Laura Kelly knows what works for the majority of Kansans.
She’s down to earth, plainspoken, and a temperamental and political moderate. Two successive tall Republican men have run against the diminutive Democrat, and each has paid a price for underestimating her political savvy.
So perhaps we should pay attention to what the governor said Tuesday night at her delayed State of the State address. No other statewide politician has a better sense of what Kansans want or how to deliver it to them. Her internal thermometer has been exquisitely calibrated to match the temperature of ordinary Kansans.
Following such speeches can be tough for veteran journalists. You don’t watch for the news value. The chance that Kelly would drop a major announcement was about the same that she would reveal a hitherto unknown propensity for breakdancing.
You watch, for want of a better phrase, to feel the vibe.
“Our friends in Washington could learn a thing or two from how we operate here in Kansas,” she told the assembled legislators, touting recent bipartisan achievements. “But we can’t get complacent. So my message to you tonight is this: Continue to meet me in the middle.”
She stuck to that campaign message and won. Now she’s sticking to it as her second term begins. Unfortunately, Republican leaders have their own calamitous agenda in mind.
Major points
For those who have followed along with the governor’s public pronouncements since her reelection, the speech served as a refresher course.
Kelly called for several tax cuts, including the immediate end to the sales tax on food and a tax holiday for school supplies. But while Republicans have suggested they’re open to much more, the chief executive drew a line in the sand.
“I will stand against any irresponsible tax proposals that erode that foundation,” Kelly said. “We have been there before. We know where it leads. And we can’t go back. Not to debt. Crumbling roads. An overwhelmed foster care system. And perhaps most devastating of all, underfunded schools. We cannot go back to the days where financial irresponsibility here in Topeka robbed our Kansas students of opportunity.”
When I wrote about Kelly’s speech last year, I compared her to an aging pop diva strutting her stuff in a greatest hits show. You might know the songs, but her performance brought familiar standards back to striking new life. Unfortunately, not every old favorite stands the test of time. Just ask Elton John about his deep hatred of “Crocodile Rock.”
In this case, Kelly made the case once again for Medicaid expansion, but few think the proposal has legs.
“To date, we have left $6 billion dollars in Washington, D.C. — squandering our own taxpayer dollars,” Kelly said. “And we have forfeited 23,000 jobs for Kansans. There is an obvious way to stop the bleeding: Expand Medicaid. The argument for expansion is simple — and should be one on which we all agree. Regardless of political party, we all want our rural communities to be hubs of commerce and economic activity.”
Yes, we should all be able to agree. At one point, Republicans did too. Sadly, the brainworms of pedantic partisanship have eaten away too much grey matter in the heads of GOP leadership.
