has been a critic of both the insurance and energy policies."Congresswoman Jenkins is focusing on policies that empower hard-working Kansans, such as crafting a fairer, flatter tax code and knocking down government-created barriers to folks finding good-paying jobs," Roe said.The 2nd District stretches from Nebraska to Oklahoma in eastern Kansas and captures Topeka and Lawrence. It doesn't include Manhattan or the Kansas City metropolitan area. Jenkins resides in Topeka and Washington.Wakefield, who grew up in St. Joseph, Mo., earned a journalism degree at The University of Missouri and a law diploma at The University of Kansas. She worked for Sen. Bob Dole, a Kansas Republican, before enrolling in law school. She has practiced in Lawrence for 28 years, and opened her own office dedicated to family law in 1994.She said years of engagement in some of life's challenging moments — divorce cases, for example — required skills useful to managing political wrangling typical of Washington."You have to be able to find middle ground,” Wakefield said. “People, for the most part, don't want to take it to the mat or take the nuclear option. I work with both sides. That's the sort of skill I can bring to a run for Congress and to represent people from the 2nd Congressional district."Wakefield said Jenkins was elected in 2008 on a platform defining Washington as a broken culture she would work to reform. Instead, Wakefield contends, the GOP congresswoman embraced polarization."One of her quotes is that she's proud to be from the party of no," Wakefield said. "She has been part of the gridlock, this paralysis, and she can't run away from that. She has to take responsibility."Wakefield said her contact with voters in the district made clear their was anxiety about the fundamentals of steady employment and quality education. She mentioned an acquaintance who lost her Head Start job amid federal budget cuts, which contributed to that family losing their home."This is the kind of thing that is going on in this district that needs to be addressed," Wakefield said. "Standing up and saying, 'I'm in Republican leadership in DC,' is not doing anything for the people of this district."Jenkins voted for House bills to repeal Obamacare, while Wakefield would prefer to modify an imperfect federal law laudable for addressing the taboo of pre-existing conditions, extending coverage to children until age 26 and authorizing preventative medical services."Is it perfect? No, it's not. If I'm elected, we can look at provisions that need to be fixed," Wakefield said. Wakefield questioned a vote by Jenkins to divide consideration of the food stamp program from calculation of subsidies to farmers. The topics had been lumped together for decades to reinforce a bipartisan approach."It's a holistic package," Wakefield said. "The whole bottom line is: How do we feed people? How do we take care of people?"

The Wichita Eagle

Kansas awards $2M for recreation trail projects The Associated Press Published Tuesday, August 6, 2013, at 12:57 p.m.

TOPEKA, Kan. — A Kansas agency has awarded $2 million for development of 16 recreational trails projects, including a route through the Flint Hills region.

The grants were announced Tuesday by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. The agency received applications for funds totaling more than $5 million. The goal of the program is to improve the outdoor amenities of parks and recreational offerings statewide.

The largest award was for $900,000 to the Kanza Rail-Trails Conservancy for use on the Flint Hills Nature Trail. In addition, the Kaw Nation was awarded $350,000 for the Allegawho Project south of Council Grove, while $31,000 was awarded for a B-29 bomber museum trail in Pratt.

The state trail grant program requires a 20 percent match from the local entity receiving the funding.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/08/06/2927494/kansas-awards-2m-for-recreation.html#storylink=cpy

Report: Kansas among fastest growing wind markets

The Associated Press Published Wednesday, August 7, 2013, at 4:11 a.m. Updated Wednesday, August 7, 2013, at 4:12 a.m.

WICHITA, Kan. — A new government report shows Kansas is among the largest and fastest growing wind energy markets in the country.

The Energy Department reported Tuesday that Kansas ranks third among all U.S. states in the percentage of in-state electricity generation from wind power. The state installed 1,441 megawatts of new wind power capacity in 2012, bringing its total capacity to 2,713 megawatts.

The department says in a news release that Kansas now has enough capacity to generate more than 20 percent of its electricity from wind energy.

The agency's annual Wind Technologies Market Report says that in 2012 wind energy became the top source of new U.S. electricity generation for the first time.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/08/07/2929032/report-kansas-among-fastest-growing.html#storylink=cpy

Christian B. Corrigan: Detroit a wake-up call for Kansas

By Christian B. Corrigan

Published Monday, August 5, 2013, at 12 a.m.

In his push for aggressive free-market reforms for Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback has rightfully touted the prosperity of states such as Texas and Florida. Yet changing the status quo has been a surprisingly arduous task. The opposition has been conveniently devoid of a salient alternative for creating growth, choosing instead to channel President Obama’s class-warfare rhetoric.

Employing euphemisms such as “middle-of-the-road” and epithets like “tax cuts for the rich” allows these critics to mask the failures of their own policy prescriptions. It is time for Kansans to focus on the unsavory products of excessive government.

Detroit, a once-mighty city exemplifying American productivity and ingenuity turned ghost town, recently declared bankruptcy due to what could ultimately total $20 billion in debts and unfunded liabilities. Struggling to even provide basic services to its residents (a rapidly evaporating population of now only 700,000 – down 25 percent over the past decade), the city owes more than $9 billion in unfunded pension and retirement benefits to public employees.

High income and property taxes, oppressive regulation and unsustainable labor costs in both the public and private sectors have turned Detroit into what an Investor’s Business Daily editorial called “the rotten fruit of uncontested progressive socialism.”

Some erroneously blame globalization for Detroit’s woes. Aside from the undeniable fact that foreign competition and labor have made automobiles more affordable for American consumers, they overlook that companies such as Nissan and Volkswagen have invested billions in manufacturing plants in low-tax, right-to-work states such as Tennessee. The average autoworker in Tennessee makes $80,000 per year in salary and benefits. Before the recession, the average unionized worker at the big three in Detroit was making $130,000.

As financial and human capital fled for greener pastures, Detroit’s political establishment continued to make unsustainable commitments to public-sector employees funded by more debt and more taxes, followed of course by more population flight. And look what this vicious cycle hath wrought: 75,000 abandoned structures, 16 percent unemployment, 47 percent illiteracy, 58-minute response time for high-priority 911 calls, and a fire department that has resorted to letting vacant buildings burn.

Though Kansas is in nowhere near the peril of Detroit, this bankruptcy presages the eventual result of progressive economics and should serve as a cautionary tale.

A May 2013 study by the Kansas Policy Institute found that the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System is among the most underfunded in the country and may not meet pension obligations over the next decade. Kansas has one of the highest ratios of public employees relative to its population size in the country. Of course, nearly every year for the past decade, legislators and special-interest groups backed lawsuits demanding increased funding for our biggest state expenditure, education. Meanwhile, the growth rate for Kansas’ gross domestic product, payroll jobs and population significantly lagged behind the national average.

This is not to disparage public employees or argue against investing in education. On the contrary, the way to afford good public schools and services is by attracting businesses, jobs and taxpayers. And the way to ensure that public pension benefits are not cut in a future bankruptcy proceeding (as will likely happen in Detroit) is by crafting a sustainable system in line with the private sector.

Market forces are always at work, forcing businesses to offer better products at lower prices, or go under; the same concept applies to states competing for residents. The arrogance of policymakers believing that they can resist these forces, much less control them, is what Nobel Prize-winning economist Friedrich Hayek termed the “fatal conceit.” Detroit and many others are finding that out the hard way. Let’s hope Wichita and Kansas will avoid the same fate.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/08/05/2921806/christian-b-corrigan-detroit-a.html#storylink=cpy

State rankings improve but economy lags

The Brownback administration recently touted slight improvements in two state

business rankings, but another report shows Kansas trailing most other states in economic growth.

Kansas moved from eighth to sixth in the Pollina Corporate Real Estate annual rankings of states, and it

moved from 15th to 14th in a CNBC ranking of state business environments. But a report by the Tax

Policy Center found Kansas lagging most states in economic growth from February to May and predicted

it will trail in the next six months, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. “Most states improved over the

past quarter; only Alaska, Kansas, Nevada, Wisconsin and Wyoming experienced declines,” according to

the report, which looked at nonfarm employment, average manufacturing hours worked, the state’s

unemployment rate and real wages.

Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/07/state-rankings-improve-but-economy-lags/#storylink=cpy

Which Kansans don’t have health insurance?

Nearly 327,000 Kansans, or about 14 percent of the population, are uninsured

and will be eligible for coverage through the insurance marketplace, according to the U.S. Department of

Health and Human Services. Of this total, about 253,000 have a full-time worker in the family. About

140,000 are between 18 and 35 years old, and 180,000 are male. Nearly 217,000 of the uninsured are

white (66 percent), while 28,000 are African-American (9 percent) and 52,000 (16 percent) are

Latino/Hispanic. Because Gov. Sam Brownback and the Legislature have yet to allow a federal expansion

of Medicaid, many of these uninsured Kansans will fall into a coverage gap in which they won’t qualify for

Medicaid or for tax credits to help them purchase private insurance.

Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/08/which-kansans-dont-have-health-insurance/#storylink=cpy

Public concerned but not ready to repeal Obamacare

Though most Americans are concerned about how the Affordable Care Act will work and are

skeptical about its implementation, they don’t want it repealed – at least not yet. “Given the choice to

either repeal the law, wait and see how it takes effect, or add money to aid its implementation, only 36

percent of adults picked outright repeal,” reported the National Journal, which commissioned the poll.

“More than half chose to either wait and see (30 percent) or provide more money (27 percent).”

Meanwhile, the U.S. House held its 40th vote last week to repeal Obamacare.

Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/08/public-concerned-but-not-ready-to-repeal-obamacare/#storylink=cpy

Poorer Kansas school districts being left behind

State school funding reductions and freezes have been particularly hard on poorer

school district, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. In addition to cutting capital outlay aid to school

districts, the state has held equalization aid flat. And as more districts raise local property taxes to offset

state funding cuts, equalization aid is falling behind – an estimated $74 million short this fiscal year and

$113 million next year. This shortfall only affects poorer districts, not the wealthiest 51 districts in the state

that don’t receive equalization aid. And it is harder for poorer districts than the rich to raise money locally

(which is the point of the equalization aid). For example, a single mill of property taxes in the Kaw Valley

school district near Topeka generates about $281,900, while 1 mill in the neighboring district of Royal

Valley raises only $27,500.

Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/07/poorer-kansas-school-districts-being-left-behind/#storylink=cpy

Eagle editorial: Safeguard voting rights Published Wednesday, August 7, 2013, at 12 a.m.

If Gov. Sam Brownback and Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt feel a responsibility to safeguard voting rights, Kansans wouldn’t know it from their comments Monday related to the state’s 8-month-old requirement of proof of citizenship to register to vote.

The voter registrations of nearly 14,000 Kansans, including more than 2,400 in Sedgwick County, are “in suspense” because they haven’t provided the necessary birth certificates, passports or other documents – or they have, to the driver’s license office where they registered, and the papers just haven’t been passed along to election officials. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach had promised lawmakers that the document sharing would be seamless.

When Brownback was asked Monday about the problem, he acknowledged an interest in the voting booth being “open for people” but said, according to the Lawrence Journal-World: “It’s in the secretary of state’s purview.” He also said: “We’ll watch and review the process as it’s coming forward, but there is a constitutional officer that’s in charge of that.”

In fact, if documents submitted to the driver’s license offices aren’t making it to local election officials in a timely manner or at all – because of problems related to a delayed Kansas Department of Revenue computer upgrade or otherwise – that makes the systemic suspension of voting rights Brownback’s problem as well as Kobach’s.

Also Monday, Schmidt said his office was evaluating whether Kansas’ proof-of-citizenship law is enforceable in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a similar Arizona law. The court ruled 7-2 that the 1993 federal “motor-voter” law requires states to “accept and use” the federal voter registration form, which only asks that people swear they are U.S. citizens.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, had heard nothing from Schmidt since requesting a formal opinion about Kansas’ law weeks ago. After his speech Monday to the Rotary Club of Wichita, Schmidt said he hadn’t decided whether to issue such an opinion. “We are right now focused on the legal questions surrounding that decision and how it may or may not apply to existing Kansas law,” he said. And asked about Kobach’s bizarre idea to limit some voters to participating only in presidential and congressional elections, Schmidt said: “I’ll leave it to the policymakers to decide whether that’s the desired response to the Supreme Court decision.”

The remarks by Brownback and Schmidt came a day before the 48th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. As then-Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson argued in 1957, advocating for the law he would later proudly sign as president, “This right to vote is the basic right without which all others are meaningless. It gives people, people as individuals, control over their own destinies.”

That basic right is in limbo for nearly 14,000 Kansans. The state’s CEO and top cop should have a problem with that.

For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/08/07/2928103/eagle-editorial-safeguard-voting.html#storylink=cpy

New worker visa program could help Kansas add farm jobs, says report

By BRENT D. WISTROM Eagle Topeka bureau Published Monday, July 29, 2013, at 3:20 p.m.

TOPEKA – Kansas could add 757 new farm jobs that would bolster the state’s agriculture sector and generate tax revenue for state and federal governments if Congress approves immigration reforms that include a new worker visa program, according to a new report from the Obama administration.

Meanwhile, the report shows Kansas stands to lose $7.6 million to $13.7 million of agriculture production if immigrant labor were eliminated.

In a conference call Monday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the report provides new evidence of the need for comprehensive immigration reform that has been approved by the Senate but has yet to be formally debated in the House.

“The bottom line is simply that the lack of labor will today and will in the future, if it continues, result in a decrease in agriculture production, a decrease in agriculture outputs and exports, which obviously will cost farm income and jobs in the economy,” he said.

The study says there aren’t enough U.S.-born workers to meet agriculture’s labor needs. One survey between 2007 and 2009 found 71 percent of crop workers were foreign born.

Nearly three-fourths of farm workers who have been working for less than two years don’t have workers visas or other authorization, the study shows.

A USDA survey found the share of hired crop farm workers who were not legally authorized to work in the country hovers around 50 percent.

A bill approved by the Senate would create a pathway to citizenship for people who immigrated illegally as long as they pass national security and criminal background checks, pay any back taxes and pay penalties. Agriculture workers could get blue cards that allow them to work legally and travel outside the United States. They could apply for permanent residency after five years of work, and they could eventually become citizens.

The Congressional Budget Office projects 1.5 million agriculture workers and their dependents would obtain legal status by 2018.

The bill requires 700 miles of fencing on the Mexican border, doubling the current length of the fence, before people who immigrated illegally could be on the path to citizenship.

Kansas Sens. Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts opposed the Senate bill.

In a statement, Roberts criticized the bill’s 1,000-plus page size and scope. “It didn’t work with Obamacare and it’s not going to work with immigration,” he wrote.

“And as for the path to citizenship?” he asked in a statement after his vote. “Who do we honestly expect to raise their hand, identify themselves as an illegal immigrant, agree to pay years of back taxes, pay an additional fine, get in line for a chance, just a chance, at getting citizenship in about a decade?”

Moran also said he’s skeptical of scope of the reform bill, and he has said the first priority should be secure borders.

“Rather than focusing on tackling the problem in manageable increments and delivering the reforms Americans are asking for, the Senate chose to lump every immigration and border security problem together into one massive and flawed bill,” he said in a statement after his vote.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/07/29/2913091/new-worker-visa-program-could.html#storylink=cpy

Kan. gov. also sets closing for special session The Associated Press Published Tuesday, August 6, 2013, at 2:46 p.m. Updated Tuesday, August 6, 2013, at 2:47 p.m.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Sam Brownback has not only set the opening date and time for a special session of the Kansas Legislature, but he's also specified that lawmakers should finish their business within three days.

Brownback issued a proclamation Tuesday calling the Legislature into special session at 8 a.m. on Sept. 3 to rewrite the state's "Hard 50" criminal sentencing law.

The statute allows judges to sentence convicted murderers to serve at least 50 years in prison. A U.S. Supreme Court decision in June raised questions about the law's constitutionality.

Brownback and top legislative leaders have said repeatedly that they want a short special session focused on the "Hard 50" law.

And in his proclamation, Brownback called on lawmakers to approve the bill rewriting the law by 5 p.m. Sept. 5.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/08/06/2927698/kan-gov-also-sets-closing-for.html#storylink=cpy

In Wichita, state AG explains goals for special session to fix Hard 50 law

By Dion Lefler The Wichita Eagle Published Monday, August 5, 2013, at 6:38 p.m.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt said Monday that he’s working with prosecutors across the state to come up with a consensus on how to fix the state’s Hard 50 sentencing law when the Legislature goes into special session next month.

He also said his staff is in the process of evaluating whether the state’s voter proof-of-citizenship law is enforceable in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a similar Arizona law.

Schmidt spoke Monday to the Rotary Club of Wichita, where he outlined the reasons why he asked for a special session to rewrite the Hard 50 law and what he hopes to accomplish.

The law allows judges to sentence convicted murderers to life in prison without possibility of parole for 50 years, when certain aggravating factors, such as torturing the victim, are part of the crime.

The constitutionality of Kansas’ Hard 50 law is questionable in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down a similar law in Virginia on the grounds that only juries, not judges, could make the factual findings necessary to impose the sentence, Schmidt said.

Schmidt said he hopes to outline a clear path for lawmakers to follow when they gather in Topeka starting Sept. 3 to fix the Hard 50 law.

“For our part, we will be focused on providing them what I hope will be a consensus document among the state’s prosecutors who are active on this, that this is the fix we would like you to enact,” Schmidt said. “And it will be up to the policy makers to decide what to do with it.”

While inaction until lawmakers return to regular session would have been an option, it wasn’t the best option, Schmidt said.

“The longer we wait to fix this problem, the greater the universe of cases that will be subject to that uncertainty,” Schmidt said.

Without a special session, “Every homicide that would otherwise be Hard 50 eligible that occurs in late September, in October, in November, in December, and at least the first half of January would be subject to that same uncertainty at a minimum and maybe not have the Hard 50 eligible,” Schmidt said.

“We thought that was not a good outcome with respect to public safety in Kansas.”

Voter ID lawAfter the meeting, Schmidt said that his office is also in the process of evaluating the constitutionality of the state law requiring voters to provide a birth certificate, passport or other proof-of-citizenship documents to register to vote.

The citizenship law is separate from the requirement that voters show state-issued photo identification at the polls. Many forms of commonly held ID, such as a driver’s license, can be used at the polling place but are not allowed as proof of citizenship for new registrants.

About the same time it ruled on Virginia’s Hard 50 law, the Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law requiring documented proof of citizenship.

The justices ruled that it conflicted with the federal Motor Voter Act, which allows voters to register based on a sworn statement that they are eligible citizens.

Schmidt confirmed that he had received a request for a formal legal opinion on Kansas’ proof-of-citizenship law from Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka.

Last week, Hensley complained he hadn’t received any response to that request after six weeks, not even an acknowledgment that the attorney general’s office had received it.

“Because that’s pending, I can’t discuss the particulars of our thought process right now, but we are in the process of reviewing his request, conducting relevant research and assessing how to respond,” Schmidt said.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who wrote the proof-of-citizenship law, has said he thinks the Kansas version is different enough from Arizona’s to withstand a legal challenge.

The Arizona law required registrars to reject registration forms that didn’t come with the citizenship documentation. Kansas law differs in that registrars will accept the form and enroll the voter, although the person’s voting privileges are suspended until the citizenship documents are turned in, according to Kobach.

Kobach has also floated the possibility that Kansas could make two classes of voters. Those who provide citizenship papers would be allowed to vote in all federal, state and local elections, while those who don’t provide citizenship proof would be limited to voting only in federal races for president and members of Congress.

Schmidt declined to say whether he thinks it would be legal – or even a good idea.

“I’ll leave it to the policy makers to decide whether that’s the desired response to the Supreme Court decision,” he said. “We are right now focused on the legal questions surrounding that decision and how it may or may not apply to existing Kansas law.”

Schmidt said he hasn’t decided whether his office will issue a formal opinion on the proof-of-citizenship law.

He said several groups have indicated they may sue to test the law in court, which would outweigh any opinion he might issue.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/08/05/2926028/in-wichita-state-ag-explains-goals.html#storylink=cpy

ALEC lawmakers show ‘special type of hypocrisy’

A Hutchinson News editorial noted how several state lawmakers who are

attending next week’s American Legislative Exchange Council national conference in Chicago already

have asked taxpayers to pay some of their travel expenses. The corporate-financed ALEC provides

lawmakers with model legislation aimed at limiting government, reducing taxes and decreasing regulation.

“It is a special type of hypocrisy when a group of legislators who brand themselves as budget watchdogs

and small-government conservatives eagerly line up for a taxpayer handout to help pay for a voluntary

networking weekend in Chicago,” the editorial said. Meanwhile, the watchdog group Center for Media and

Democracy reported on new ways that ALEC is trying to circumvent state open-records laws, including by

distributing meeting materials via a link to an online drop box.

Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/08/alec-lawmakers-show-special-type-of-hypocrisy/#storylink=cpy

Will abortion ban and voter law be part of special session?

Though Gov. Sam Brownback and legislative leaders wanted the Sept. 3 special session

to focus only on rewriting the state’s Hard 50 criminal-sentencing law, the agenda already has expanded

to include confirmation votes on as many as 19 gubernatorial appointees. Others are interested in

lengthening the to-do list, perhaps with a bill “prohibiting an abortion of an unborn human individual with a

detectable fetal heartbeat” or, in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in an Arizona case,

by reopening the debate over Kansas’ law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. But “we’re not

opening up this to legislation that’s left over or pending,” said House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell. “If

we start doing that, it’s expensive to have a special session. I’m all in favor of saving the taxpayers dollars

and getting this over with.” As our Wednesday editorial said, with the “special session costing $35,000 or

more daily, taxpayers have a right to expect it not to last a minute longer than necessary.”

Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/08/will-abortion-ban-and-voter-law-be-part-of-special-session/#storylink=cpy

ALEC convention still a draw for state lawmakers

More than two dozen Kansas legislators plan to attend the American Legislative

Exchange Council national convention in Chicago next week, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. This

includes Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, and House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, who are

on ALEC’s national board. The corporate-backed ALEC has come under heat in recent years for writing

“model legislation” for voter-ID and “stand your ground” laws. More than a dozen major companies,

including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald’s and Walmart, dropped their memberships. State taxpayers

subsidize $475 of the registration cost of the trip per legislator, as well as paying travel costs if lawmakers

serve in a leadership role with ALEC. One of the events at ALEC will be a Kansas night dinner at an

expensive lakefront restaurant that will be mostly underwritten by corporate sponsors.

Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/07/alec-convention-still-a-draw-for-state-lawmakers/#storylink=cpy

Kansas Democrats want to take stab at amending proof-of-citizenship voter registration law

By Dion Lefler The Wichita Eagle Published Tuesday, July 30, 2013, at 7:15 p.m. Updated Wednesday, July 31, 2013, at 6:30 a.m.

As the state Legislature prepares for a special session to rewrite an unconstitutional criminal-sentencing law, Wichita Democrats are planning to reopen the debate over a voter proof-of-citizenship law they maintain is equally unconstitutional.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who wrote the law requiring new voters to provide citizenship documents, said he thinks it would withstand court scrutiny, unlike an Arizona law that recently was overturned by the Supreme Court.

And even if it didn’t, Kansas could create two classes of voters: those who provide the proof required by state law and could vote in all elections and those who don’t and who would be limited to voting only in congressional and presidential elections, Kobach said.

At Gov. Sam Brownback’s direction, lawmakers will gather Sept. 3 in Topeka to rewrite the state’s Hard 50 sentencing law because the U.S. Supreme Court last month invalidated a similar Virginia law.

Now, Rep. Jim Ward and Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, both D-Wichita, say the same logic should apply to a Kansas law mandating that prospective voters provide documents proving their citizenship, because the Supreme Court also struck down a similar Arizona law, saying that it conflicted with the federal “motor voter” law.

Since the law went into effect at the beginning of the year, between 12,000 and 13,000 new Kansas voter registrants have had their voting privileges suspended because they didn’t provide birth certificates, passports or other citizenship documents when they registered.

“If the scope of the special session is addressing unconstitutional laws, perhaps we want to look at that voter-suppression bill that has left 12,000 people unable to complete their registration that the U.S. Supreme Court has determined in that Arizona case is unconstitutional,” Ward said.

“If we’re being proactive to make sure that really bad criminals stay in jail, we should be equally proactive to protect voter rights for at least 12,000 Kansans.”

Kobach said the comparison of the Hard 50 law to the voter registration law is misplaced.

He said the Arizona law required voter registrars to reject applications that didn’t come with proof of citizenship. Under Kansas law, clerks accept the form but suspend the registrant’s voting privileges until he or she provides the proper documentation.

Ward scoffed at that analysis, saying that Kobach is “drawing a distinction without a difference.”

“The bottom line is you don’t get to vote,” he said.

Kobach suggested that the legislators who think Kansas’ law is unconstitutional read the Supreme Court opinion in the Arizona case.

“All it said was if a voter used a federal (registration) form, that should be sufficient to register and vote for federal elections only,” Kobach said.

The federal form, available on the Internet, is seldom used in Kansas. Almost all voters here register on a state form, which is the only type provided in motor-vehicle offices, Kobach said.

Historically, the state has accepted the federal form as registration for federal, state and local elections. Voters who use it have to sign sworn statements that they are citizens, but it doesn’t request any documented proof.

Kobach said a state would be within its rights to accept the federal form only for federal elections and require a different registration form, with a higher standard of citizenship proof, to vote in races for state and local offices.

“That is a realistic option for a state to take,” Kobach said. “We’re assessing that currently in our office whether Kansas will do that.”

Attach amendmentBoth Ward and Faust-Goudeau said they are poised to try to attach an amendment to scrap the proof-of-citizenship law as the Hard 50 cleanup bill passes through their chambers of the Legislature.

It is most likely that Faust-Goudeau would be the one to offer that amendment because conservative Republicans in control of the Statehouse have recently been starting bills on the Senate side, where they have a stronger hold on the majority. Bills that pass the Senate then go to the House for a yes-no vote without the opportunity for amendments.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to revisit this (proof-of-citizenship) issue,” Faust-Goudeau said. “It might get shot down, but I think it’s worth a shot.”

Senate Majority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, said he sent Attorney General Derek Schmidt a letter asking for a legal opinion on the constitutionality of the proof-of-citizenship law about six weeks ago and has gotten no response.

At the same time, though, he has been campaigning to try to keep the special session focused on the Hard 50 cleanup bill.

He criticized Republican plans to also hold Senate confirmation votes on several Brownback nominees for judgeships and other offices without the lengthy vetting that such nominations might get in a regular session.

“If there are other issues introduced by the other side, I think it’s appropriate what Jim and Oletha have been saying” about raising the voter registration issue, he said.

Kobach said if the Democrats do bring up the proof-of-citizenship law, they’re virtually assured to lose.

“It passed with overwhelming support” the first time through the Legislature and is still highly popular with the state’s voters, he said.

Reach Dion Lefler at 316-268-6527 or dlefler@

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/07/30/2915592/kansas-democrats-want-to-take.html#storylink=cpy

Eagle editorial: Rein in special session Published Wednesday, July 31, 2013, at 6:46 a.m. Updated Wednesday, July 31, 2013, at 6:46 a.m.

Called to rewrite the Hard 50 sentencing law, the Sept. 3 special session already has expanded to include as many as 19 confirmation votes of gubernatorial appointees. Others are eyeing it as a do-over for the past session. Leaders of both parties will need to keep a tight rein on lawmakers and their tangents.

Prosecutors and bipartisan lawmakers have agreed with Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Gov. Sam Brownback about the need to convene the Legislature to address the Hard 50 law in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that juries – not judges, as under Kansas law – must weigh whether the factors in a murder case favor such a mandatory minimum sentence.

But Monday it became clear that the Senate will be required by law to consider as many as 19 of Brownback’s appointees during the session, including his to-be-named choice for the 14th seat on the Kansas Court of Appeals.

That revelation had Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, suspecting that the special session was an “orchestrated decoy” to get Brownback’s “secret appointee to the Court of Appeals as fast and with as little public scrutiny as possible.” Though that sounds like partisan fearmongering, Brownback and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeff King, R-Independence, will need to make a point of proving Hensley wrong – the governor by making his first choice under the new system of Court of Appeals judicial selection as far in advance of the Aug. 29 deadline as he can, to allow for public debate, and King by ensuring the nominee is thoroughly vetted during a committee hearing before the full Senate votes.

Because one of the many reasons the governor and Legislature should not have gone to the federal model for picking Court of Appeals judges was the length of time such jobs could sit open between regular sessions, this special session could end up being a plus in that regard.

But the longer it takes to get through the Hard 50 debate and the other items on the “must-do” list, the greater the risk that lobbyists and legislators will try to lengthen that list. As Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, R-Hutchinson, told Associated Press, “Idle minds can be very creative.”

Wichitan Mark Gietzen, who heads the Kansas Coalition for Life, has said the session is another chance to pass a bill banning abortions on any “unborn human individual with a detectable fetal heartbeat.” Democrats have suggested that as long as the Legislature is addressing one state law in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, it should do the same regarding the state’s law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote (the high court recently struck down a similar Arizona law). And it’s not hard to imagine attempts to roll back the Common Core education standards or revisit funding cuts to the Department of Corrections and higher education.

None of the 21 special sessions in the state’s history has been as short as a day, instead ranging from two days (1989) to 28 (1886).

But with the 2013 special session costing $35,000 or more daily, taxpayers have a right to expect it not to last a minute longer than necessary.

For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/07/31/2916350/eagle-editorial-rein-in-special.html#storylink=cpy

Kansas special legislative session must include Brownback appointments, too

By JOHN HANNA Associated Press Published Monday, July 29, 2013, at 12:46 p.m.

TOPEKA – The Kansas Senate is legally required to consider Gov. Sam Brownback’s nominee for a new Court of Appeals judgeship and other appointees during a special session called for September, Majority Leader Terry Bruce said Monday.

Bruce acknowledged that the need to vote on as many as 19 Brownback appointees will complicate legislative leaders’ attempts to keep the focus of the special session narrow. Brownback called the session for Sept. 3 to rewrite the state’s “Hard 50” criminal sentencing law following a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that raised questions about its constitutionality.

The Senate majority leader told The Associated Press that the list of appointees that must be considered under state laws include the yet-to-be-named Court of Appeals judges and three new members of the Kansas Board of Regents, which oversees the higher education system.

“It’s something that we definitely weren’t anticipating,” said Bruce, a Hutchinson Republican.

Brownback has until Aug. 29 to nominate the new judge for the Court of Appeals, the state’s second-highest court. Under the court-appointments law, absent the special session, the Senate would have 20 days after the Legislature’s next regular session convenes in January to vote on the appointment.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeff King, an Independence Republican, had proposed having a daylong hearing on the Court of Appeals nominee in October or November. Legislative leaders already had planned to meet Monday afternoon to consider what committees will meet and what issues will be studied during the summer and fall.

The Republican governor and leaders of the GOP-dominated Legislature had hoped to limit the special session only to revising the “Hard 50” law and wrap up lawmakers’ business in a few days.

The “Hard 50” law has allowed judges to sentence defendants convicted of premeditated, first-degree murder to life in prison without the chance of parole for 50 years. Judges weigh whether aggravating factors in each case – such as whether the defendant tortured a victim or shot into a crowd – warrant the “Hard 50” or life in prison with parole eligibility in 25 years.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month in a Virginia case that juries, not judges, must consider whether the facts in a case trigger a mandatory minimum sentence. Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican, pushed for a special session, and his efforts had bipartisan support from legislators and prosecutors and the strong backing of law enforcement groups.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/07/29/2912794/kansas-special-legislative-session.html#storylink=cpy

Sen. O’Donnell, Mayor Brewer spar over Facebook post

By Bill Wilson The Wichita Eagle

Published Tuesday, July 30, 2013, at 4:43 p.m. Updated Wednesday, July 31, 2013, at 10:25 a.m.

State Sen. Michael O’Donnell and his longtime political adversary, Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer, are at it again, this time over gun rights and a Facebook post.

O’Donnell says Brewer opposes the state and national constitutions. Brewer says he has “no idea at all” what the former Wichita City Council member is talking about.

“And what’s new about that?” the mayor asked, laughing.

Late Monday, O’Donnell used a Facebook post   to question the city’s membership in New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns group, formed in 2006. Brewer is one of two Kansas mayors listed onthe group’s website.

“Why would Wichita be a member of this group — the brainchild of Michael ‘you can't drink soda’ Bloomberg? If you care about the 2nd amendment please contact our city leaders and ask them to drop out of this ‘gun control’ group!” O’Donnell wrote on Facebook.

O’Donnell noted a Monday Fox News Web article   accusing the group of targeting lawmakers who support gun rights. He said Tuesday he has not talked with Brewer about the group or the article.

“I believe personally that, based on the mayor’s public positions with guns and his animosity toward the concealed carry law and gun owners from the bench as evidenced by his voting record, this fits right in with his outlook toward gun owners and gun rights,” O’Donnell said. “It more mirrors New York City than Wichita, Kansas.”

Brewer said Tuesday that he knew nothing of the Facebook post. He promised to check out O’Donnell’s Facebook page.

“We are?” he asked, when told he was listed on Mayors Against Illegal Guns’ website.

Brewer said he vaguely remembers the group’s formation in 2006, but doesn’t remember Wichita signing on.

“I remember that the chief (Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams) didn’t support it, and I don’t think we actually signed up,” Brewer said.

That doesn’t mean that Brewer doesn’t support the group’s original mission statement, as written on its website: “We support the Second Amendment and the rights of citizens to own guns. We recognize that the vast majority of gun dealers and gun owners carefully follow the law. And we know that a policy that is appropriate for a small town in one region of the country is not necessarily appropriate for a big city in another region of the country. But what binds us together is a determination to fight crime, and a belief that we can do more to stop criminals from getting guns while also protecting the rights of citizens to freely own them.”

“To say I don’t support gun rights at all is silly,” Brewer said. “I have guns myself. Everyone knows that.

“Now, I don’t want guns in public places. But I respect the rights of people to own guns.”

O’Donnell demanded Tuesday that Brewer get his name off the Bloomberg website. He acknowledged he does not own a gun.

“Well, sure he says he does,” O’Donnell shot back about Brewer’s guns. “I’ve never seen them. But he’s not supporting gun rights or the Second Amendment in a public setting.”

Brewer said Monday he’s unaware of any shift in the Bloomberg group’s focus.

“Does he (O’Donnell) even know what the group’s supposed to be about?” the mayor asked, chuckling.

“If you worried about things like this that just come out of nowhere, you wouldn’t get any business done,” he said.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/07/30/2915329/sen-odonnell-mayor-brewer-spar.html#storylink=cpy

Kansas’ knife law is ‘near perfect,” lobbyist says

“In terms of knife law, Kansas is darn near perfect now,” said Todd Rathner, a

lobbyist for the national group Knife Rights. As of July 1, Kansas no longer bans blades such as dirks,

daggers, stilettos and switchblades or ones longer than 4 inches. “HB 2033 also prohibits local

governments from enforcing any type of knife ordinance, making Kansas one of the most blade-friendly

states in the union,” the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/07/kansas-knife-law-is-near-perfect-lobbyist-says/#storylink=cpy

Eagle editorial: Lawmakers should cooperate more Published Tuesday, July 30, 2013, at 12 a.m.

If members of Congress really represented the public, they would cooperate more. After all, that’s what the overwhelming majority of the public wants, according to a new poll.

Instead, lawmakers spend too much bickering and blaming others for why they can’t get much done. And then they wonder why Congress’ approval rating is in the toilet.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 68 percent of all adults think that it is more important for politicians to cooperate across party lines than stick to their positions. The percentage is higher among Democrats (74 percent) and independents (72 percent), though even 62 percent of Republicans (including 58 percent of conservatives) said that cooperation was more important than ideology.

Of course, compromise and cooperation often sound better in the abstract than on specific issues, such as abortion or taxes. And people tend to have different perspectives on how much they and others compromise.

Still, as U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Topeka, said recently: “This Congress is terribly unpopular, and for good reason: Next to nothing is getting done.”

And that’s because lawmakers aren’t reaching across party lines.

Jenkins explained the math: “In a divided Washington, neither Democrats nor Republicans can get things done unilaterally. Either we work together to fix problems, or we achieve nothing.”

There have been a few encouraging signs of cooperation recently. Republican and Democratic senators negotiated an immigration-reform bill and a new student-loan plan, and they agreed not to change rules on filibusters. About 80 Senate and House members, including Jenkins, joined a group called No Labels that is trying to break the partisan gridlock.

But Congress is mostly a big, hot mess. It’s gotten so bad in the House that GOP leaders are now trying to spin the infighting and inaction as a positive: that they are preventing bad legislation.

There was a time not so long ago when lawmakers believed that they needed to get results, not just posture. Americans were reminded of that last week when Bob Dole celebrated his 90th birthday. Many who wished Dole well recalled his ability to bring Republicans and Democrats together.

In an interview last spring with The Eagle, the former Kansas senator said that gotcha politics and saying “no” to everything aren’t effective. Such tactics may score points with partisans, but they alienate everyone else and lead to gridlock.

“Compromise is not a bad word,” he said.

So if compromise gets results and is what the public says it wants, why don’t lawmakers do it more? A big reason is that the people who tend to vote in primaries, especially Republicans, are the least likely to value cooperation and compromise. In some recent elections, compromise has even been treated as a moral failing.

Until voters start choosing candidates who seek common ground and rejecting those who don’t, Congress (and our nation) will stay stuck in the mud.

For the editorial board, Phillip Brownlee

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/07/30/2913374/eagle-editorial-lawmakers-should.html#storylink=cpy

Delegation isn’t rushing to sponsor marriage amendment

A bill by Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, that would amend the U.S. Constitution to block

gay marriages had 47 co-sponsors as of Monday, the Hutchinson News reported. So far no other Kansas

delegation member had signed on, though Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Wichita, is considering it. “I strongly

believe in defending traditional marriage as between a man and a woman and am looking at this

amendment carefully,” he said in a statement. The measure would have to be approved by a two-thirds

majority in both the House and Senate (which won’t happen) before going to the states for a vote.

Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/07/delegation-isnt-rushing-to-sponsor-marriage-amendment/#storylink=cpy

Burdett Loomis: Who will take on Brownback? By Burdett Loomis Published Sunday, August 4, 2013, at 12 a.m.

Before even starting, the Democratic race for the nomination to oppose Gov. Sam Brownback has ended. Absent a huge turnaround, House Minority Leader Paul Davis from Lawrence will be the 2014 nominee.

At first glance, given Kansas’ deep red politics, Davis might seem a sacrificial lamb. But 2014 isn’t 1998, when incumbent moderate Republican Bill Graves crushed then-Minority Leader Tom Sawyer of Wichita in a 78 to 22 percent landslide.

No, the 2014 gubernatorial nomination is well worth having, as demonstrated by a host of public and private polling numbers that show several Democrats, including Davis, running strongly against Brownback. The governor’s policies have alienated any number of constituencies, from the working poor to backers of public education to advocates for equitable taxation policies.

The real question is why Davis, a competent but scarcely charismatic politico from the most liberal city in the state, is a likely shoo-in for the nomination. Two answers stand out. First, several potentially stronger candidates have bowed out. Second, Davis wants to run and has worked hard to place himself in the driver’s seat.

There are at least five viable candidates who are arguably stronger than the minority leader. These include, in no particular order: former Gov. Mark Parkinson, Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger, former Wyandotte County Mayor Joe Reardon, and two-term Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer, along with Wichita businesswoman and former Kansas Board of Regents member Jill Docking.

Given their moderate GOP backgrounds, Parkinson and Praeger would seem ideally suited to rebuild Kathleen Sebelius’ coalition of Democrats, independents and centrist Republicans. Despite some serious pressure, however, neither has expressed any willingness to run.

Likewise, mayors Reardon and Brewer have just said “no,” even though they, like Praeger and Parkinson, could probably have mounted serious, well-funded campaigns.

That leaves Docking, in many ways the most promising potential candidate. Given her gender, Wichita location and private-sector background, to say nothing of her formidable political name, Docking would seem a great fit to oppose a highly conservative incumbent with low job-approval ratings.

Docking continues to resist entering the race. In part, this reluctance derives from her experience from the 1996 senatorial race against Brownback, in which she endured a series of late-campaign attacks.

Indeed, all the prospective opponents understand that Brownback’s campaign, coupled with the spending of outside groups, likely will impose overwhelming personal costs on the Democratic nominee.

Which gets us back to Davis. As other potential candidates have backed away, Davis has stepped up. He embarked on an extensive “listening tour” across the state, and has hired first-rate consultants and made extensive campaign plans.

Perhaps some other Democrat will take the plunge. But a year out from the primary election, Davis is by far the most likely nominee. Although he’s a seasoned legislator, Davis’ greatest asset is his measured eagerness to enter the race, not as a placeholder but as a candidate who believes that he can win.

Historically, Kansas does elect Democratic governors – a lot of them, actually – but usually when Republican incumbents have been held accountable for unpopular policies. The question is: Could Davis convincingly make this case to Kansas voters?

Although that’s no certainty, one thing is clear. In August 2013, Davis stands ready to make the case, in stark contrast to his peers in the first rank of potential Democratic candidates.

The Kansas City Star

Gov. Brownback open to border war negotiations with Missouri August 6BY DIANE STAFFORDThe Kansas City Star

About 150 business and government leaders toured the new AMC Theatres Support Center in Leawood on Tuesday afternoon and heard Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback extol job growth in the metro area.

The four-story office building in the Park Place multi-purpose development houses more than 400 AMC employees who previously worked in a downtown Kansas City office tower.

“These jobs may be located in Kansas, but they will strengthen Kansas City as a whole,” Brownback said in a brief interview after the formal presentations.

“We didn’t lose these jobs to California or New York, which Wanda could have done,” he said in reference to the Chinese company that owns AMC.

Brownback acknowledged that the “border war” that has enticed several companies from Kansas to Missouri and from Missouri to Kansas through tax incentives could be a “zero sum game” in terms of employment.

But, he said, it was more important to focus on job retention for the metro area as a whole and the area’s growth potential.

Brownback said he was open to “negotiating something” with Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon about the border war, but his primary goal was to lower tax rates in Kansas to make it a more favorable business environment.

“We want to be as competitive as Texas,” Brownback said. “We’ve been getting beat by Texas, and I’m tired of that.”

Meanwhile, AMC guests enjoyed refreshments in the gleaming new facility that leaves no doubt about the nature of the business. Movie and theater references abound throughout the black, white and red décor that was inspired by Star Wars and other movies.

The open-office design, with broad ash wood staircases leading between floors, includes a high-tech operations center that monitors AMC theaters around the country. The building also has two giant 330-inch television screens used for internal communication as well as

screenings of trailers and other industry information..

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/06/4393561/gov-brownback-open-to-border-war.html#storylink=cpy

The Kansas revenue riddle July 31BY DAVE HELLINGKansas reported its July revenue numbers today, and they don’t appear to be encouraging for supporters of the 2012 Brownback tax cuts.

For the month — the first month of the state’s fiscal year — individual income tax receipts were $163.5 million, down more than 20 percent from the previous July.

Overall Kansas revenues were $425.4 million, off $32.4 million from July 2012, a 7.1 percent drop.

Of course, tax revenues fluctuate, so any one month should not be a great cause for concern.

But the pattern over the last 90 days isn’t rosy, at least for government budgeters.

In May, Kansas revenue actually grew 3.4 percent compared with the previous year. In June, though, total state revenue dropped 6.2 percent.

So revenue to the state treasury is shrinking over the last 90 days, compared year-over-year:

May +3.4 percent

June -6.2 percent

July -7.1 percent

The promise of the Brownback tax cuts is that economic activity and growth would bring in more revenue over time.

Of course, a slump in revenue isn’t necessarily a problem if spending is cut, and Kansas has done that. It has a healthy fund balance, at least for now.

And taxpayers have more money in their pockets. That should make tax cut supporters happy.

But the goal of pumping the state’s economy seems to be some distance away, at least seven months after the tax cuts took effect.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/07/31/4380736/the-kansas-revenue-riddle.html#storylink=cpy

Roberts: Let’s eliminate health care exchanges August 2BY STEVE KRASKEThe Kansas City Star

Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts went to the floor of the Senate on Friday to urge support for his bill to eliminate health care exchanges if they’re not ready to go on Oct. 1.

The exchanges are basically shopping sites where consumers would go to buy health insurance.

“In Georgia and Ohio, we know that these state exchanges will be offering plans that will double the premiums people pay today, if states can get them operational at all,” Roberts said. “This was not the intent of health care reform

or the exchanges. We ought to repeal the entire law, but until then, my bill acts immediately.”

Roberts pointed out that the health care exchanges must be up, running and ready to enroll by October to ensure that coverage will begin by the statutory deadline of Jan. 1.

Last month the Obama Administration announced a delay in enforcement of the mandate or tax on small and large businesses until after the 2014 election.

“This just means another delay for businesses that complained about the red tape and costly burdens the mandate placed on their operations. Many are already laying off employees or moving them to part-time status to avoid the costly mandate,” Roberts said.

“And, all of this follows the thousands of waivers granted to corporations, unions and other groups. My question is again, where is the waiver for the average family in Kansas and around the nation? Where is the permanent delay for the taxes that will affect individuals?

“Now, I realize as we travel down this road to the October 1 deadline at ever increasing speed, there will be those who support continued advertising and encouraging thousands to sign up in exchanges. The question is, sign up for what? The chances for the exchanges, state and federal, to be ready are

remote at best. Obviously, there will be a delay and once again, we will have the Obama Administration re-writing laws they had a hand in writing behind closed doors and were passed exclusively by the Democratic majority.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/02/4385859/roberts-lets-eliminate-health.html#storylink=cpy

Kansas education board to consider guidelines for ‘Celebrate Freedom Week’ August 6

TOPEKA — The Kansas State Board of Education is poised to approve amended guidelines for public schools to observe the new “Celebrate Freedom Week.”

Lawmakers approved legislation establishing the week earlier this year. Proponents said Kansas students should learn more about the founding of the United States and the key documents that form the basis of government.

The Board of Education will discuss the new guidelines at its monthly meeting Aug. 13.

The guidelines will then be submitted to the Department of Administration and the attorney general for review. The State Board of Education will hold a public hearing later this year.

The guidelines apply to kindergarten through eighth grade. They include discussion of the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation and religious references

that influenced the drafting of the documents.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/06/4392163/kansas-education-board-to-consider.html#storylink=cpy

Kobach, Brownback team up to suppress Kansas voters August 6BY YAEL T. ABOUHALKAHThe Kansas City Star

Gov. Sam Brownback has three options when it comes to the rights of Kansas voters.

• Option 1: Agreeing with Kansas Secretary of State and fellow Republican Kris Kobach, Brownback could say publicly that he fully supports the new law that has prohibited more than 13,000 Kansans from completing their voter registrations.

• Option 2: He could tell Kobach and others that he’s appalled by how the law is being implemented and he’ll make sure it’s repealed, post-haste.

• Option 3: Finally, Brownback could take the meek, I’m-not-really-a-leader path and say, meh, this is Kobach’s worry.

And on Monday, Brownback unfortunately took option No. 3.

Of course, as a result, the governor essentially endorsed the route Kobach supports, which is to make it harder for eligible Kansans to exercise their right to vote. It’s just that Brownback didn’t want to go on record publicly

supporting such a reprehensible approach to voters’ rights.

(For the record, Option No. 2 would have been the best approach if the governor really wanted to help Kansas voters.)

On Monday, Sam Brownback said he at least knew what was going on with the issue.

“We’ll watch and review the process as it’s coming forward, but there is a constitutional officer that’s in charge of that,” Brownback said.

I don’t expect Kobach to help those 13,000-plus Kansans, and now, Brownback apparently has crossed himself off the list of people willing to stand up for those voters.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/06/4392143/kobach-brownback-team-up-to-suppress.html#storylink=cpy

Kris Kobach undefeated on immigration? Hardly July 28BY GARY BRUNKSpecial to The Star

In a recent opinion piece, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach defended his track record as a national proponent of anti-immigrant laws. He asserted that the anti-immigrant laws he’s authored and espoused across the country have done “remarkably well” in court. A review of these cases shows otherwise. Indeed, just last week, his record suffered a serious blow when the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and a unanimous three-judge panel of the Third Circuit struck down anti-immigrant ordinances he authored in Farmer’s Branch, Texas and Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Although a

divided Eighth Circuit panel recently upheld another of these ordinances in Fremont, Neb., the clear trend is away from his anti-immigrant approach.

In his opinion piece, he claimed a “score” of “2 wins — 0 losses — 2 draws,” appearing essentially undefeated. Even apart from the Farmers Branch and Hazleton decisions, the anti-immigrant policies he promotes have been litigated many times, far more than the four court cases he discusses. For example, he conveniently excludes several failed lawsuits he brought challenging laws that promote immigrant integration, such as Kansas’ law allowing in-state college tuition for all Kansas high school graduates. After a federal appeals court dismissed his lawsuit here, he filed a similar one against California’s in-state tuition law, which the California Supreme Court rejected unanimously. He raises the issue year after year in the Legislature and every time, he scores a loss. This, in the Republican controlled Legislature in his home state.

For the cases he doesn’t ignore, he obscures the results. For example, he calls the Supreme Court decision overturning provisions of SB 1070, Arizona’s infamous anti-immigrant law — the hallmark of his career — a “draw” even though the Court struck down three of the four sections of the law that it reviewed.

Mr. Kobach would have us believe that the single provision the court allowed was the only one that mattered. In the SB 1070 case, the Supreme Court struck down warrantless arrests of undocumented individuals, the criminalization under state law of work by the undocumented and criminal punishments for immigrants who fail to carry immigration papers at all times. And, the court limited the scope of the one provision it permitted, known as “show me your papers,” making it clear that the police cannot detain

individuals just to inquire about immigration status. In other words, much of the anti-immigrant law that put Arizona in the national spotlight has now been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Similarly, Mr. Kobach categorized the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision on Alabama’s HB 56 as a “draw” even though it too rebuked his fundamental approach. The court said, “We are convinced that Alabama has crafted a calculated policy of expulsion, seeking to make the lives of unlawfully present aliens so difficult as to force them to retreat from the state.” This is Mr. Kobach’s underlying theory of driving the undocumented to “self-deport,” which the court determined is an unconstitutional, “thinly veiled attempt to regulate immigration”— a power held solely by the federal government.

Mr. Kobach’s faulty legal reasoning has brought only harm to communities that have relied on it. Yet he repeatedly asks Kansans to trust his expert legal opinion on controversial matters, whether it’s defending the voter identification law he authored, or advocating for more restrictive laws against immigrants. Kansans deserve better. We should trust our own instincts instead, supporting common sense immigration reform and integrating immigrants through sound policy.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/07/28/4369968/kobachs-misleading-response-to.html#storylink=cpy

Judicial nominee secrecy July 29

Brownback wrongUnder a recently adopted judicial selection process, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback announced that he will evaluate potential nominees without public disclosure of their names.

The governor defended his decision by pointing to an allegedly similar practice by the American Bar Association. The governor observed that “the ABA recommends this method of selection.” The first statement is misleading, the second erroneous.

The ABA takes no position on the governor’s decision regarding disclosure of potential appointees. Although the ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary conducts reviews of potential nominees confidentially, that function is not analogous to the governor’s.

The committee provides the president with an objective, nonpartisan peer evaluation of a potential nominee in confidence; it plays no role in the selection of candidates or nominees.

The ABA emphatically does not recommend Kansas’ new method of judicial selection for circuit court judges. In fact, it opposes that method, which eliminates the independent

nominating commission and confers complete control over the judicial selection process on the governor and senate.

We believe this approach invites partisan politics instead of merit-based review of a potential judge’s qualifications.

Laurel Bellows

President

American

Bar Association

Washington, D.C.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/07/29/4376124/judicial-nominee-secrecy-dont.html#storylink=cpy

Kan. governor signs special session proclamation August 6BY JOHN HANNAAP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. — With Kansas prosecutors drafting a fix aimed at preserving the state's "Hard 50" punishment in existing first-degree murder cases, Gov. Sam Brownback signed a proclamation Tuesday that formally calls a three-day special session of the Legislature to rewrite the tough sentencing law.

Brownback's proclamation declared public safety one of the state's primary responsibilities and described the sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 50 years as "an important tool" to keep Kansans safe from violent criminals. A U.S. Supreme Court decision in June raised questions about the "Hard 50" law's constitutionality.

The Republican governor had already said he'd summon the GOP-dominated

Legislature back to Topeka at 8 a.m. on Sept. 3, but the proclamation was a formal step required by the state constitution. Brownback and GOP legislative leaders have been adamant that only a short, narrowly focused session is necessary, and the proclamation calls for lawmakers to pass a "Hard 50" fix by 5 p.m. on Sept. 5, giving them three days.

Brownback called the special session at the request of another Republican, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, but the move had bipartisan backing from legislators and prosecutors and strong support from law enforcement groups. In a show of solidarity, Brownback had Schmidt at his side along with two dozen other state and local officials at the proclamation signing.

"For the safety of our citizens, for the victims of these crimes and their families, we must ensure that the 'Hard 50' sentence is available," Brownback said.

Defense attorneys have been skeptical of the need to act so quickly, noting that even if convicted murderers cannot receive a "Hard 50" sentence, they're still likely to face years behind bars, not a quick release from prison. The lawyers also question whether any changes approved by lawmakers could be applied — as prosecutors wish — to cases in which defendants are waiting to be sentenced or have appealed their sentences.

Schmidt acknowledged after the proclamation signing that it's not entirely clear whether a new law could be applied retroactively and the issue is likely to be settled by the courts as they review murder cases. But he said the state should act quickly so that the potential punishment isn't still unclear as more murder cases arise.

The attorney general said he is working with other prosecutors on a proposal for rewriting the law to present to legislators before their special session. He said his office has identified about two dozen murder cases that could be affected by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June.

"This is a problem where waiting would make matters worse," Schmidt said during the signing ceremony. "We have to stop the bleeding first, and then we'll litigate out the uncertainty that's arisen in individual cases."

The state constitution allows the governor to call a special legislative session "on extraordinary occasions," and the last one was in June and July 2005, to respond to a Kansas Supreme Court decision directing lawmakers to boost spending on public schools. This year's special session is expected to cost about $40,000 a day.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June in a Virginia case that juries, not judges, must decide whether the facts of a criminal case warrant a mandatory

minimum sentence. In Kansas, judges have considered whether aggravating factors in cases of premeditated, first-degree murder — such as whether a victim was tortured or a defendant shot into a crowd — warrant the "Hard 50," rather than life in prison with parole eligibility in 25 years.

But Joe Huerter, a Topeka defense attorney, said even if such defendants are eligible for parole on a first-degree murder charge after 25 years, they face a good chance of remaining in prison longer. He said their crimes typically are heinous enough that the state's parole board does not release them when they're first eligible and, often, they've committed other offenses such as kidnapping or arson that keep them in prison even longer.

Huerter said without a special session, "It's not like the floodgates are going to be opening tomorrow."

"It's not legally required for them to have a special session," Huerter said. "It's politically advantageous for some of them to spend a lot of taxpayer money to come in."

Brownback and Schmidt face re-election next year, as do all 125 members of the Kansas House. But legislators, prosecutors and law enforcement groups contend Kansans want the "Hard 50" preserved as a punishment for violent crimes.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/06/4391975/kan-gov-to-issue-special-session.html#storylink=cpy

Brownback to call special session to rewrite ‘Hard 50’ law August 6

TOPEKA — Gov. Sam Brownback is preparing to issue a proclamation that officially calls the Kansas Legislature into special session Sept. 3.

Brownback scheduled a signing ceremony Tuesday afternoon in the second-floor Statehouse rotunda. A proclamation is a formal step required for the governor to call a special session.

Brownback already has announced the special session to rewrite a state law that allows judges to sentence convicted murderers to serve at least 50 years in prison. A U.S. Supreme Court decision in June raised questions about the statute’s constitutionality.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt asked for the special session, and he plans to attend the signing. Also planning to participate are legislators, Kansas Highway Patrol Superintendent Ernie Garcia and representatives of local law enforcement agencies.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/06/4392160/brownback-to-call-special-session.html#storylink=cpy

‘Short’ special session in Kansas may be misnomer

July 29

When a U.S. Supreme Court decision threatened Kansas’ “Hard 50” sentence, politicians of both parties joined law enforcement officials in urging Gov. Sam Brownback to call a special session to fix the problem. Brownback set the date for Sept. 3 and said lawmakers could wrap up their business in just a few days.

Strangely, the governor didn’t mention a circumstance that could keep the Legislature in session much longer. That would be the apparent need for the state Senate to vote on Brownback’s nominee for a Court of Appeals judgeship.

As part of its disastrous 2013 session, the Legislature scrapped a time-honored non-partisan nominating system for appeals court appointments and empowered the governor to unilaterally select nominees, subject to Senate confirmation. By statute, Brownback has 60 days — until Aug. 29 — to choose a nominee for a current vacancy. The new law says the Senate must vote to confirm the nominee “not later than 20 days after the Senate begins its next session.”

Senate leaders now say they’ll have to assess the person’s qualifications and vote in a rush. In fact, lawmakers think the Senate is required to vote on as many as 19 Brownback appointees.

So much for a short special session. After wasting taxpayer money on an interminable legislative session, the governor and his small-government allies appear ready to spend more.

Either the governor failed to notice the statutory deadlines for confirmations of his appointees, or he finds it

advantageous to get controversial ones, like the appeals court judgeship, behind him as quickly as possible.

The push for a special session began when the Supreme Court ruled this year that juries, not judges, must decide if circumstances in a criminal case should trigger mandatory minimum sentencing laws. The ruling affects Kansas, where judges decide whether a convicted murderer should receive a life sentence with no chance of parole for 50 years.

While we agree the Hard 50 sentence should remain an option, we don’t think waiting until the regular session in January would have jeopardized public safety. Juries and judges still have the option of sentencing a defendant to a life term, with no eligibility for parole for 25 years.

The problem created by the Supreme Court ruling can be fixed by amending state law to create a separate penalty phase for the jury in any first-degree murder trial where prosecutors recommend a Hard 50 sentence. But the apparent need for confirmation votes sets the stage for a prolonged special session and more bad legislating in Kansas.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/07/29/4376126/short-special-session-in-kansas.html#storylink=cpy

Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp stands up to the GOP August 7BY LINDSAY WISEThe Star’s Washington correspondent

WASHINGTON — When Republican leadership in the House of Representatives yanked Tim Huelskamp off the Budget and Agriculture committees last year, some predicted a slow slide into irrelevancy.

Losing the agriculture seat was a particularly harsh blow: A member from Kansas had served on the committee for nearly 100 years, and farming is big business in Huelskamp’s largely rural district.

Now the 44-year-old congressman from western Kansas had lost the coveted spot for refusing to toe his party’s line.

But far from suffering a premature political demise, the tea party-backed Huelskamp used the episode to bolster his credentials as an uncompromising Washington outsider.

“When Washington has a 9 percent approval rating,” Huelskamp said in an interview this month, “I’ll be happy to stick on the side of the 91 percent.”

In fact, the congressman said being targeted by Washington “insiders” had made him more prominent, not less.

In the months since his removal from the two committees, Huelskamp has emerged as a leader of a rebellious faction of fellow far-right conservatives who are unafraid, even eager, to defy their party’s positions on everything from the farm bill to the budget.

A small but vocal group, they’ve frustrated House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, by withholding key votes and publicly voicing dissent in monthly news conferences, on cable news shows and over social media.

“You can’t assume traditional political strategizing,” said Chapman Rackaway, a political science professor at Fort Hays State University in Kansas. “These folks are true believers that it’s time for a fundamental re-evaluation of how politicking is done, particularly how lawmaking is done. So they believe they are doing the Lord’s work in gumming up the works.

“They truly do believe that the government that works best works least.”

In January, Huelskamp and a group of colleagues even orchestrated a coup attempt against Boehner, falling just a few votes short of thwarting his re-election as speaker.

“As I told the speaker, ‘I don’t work for you, Mr. John Boehner,’” Huelskamp said. “I work for 700,000 Kansans.”

He’s marketed that renegade approach in fundraising pitches.

“If you are tired of Republicans who campaign as conservatives — but vote like Democrats — stand with me and make your contribution of $35 here,”

he said in an email sent out by TheTeaParty.net.

A beleaguered Boehner has said his strategy is to let the House “work its will” on immigration and other issues without resorting to strong-arm tactics to bring breakaway legislators such as Huelskamp into line.

That position may be more necessity than strategy. Republican leaders find it harder than ever to corral troublesome representatives such as Huelskamp by pulling them from plum committee assignments, stifling their bills or holding the threat of primary challengers over their heads.

“What can Boehner offer Huelskamp? Virtually nothing,” said Burdett Loomis, a professor of political science at the University of Kansas. “Boehner has a terrific problem that there are about 70 folks in the caucus (who) really aren’t interested in what he has to offer.”

The staunchly conservative makeup of Huelskamp’s district in western Kansas gives him room to maneuver without worrying too much about facing a challenge at the ballot box. Republicans hold a nearly 2-1 advantage over Democrats in the “Big First,” as it’s known, which sprawls from parts of eastern Kansas to the Colorado border.

Maverick KansanHuelskamp has long had a reputation as a maverick. When he was a state

senator in Kansas in 2003, fellow Republicans booted him from the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee for refusing to work with the leadership.

In 2010, Huelskamp won a six-way primary race for Congress by campaigning to the right. He assured voters that he was “not one of those weak-kneed Republicans.”

Since arriving in Washington, he’s dedicated himself to living up to that billing.

He cast votes against raising the debt ceiling and the GOP budget proposal by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. They didn’t slash spending fast enough.

Time and again he voted against the farm bill, legislation worth millions upon millions to his district. Mainly, he wanted deeper cuts to food stamps. But he also opposes enhancing crop insurance subsidies, which go to farmers.

Huelskamp ran unopposed for re-election in 2012.

“My people at home, they said, ‘We sent you up there with some principles,’” Huelskamp said. “What they get tired of is folks who said they believe in something but they don’t follow through.”

To Huelskamp, staying true to those principles sometimes means championing seemingly hopeless

causes, such as a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, an always-unlikely proposition that’s now running counter to a dramatic shift in public opinion. He also wants to defund the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, even if it means triggering a government shutdown.

Huelskamp says he doesn’t need to serve on a committee or curry favor with leadership to shift the debate in Congress.

In July, he and five other members sent a letter to the chairman of the House Rules Committee, Rep. Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, threatening to join Democrats in opposing a procedural vote to allow a defense appropriations bill to come to the floor. Their chief cause: pressing for a vote on an amendment proposed by Rep. Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican, that would have severely limited the amount of data that the National Security Agency could collect from American citizens.

GOP leaders had removed Amash from the House Budget Committee at the same time as Huelskamp, and they didn’t seem inclined to give his amendment a floor vote.

Huelskamp described the threat tactic as “a cardinal sin for Republicans,” but he said it had made a difference:

Amash’s amendment did get a vote, although it failed 205-217.

“Justin and I get kicked off committees, and at the end of the day we forced them to come to a vote, forced the president to come in and lobby against it, Pelosi to lobby against it, Boehner to lobby against it,” Huelskamp said, speaking of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat. “And we still almost passed it.”

Huelskamp is home in the Sunflower State now, preparing to meet with constituents at a series of town halls during a monthlong congressional recess. He said many had expressed outrage over his removal from the Agriculture Committee but most didn’t blame him — they blamed the powers that be in Washington.

He told McClatchy that during the last month’s farm bill debate, he’d turned down an offer to restore his seat on the Agriculture Committee in return for his vote.

That “might be the way the game’s played up here,” Huelskamp said, “but that outrages people at home.”

His refusal to compromise exposes a widening rift between moderate and ultraconservative Republicans in Kansas, said Dena Sattler, the editor and publisher of the Garden City Telegram, a newspaper published in Huelskamp’s district.

“Some really respect the fact that he’s standing his ground and he’s standing for what he thinks is right,” Sattler said. “On the other hand, you have those who really don’t understand why he can’t sit down with folks he doesn’t agree with to get things done.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/06/4394034/kansas-congressman-stands-up-to.html#storylink=cpy

Obama nominates Crabtree, Harpool for federal judgeships in Kansas, Missouri August 1

President Barack Obama on Thursday made six nominations for federal judgeships.

Among them were Kansas City lawyer Daniel Crabtee for a seat on the Kansas bench and former Missouri lawmaker Doug Harpool of Springfield for a seat on the Western District of Missouri bench.

“They will be distinguished public servants and valuable additions to the United States District Court,” Obama said of the six.

Here’s the background on Crabtree and Harpool:

Daniel D. Crabtree: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Kansas

Daniel D. Crabtree is a partner at the law firm of Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP in Kansas City. He joined Stinson Mag & Fizzell, PC—a predecessor of his current firm—as an associate in 1981

and has spent his entire legal career at the firm, becoming a partner in 1988. Over the course of his career, Crabtree has represented businesses and governmental entities in complex civil litigation in federal and state courts. He also acts as the General Counsel for the Kansas City Royals Baseball Club. Crabtree received his B.A. in 1978 from Ottawa University and his J.D. in 1981 from the University of Kansas School of Law.

M. Douglas Harpool: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri

M. Douglas Harpool has been a shareholder at the law firm Baird, Lightner, Millsap & Harpool, PC in Springfield since 2006, where he handles a broad array of civil litigation. He previously worked at Lathrop & Gage LLP from 2004 to 2006; at Cunningham, Harpool & Cardonnier LLC from 2002 to 2003; and at Daniel, Clampett, Lilly, Dalton, Powell & Cunningham from 1980 to 2001. From 1983 to 1992, Harpool served as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives. He received his J.D. in 1980 from the University of Missouri Columbia School of Law and his B.S. cum laude in 1977 from Missouri State University.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/01/4383623/obama-nominates-crabtree-harpool.html#storylink=cpy

Democrats target Yoder, Jenkins August 5BY STEVE KRASKEThe Kansas City Star

Democrats on Monday came out of the gate with a pair of radio ads aimed at two Kansas GOP House members: Kevin Yoder and Lynn Jenkins.

The radio spots are quick, 15-second digs at the two for leaving Washington for a congressional recess instead of dealing with the big issues of the day, such as job-creation and immigration reform.

Yoder of Overland Park represents the 3rd District. Jenkins of Topeka represents the 2nd District. Both are big favorites to win re-election next year.

The script:

“You work hard, so you deserve the same from your Congressman . But did you knowCongressman Yoder is on a five-week taxpayer-funded vacation instead of working to create jobs? TellCongressman Yoder to get his priorities straight.”

Republicans control the House. But Democrats are on taking the same vacation.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/05/4390625/democrats-target-yoder-jenkins.html#storylink=cpy

One prominent Kansas Democratic prospect for governor may be a no-go

July 31BY STEVE KRASKEThe Kansas City Star

Scratch one name off the list.

As Kansas Democrats search for a gubernatorial candidate to oppose incumbent Gov. Sam Brownback next year, the name of a rising party star, Josh Svaty, has been touted time and time again.

But Svaty, a former state agriculture secretary, told the AP on Wednesday that he's “not even thinking about” running for governor.

Svaty noted that about six weeks ago, he became a vice president for the Salina-based Land Institute, which promotes sustainable agriculture. He said his focus is on his new job and, “That's where it's going to be for a while.”

“I'm fully committed to this job,” he said.

As for the governor's race, Svaty said, "It means that I'm not even thinking about it."

Democrats repeatedly have listed Svaty, an Ellsworth County native; Kansas House Minority Leader Paul Davis, of Lawrence, and businesswoman and former state Board of Regents member Jill Docking, of Wichita, as possible candidates. Docking declined to comment, and Davis did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment Wednesday.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/07/31/4381035/one-prominent-kansas-democratic.html#storylink=cpy