In a highly unusual move, four former Kansas governors are coming together to try and stop the destructive policies of current Governor Sam Brownback. Former Republican Governors Bill Graves and Mike Hayden joined with former Democratic Governors and Kathleen Sibelius and John Carlin to absolutely torch Sam Brownback and his “destructive policies.” They are lending their support to the Save Kansas Coalition, a group which is aiming to “work for the return of responsible governing.”
More from the Topeka Capitol-Journal:
Bipartisan leadership by four past Kansas governors of a political operation targeting a sitting Republican chief executive is unprecedented in the state's politics.
"Our state of affairs is on a continuous decline. It’s time to acknowledge the experiment has failed,” said Hayden, who led Kansas from 1987 to 1991. “Being a Kansas conservative used to mean paying off debt, balancing the budget and not running up bills our grandchildren would be expected to pay.”
The coalition has an ad they are hoping to run wider this summer:
More on the Save Kansas coalition:
Save Kansas, an alliance of Republicans, Independents and Democrats, wants to abolish extremism controlling state government.
Consider Save Kansas’ list of sensible, traditional values, and how they’ve been trampled since ultraconservative Gov. Sam Brownback took office:
Consider Save Kansas’ list of sensible, traditional values, and how they’ve been trampled since ultraconservative Gov. Sam Brownback took office:
• Balanced tax policy. Kansas must pursue as much after the governor’s radical tax reform gutted income-tax revenue and created huge budget shortfalls.
• Quality educational opportunity. Ultraconservatives don’t like public education, and their interest in shifting taxpayer support to private and home schools with less stringent demands than K-12 public school districts is proof.
• Reasonable health-care access. Blocking Medicaid (KanCare) expansion has left some 150,000 Kansans, mostly working poor, without coverage. Plus, Kansas has passed on $1.15 billion — so far — in federal dollars that would help rural hospitals in particular.
• Adequate public safety. Problems range from reckless gun measures to shortchanged law enforcement efforts.
• Job growth and financial responsibility. Erasing income taxes for more than 330,000 farms and other business entities didn’t generate the significant job growth Brownback promised. And so much for fiscal conservatism with excessive borrowing, a significant sales tax increase and credit downgrades.
• Judicial impartiality. The run on an independent judiciary by a governor out to control all three branches of state government and eliminate resistance to his ultraconservative pursuits must be stopped.
I’ll update with the full letter as it becomes available.
