Boy, that was quick.
Kansas bipartisan moment at the Statehouse lasted all of a few hours around the inauguration of Gov. Laura Kelly last month. Now that were at the halfway mark of the session, precious little has been done to achieve legislative priorities, and both sides are blaming the other.
Republican leaders complain they havent heard regularly from Kelly. Both Senate President Susan Wagle and House Speaker Ron Ryckman criticized the approach in a recent Topeka Capital-Journal story.
Kellys camp, on the other hand, complains that her good-faith proposals havent even been debated in committee or heard on the floor. Medicaid expansion and adequate school funding, to name two examples, have been missing in action.
While criticizing both sides is a time-honored trick of the editorial trade, in this case that approach has merit.
Former Gov. Sam Brownback might have gotten away with meeting opposition party lawmakers only a handful of times. But Kelly campaigned on starting a new chapter, and the two parties in Kansas are remarkably mismatched. She really has no choice but to try to build bridges with GOP leaders.
On the GOP side, however, both Wagle and Ryckman might want to concentrate less on attempting to score political points against Kelly and actually get down to legislating. They will have to pass a budget and fund schools. And they should extend Kelly the courtesy of committee hearings and floor debate on her Medicaid expansion plan.
Republicans havent done themselves any favors by grousing about Kellys 48 percent share of the vote. The thinking seems to be that the governor somehow lacks a mandate because she didnt cross the 50 percent threshold. Of course, neither did President Trump.
Kelly hasnt played a flawless game either. Her office proved less than nimble at navigating early controversies. Her proposal to refinance KPERS debt as part of her budget, for example, landed with a thud. It might or might not have been good policy but the governors office seemed unprepared for the pushback.
In Kansas, weve always prided ourselves for not governing like the professional political class in Washington, D.C. Yet over the past month, it feels very much like were reflecting their worst traits.
The governor and Republican leadership should bring their respective constituencies to the table. They should stop grandstanding.
They should get down to business for the people of Kansas.
