Rep. Kent Thompson said the day after it was clear Tuesday’s primary election showed what voters in Kansas are thinking.
Nearly a dozen conservative legislators in the two chambers were defeated by candidates who subscribe to more moderate fiscal and social views.
“Maybe we can get things turned around,” as the result of what he opined was a litmus test for Gov. Sam Brownback. Thompson represents the 9th House District.
If political philosophies of newcomers — we still have the Nov. 8 election ahead — hold true to their moderation, changes in tax policy and more generous attitudes toward school funding should unfold.
The caveat is that even if a coalition develops in the House, between moderates and Democrats, and a similar occurrence comes about in the Senate, neither is expected to have the wherewithal to pass veto-proof legislation.
Among measures that are likely to crop are reversal of the tax breaks given 330,000 small business owners and farmers in concession to trickle-down economics; a reconfiguration of the school finance formula that will provide more adequate funding; and attention to Kansas Department of Transportation revenue that has been depleted by sweeps to balance general fund budgets.
Full restoration of income taxes in some degree to what they were before cuts in 2012-13 is less likely, given that it was Brownback’s pet project to revive and infuse adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy — even though there is no evidence it came even remotely close to having that effect. And, his term runs on another two years.
Brownback and his supporters should realize a wave of voter disapproval has flowed over the state — perhaps not in bloodbath proportions but close — and has demonstrated graphically that large numbers of voters are dissatisfied.
It would behoove the governor to reach out to legislators, admit that the state has a financial mess to clean up and get to it.
VOTERS AUTHORED a coup of some proportion when they sent Sen. Terry Bruce, GOP majority leader and three terms in the chamber, back home.
Pundits expected Bruce to challenge Susan Wagle for the senate’s presidency. Now he will be just another citizen watching from the sidelines.
Conservative losses were greatest in the Johnson County area, where criticism of cuts to education funding have been rampant.
In this area of the state, Forrest Knox, Altoona, was defeated.
In recent sessions, Knox, whose children are home-schooled, has been a prominent critic of what generally is accepted as adequate funding for schools and has promoted social engineering of families’ private lives.
