The biggest reason Sam Brownback does not deserve a second term as governor is because he is running the state into financial ruin. His “fiscal experiment” of eliminating the personal income tax robs the state of critical funding. Sure it would be nice to have lower taxes, but not at the expense of overcrowded prisons, inadequate schools, poor roads, and reduced social services. THESE CONCRETE reasons to oppose Brownback are rooted in a philosophical difference in what it means to be a leader.
Most of us need only to do a gut check or smell test to detect a falsehood. Here’s where things seems fishy to us:
1. Brownback’s claim that everything is hunky-dory. “The sun is shining in Kansas,” his TV ad says. Sorry to rain on his parade, but when two national credit ratings agencies downgrade the state’s credit ratings, that’s nothing to boast about. Both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s took the state down a notch, saying the Kansas economy is without a rudder.
In one year’s time the state is $700 million short of revenue expectations. If Brownback stays in power there’s no reason to hope things will change. Come January, the state income taxes get reduced yet again. In another six years, the state is predicted to be $2.5 billion short.
2. Brownback says his “roadmap for Kansas,” is creating jobs. In the past year, the state’s job growth rate is 1 percent, compared to the national average of 1.9 percent.
Massive tax cuts have worked only to keep the wealthy more comfortable, not create new jobs, as Brownback had predicted.
3. “We’re paving the way to make Kansas the best place in America to raise a family,” Brownback says.
Well, only if you’re rich and want to send your children to private schools.
Because of the elimination of some tax credits and tighter eligibility for food stamps, the poor in Kansas have seen their tax burden increase. Schools remain underfunded. Today, per pupil funding is $3,852. In 2009, it was $4,400, a difference of $548 for every Kayla, Kevin and Kennedy. That means less money for the classroom and teacher. Kansas ranks 42nd in the nation in how well it pays its teachers. Kansas has reduced spending in the classroom by 14.6 percent, the fourth-biggest reduction in funding to education across the country.
4. Brownback claims he’s an “education governor.” In addition to underfunding schools, Brownback is no friend to teachers. This year Kansas teachers lost job protection by tenure, which grants them a hearing process if they are to be fired. You have to be a saint these days to want to teach in Kansas schools.
5. The “KanCare dividends” Brownback boasts about have yet to materialize. In fact, privatizing the state’s Medicaid program among three companies is $110 million in the red after its first year.
When the program began, the health plans of Medicaid enrollees were awarded between Amerigroup, Sunflower and UnitedHealthcare. Brownback said paying these groups to manage the health plans would save the state $1.2 billion over five years. If that’s the case, they have a lot of ground to make up.
6. “We will listen to the will of the people,” Brownback says. Except when it comes to expanding Medicaid. In recent polls, 72 percent of Kansans favors expanding the program to allow more people receive health insurance benefits. The expansion would allow those making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($19,790 for a family of three) to receive benefits. Today in Kansas, an individual can make no more than 38 percent of the level of poverty to receive Medicaid benefits. Unconscionable.
If Medicaid were expanded, an additional 60,000 Kansans would receive health benefits. The expansion would also help reimburse hospitals that are bound by law to treat the indigent.
Rep. Paul Davis, the Democrat for governor, voted against Brownback’s radical positions on education, healthcare, and fiscal policy. That is reason enough to rate Davis as the better of the two.
— Susan Lynn
Brownback is not what Kansas needs
