Last week, Larry Meeker, Chairman of the Democratic Party in Kansas, discussed with the media an idea to “rebrand” the Kansas Democratic Party. He said that Democrats are more conservative and, specifically, more fiscally conservative than our peers in other states. Because of that, he said that we should consider calling ourselves the Red State Democrat Party so that the people in our state will know that we are different.
I am one Kansas Democrat who, with all due respect, could not disagree more.
In response to a lack of voter support, the Kansas Democratic Party has inched further right in its message in an effort to appeal to voters. The direct result of that movement has been further loss of seats in the legislature and chronic loss at the executive level. Paul Davis, the Democratic contender who unsuccessfully ran for Governor in 2014, must be a proponent of this rightward movement as he was recently quoted lamenting that the National Party’s “brand” might be moving too far left for red state Democrats to ever achieve success.
BUNK.
This is a classic case of defeatism and the Kansas Democratic Party has been wallowing in it for far too long. Party leaders have bought into Republican propaganda as much as the voting public. It seems they have accepted the myth that Kansans are overwhelmingly “conservative” and the only way that the Party can survive is to remake itself in the image of the GOP.
There are multiple problems with that assumption, the first of which is the FACT that the Kansas Republican Party has completely redefined the term “conservatism” by their actions.
What is a “conservative” in Kansas? Defined by their actions, conservatives in Kansas are:
Fiscally Irresponsible:
Back when Brownback’s tax experiment was enacted, a $3.9B decrease in state revenue was projected. Self-identified “conservatives” in Kansas have taken the state budget from a surplus of $50M in 2011 (and reserves of $466M) and run it into a deficit of $400M that had to be filled in the 2015 budget due to tax cuts for the wealthy.
In order to plug the $400M budget hole caused by this “conservative” tax experiment of exempting wealthy business owners from paying taxes, the GOP legislature then raised taxes on the working people of the State via sales tax increases.
The State budget is in such a mess that Brownback was reduced to alternately crying, begging and threatening to cut the line-item budget of ALL KANSAS PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES for the year in order to continue these tax exemptions for the wealthy.
In 2014, the legislature gutted the highway maintenance fund and reneged on state pension fund responsibilities to plug the hole Brownback’s tax cuts have caused. (See below for further pension fund chicanery committed by these alleged “conservatives.”)
Anti-Democratic:
Brownback’s right-hand man and Kansas Secretary of State, Kris Kobach is currently attempting to prevent 30,000 Kansans from voting in the next election. The alleged “conservatives” in the Kansas GOP have created a fake problem of voter fraud to unconstitutionally prevent a large number of Kansas citizens from voting AND to justify granting unconstitutional powers to the Secretary of State. At the same time, the Secretary of State has ignored a summons by a Kansas mathematician whose analysis of election returns in Kansas and elsewhere has revealed an unexplained pattern of statistical anomalies. They refuse to produce the records for inspection, regardless of the fact that the KS SOS website says,
“The office has numerous constitutional and statutory duties and serves the people of Kansas…one characteristic that is common to all - quality service. A newspaper article once described this office as ‘the least complicated, most accessible agency in state government’…We invite you to contact us to let us know how we may serve you better.”
Unless you are a Kansas statistician concerned with statistical anomalies present in our election returns.
Anti-Constitution:
The constitution of the State of Kansas clearly sets out the powers of the different branches of government and clearly sets out the method for choosing District Court judges. In one of many examples of executive overreach, the “conservative” GOP legislature presented the Brownback administration with a bill changing the way that District Court judges are selected.He signed the bill into law although it is believed by many to be unconstitutional. There is a lawsuit currently pending which seeks legal opinion on that issue.
Then, with the issue still before the Court, the “conservative” legislature handed Brownback a bill that unconstitutionally ties funding for the Kansas Court System to a favorable decision on that issue. In other words, if the Supreme Court finds that the law is unconstitutional, all funding for Kansas Courts will be cut. This is how a “conservative” Governor conducts the business of the People of the State in Kansas. The courts belong to the People; they are our method for justice and redress of grievance. The Courts cannot operate without funding. He will have his way, or we will all have anarchy. This is a breach of duty, since one of the duties of the governor enumerated in our constitution is to uphold the law.
Preventing people from voting, preventing the citizenry from examining public election returns, and executive overreach and abuse of power is what passes for “conservative” in the State of Kansas.
Anti-Education:
Polls have overwhelmingly shown that the citizens of the Kansas want our legislature to properly fund public schools. In the past, issues over school funding have largely been about how the funding is distributed among the districts statewide, but recently the battles have been waged by “conservatives” intent on starving public education of funding. The legislature has been so stubborn and recalcitrant in its refusal to properly fund public education, that the Supreme Court has had to issue an order forcing them to do so.
The executive branch decided that a solution to the education budget problems would be to move the line item expense for Kansas Pension Fund payments to teachers out of the Pensions line item expense and into the overall education budget; a tricky bit of “conservative” accounting to hide underfunding of public education.
Another “conservative” GOP accounting trick used in 2014 was to use the education budget as an excuse to renege on its responsibilities to public employees via pension fund payments. And the latest “conservative” effort to avoid paying for public education is a block grant funding method which is already harming districts, causing many districts to close schools early last year and cut programs even further in the coming year.
Considering that these “conservatives” are doing everything in their power to fight their duty to the people of this state to fund public education according to the Kansas Constitution, they somehow managed to find a way to funnel $10M in taxpayer dollars to fund private religious schools. Many times in the past, the idea of siphoning tax payer dollars from public education into private education has been discussed. It has been rejected every time. The public has spoken in a voice loud and clear that we want our public schools properly funded to provide a quality education for our children. Tax and gift “conservatives” prefer to give away millions of dollars in taxpayer money to private religious schools against the will of the people.
Pro-Cronyism:
If you Google Brownback Cronyism, you will get over 90,000 hits. Whether it be a complaint about Brownback’s appointee to manage the Kansas Highway Patrol, articles about the appointment of Brownback crony Caleb Stegall to the Appeals Court over two more seasoned nominees, an FBI investigation into former Brownback Chief of Staff, lobbyist David Kensinger regarding the awarding of State contracts to for-profit health care companies, ethical questions about Brownback’s appointee for the post of Inspector General over the KanCare program, or the fact that Brownback’s Budget Director, Shawn Sullivan, was caught sharing copies of the proposed 2015 budget with lobbyists prior to submitting it to the legislature, the “conservatives” in Kansas practice blatant cronyism in government. Cronyism is also alleged in an effort to remove two sitting judges from the bench.
Theocratic:
When the legislature isn’t holding live sonograms in committee rooms at the Statehouse, writing laws that threaten to jail teachers for teaching sex education, trying to outlaw surrogacy, desperately attempting to prevent homosexuals from exercising their equal rights under the law to marry—despite a Supreme Court Ruling, other Republicans in Topeka are working hard to tear down the wall of separation between church and state. A recent wrongful termination claim filed against the Secretary of State’s office claims that employees are being issued prayer guides and invited to worship services being held in the Secretary of State’s office.
The Kansas Constitution states,
“The right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience shall never be infringed; nor shall any person be compelled to attend or support any form of worship; nor shall any control of or interference with the rights of conscience be permitted, nor any preference be given by law to any religious establishment or mode of worship. No religious test or property qualification shall be required for any office of public trust…”
“Conservatives” in Kansas have regressed on the crucial issue of separation of church and state all the way back to the point at which our founding fathers rebelled against the monarchy.
This is what it means to be “conservative” in the State of Kansas.
Kansas Republicans, by their actions, also do not fit the values of classical Republicanism, which
“stresses liberty and ‘unalienable’ rights as central values, makes the people as a whole sovereign, rejects aristocracy and inherited political power, expects citizens to be independent in their performance of civic duties, and vilifies corruption…distinguished from other forms of democracy as it asserts that people have unalienable rights that cannot be voted away by a majority of voters.”
The Kansas Democratic Party should not allow itself to be defined by a Kansas Republican Party that has perverted the meaning of the word “conservative” to the point that it is now unrecognizable from its traditional meaning. Kansas Democrats will be more successful in future by defining the principles and policies that make up our Party and contrasting them with the actions and policies of Republicans who have destroyed our state budget and credit rating, set back the quality of our public education, exercised abuse of power and shown a complete lack of respect for the rule of law and the very principles upon which our country was founded.
Results of a recent survey indicate that the Kansas Democratic Party, instead of moving further to the right, would be wise to retain its traditional values. Recent polling numbers revealed the following concerns of Kansas citizens:
• 76% think that sales taxes are too high and 72% want the legislature to repeal the Brownback business tax cuts;
• 71% want the legislature to stop pillaging highway funds to plug the budget gaps caused by the Brownback tax breaks;
• 66% believe that police should be required to wear body cameras;
• 62% want funding increased for Kansas public education;
• 60% believe that the state should EXPAND Medicaid eligibility instead of cutting it as these alleged “conservatives” have done;
• 57% want to see the state minimum wage raised to $10 or $15 dollars per hour; and
• 60% would like to see 20 to 30% required renewable energy standards in the state.
Political consultant Chris Reeves sums it up this way: “The polling data provided by Smoky Hill Strategies, with a sample of 50% (R), 28% (D), 22% Unaffiliated shows that Kansas residents are largely unhappy with the direction of the state, and that several issues that feed into progressive values are quite popular.”
This is purely a messaging problem. Kansas citizens have no idea what the Kansas Democratic Party stands for because the Party has been tippy-toeing on the issues instead of boldly speaking out and because they haven’t been able to hear us over the din of Republican propaganda. The solution to the problem is to begin speaking out loudly and boldly in support of traditional Democratic values and policies.