Lawrence Journal-World, July 3
It is time for Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and his administration to accept that they lost the battle in 2017.
Last week, members of the governor’s administration made a number of critical references to the new budget, which legislators approved through overriding a veto by the governor.
Revenue Secretary Sam Williams, communications director Melika Willoughby, her assistant Ian Fury and Michael Austin, an economist in the Department of Revenue, all took shots at the new budget, which took effect Saturday, the first day of the 2018 fiscal year.
“The legislature’s budget funds more than $200 million in new spending - that is spending above the increased funding for schools,” Williams wrote in an op-ed. “Despite the legislature’s historic $1.2 billion tax hike, they’ve already spent every dime. Unless cuts and efficiencies are made, the legislature will be looking at more taxes in two years.”
During a meeting of the State Finance Council, a group chaired by the governor, Brownback again defended his budget plan, which was to liquidate state assets while waiting for the economy to improve.
“The concept in it was to put forth something so that we could maintain a pro-growth income tax policy and bridge to what we thought would be better income times, which I believe we’re starting to see,” he said.
The vote to override the governor’s veto, which requires two-thirds support from both houses, included broad support from both parties. In reality, the budget override was the final nail in the coffin for Brownback’s six-year economic experiment in Kansas. Legislators, even those who stood by the governor’s side in previous years, recognized that Kansas could no longer wait for the economic growth Brownback kept promising his trickle-down philosophy would provide. Legislators, faced with the worst debt crisis and smallest reserves of any state in the nation, had to do something.
And legislators were in no mood for the second-guessing coming from the governor’s administration last week. House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., R-Olathe, rejected Williams’ claims, pointing out budget projections show the state will finish the next two-year cycle with a positive ending balance.
“Governor, as you know, I’m a farmer,” said House Majority Leader Don Hineman, R-Dighton. “I’ve been a cattleman, and that means I’ve experienced tough financial times … So I totally understand what it means when someone increases debt and considers liquidating assets. That’s really a sign of desperation. It means your fiscal house is in such disarray that you’re starting to shut down, that you’re grasping at straws. And that was the option you gave to us in January.”
No doubt, the 2017 session was a rejection of the governor’s tax and economic policies and that had to be difficult for Brownback and his supporters. But the bipartisan support for a different direction was overwhelming and one would hope that those in the governor’s administration would respect the new policies or move on to find another line of work.
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Wichita Eagle, June 30
Wichita State’s first day as a member of the American Athletic Conference will come Saturday without any balls being bounced or sweat being shed.
Still, Shocker Country will end the day as a winner. The big-fish, big-pond dream is finally realized.
Ten years of tireless work by Gregg Marshall, his coaching staff and his men’s basketball players led to Saturday. It’s work that has transformed a fan base and community. Shocker basketball has always been the city’s top sports ticket, but the success of the last decade has upped the fanaticism three or four notches.
All the while, the university up the hill has taken advantage of basketball’s spotlight. The invitation to the American Athletic Conference was the latest and most important move since the Shockers’ 2013 Final Four appearance.
“Yes, it’s a sports move and, yes, it will have impact,” university president John Bardo told The Eagle’s Dan Voorhis last week. “But I see it much more as a recognition for what the institution is. To me that was much more important than having more competitive basketball.”
Bardo sees American members as peer institutions located in major metropolitan cities. The city of Wichita goes from the second-largest Missouri Valley Conference city to the second-smallest American Athletic Conference city.
“We will be better off in five years than we were because we will have a national direction and a leadership that wants things to happen,” Bardo said.
Things are certainly happening. Construction on the former Braeburn Golf Course has expanded the campus by about 40 percent. The Innovation Campus and its emphasis on research through business partnerships has broadened Wichita State’s brand as a research university.
Bardo thinks the American move will increase name recognition for WSU among high school students looking at college choices.
That’s all well and good to most Shocker supporters. A strong university plan that takes advantage of its basketball notoriety makes perfect sense.
But let’s face it. The move to the AAC is more about men’s basketball and the recognition that Wichita State, stuck with the mid-major label as a Missouri Valley Conference member, is now a big-timer.
The University of Cincinnati is on the schedule twice a year. So is the University of Connecticut with its four NCAA titles in the last 19 years. Back on the schedule is the University of Memphis, once a Missouri Valley rival and in the NCAA championship game as recently as 2008.
Wichita State is among college basketball royalty. Never mind that Philadelphia, New Orleans and Orlando are much more pleasing to Shocker fans’ travel plans than Carbondale, Terre Haute and Peoria.
This also gives fans a greater sense of security. Marshall, who’s beginning his 11th season, turned down who-knows-how-many phone calls and offers from athletic directors in bigger, more prestigious conferences such as the Big Ten and the Southeastern to stay at WSU and in the Missouri Valley. Now he’s coaching in a deeper, more powerful league on a national stage. His team returns nearly everyone and should be ranked in the top 10, if not the top five, to begin the season.
Wichita State was a faithful Missouri Valley member for 72 years, proud of its roots. And until this decade, the Valley was just fine as WSU’s conference home.
But winning changes perception. WSU became a national name in college basketball with the 2006 NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, the 2011 NIT championship, then six straight NCAA Tournament appearances - which included the 2013 Final Four that garnered an estimated $555 million in exposure for the university.
The university now takes a bigger stage. More WSU games will be on national television. Shocker fans will purchase season tickets confident they’ll be watching a top-10 team competing with conference rivals also in the national rankings.
Wichita State’s first AAC event isn’t until late September, but excuse fans if they think the Shockers are already on top of the standings. They just got their biggest win of the decade.
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Topeka Capital-Journal, July 2
Two days after the Legislature overrode Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of a $1.2 billion tax increase, Moody’s Investors Service increased Kansas’ outlook from negative to stable: “The tax increase enacted this week was a major step forward in the state’s willingness to utilize its resources to balance its budget and service its long-term liabilities.” However, Moody’s also noted that a “failure to restore structural balance” to the budget and “continued underfunding of pension liabilities” could lead to another downgrade.
While Sen. Laura Kelly said the end of the 2017 legislative session “felt like a return to the Kansas I knew and loved,” she’s also realistic about the state’s immediate prospects: “We’re still not out of the woods. It’s going to take years to dig out of the hole that’s been created by the 2012 tax experiment.” Even with the $1.2 billion tax increase, the budgets for fiscal years 2018 and 2019 won’t balance without $830 million in KDOT transfers and pension delays. This is a predictable consequence of almost half a decade of grossly insufficient tax receipts - if the state hadn’t thrown billions of dollars into the void of Brownback’s tax cuts, lawmakers wouldn’t have been forced to repeatedly assume long-term liabilities with short-term measures.
Still, Kelly is right - the Legislature should be prepared to address the state’s growing liabilities in the 2018 session. Kansans were reminded of this fact when the Ball State Center for Business and Economic Research released its Conexus 2017 Manufacturing & Logistics Report Card this month. While Kansas received slightly lower grades in a few areas (such as logistics industry health, human capital and global reach), our most dramatic reduction was in the “expected fiscal liability gap” category. After losing a full letter grade, Kansas is one of five states with an F on this measure - our only failing grade on the report card.
Considering state’s history of delaying KPERS payments to balance the budget, this score isn’t surprising. Last year, the Legislature granted Brownback the authority to defer a $100 million payment to KPERS, and this was done under the assumption that it would be paid back by June 2018 with 8 percent interest (making the real obligation closer to $115 million). Instead of observing this deadline, the Legislature decided to borrow even more money from KPERS over the next two years - a decision that isn’t surprising to anyone who’s been paying attention. Here’s what Rep. Steven Johnson, R-Assaria, said last year: “I’m not optimistic it will be paid back within the coming year or by that time frame (June 2018).” Kelly was even more candid: “It’s so easy to defer. We just don’t pay it.”
The Conexus report explains that Kansas isn’t the only state that withholds pension payments: “Many states have failed to provide a direct funding stream to bond obligations or fully fund pension plans. This leads to unfunded bond and pension liabilities.” And as Moody’s points out, the state’s problems don’t end there: “Between its pension funding challenges, pressure to spend more on schools, and stagnant revenue growth, the state is likely to be a below-average performer for the next few years.” All of that said, without the tax bill that lawmakers passed this session, Kansas would looking at even larger unfunded liabilities.
We just hope the state will be able to handle all of its bills when they come due.
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Kansas City Star, June 30
The Trump administration’s partisan effort to find nonexistent voter fraud took a dark turn this week when its misnamed Commission on Election Integrity asked for detailed information on every voter in the country.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, vice chairman of the committee, penned the letter asking for the data. He wants voters’ names, addresses, birth dates, party registrations, voting histories and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.
Some states refused the request. Others said they would comply. Some have remained silent.
The records are public with some important exceptions that vary among states. But all voters should be deeply troubled by Kobach’s unprecedented inquiry, made under the cloak of governmental authority.
We have no idea how the commission plans to use the information. It isn’t too far-fetched to worry Kobach wants the data to enable a national campaign of voter suppression and disenfranchisement. It could be the first step in repealing the motor-voter registration law or establishing a national voter file.
Republicans and conservatives should be outraged. For years, Missouri fought against a national identification program, fearing the federal government would use driver’s license data for nefarious reasons.
Where are they now? Imagine the right-wing ire if President Barack Obama had asked the states for personal information on every voter in America.
It would be helpful if privacy-obsessed Republicans would at least attempt to be intellectually consistent on this issue. Sadly, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has indicated he’ll gladly send Kobach all the info he wants.
Will the commission keep the information secure? Kobach famously met with then President-elect Donald Trump carrying sensitive security documents in full view of cameras and reporters. Then, of course, he misled a court about the documents, costing him a $1,000 fine.
We learned last month that information on 200 million voters was left exposed online for almost two weeks in 2016. Assembling voter information in one place would make hacking easier.
Finally, if Kris Kobach has enough time to help run a national investigation into voter fraud, advise states on immigration policy, represent himself in federal court and run for governor, he obviously lacks a sufficient workload in the state office he holds.
Kansans should ask if they’re getting what they pay for.
States should deny Kobach’s request. Widespread voter fraud is a fantasy, cooked up by Trump to convince Americans he really won the popular vote last year. He didn’t.
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