May 18, 2012

Brownback’s first term unremarkable so far

Martin Hawver Guest columnist We’ll know in the next three weeks whether Gov. Sam Brownback has  driven the state along his Roadmap for Kansas, or whether he’s going to have to pull over to ask directions. The first real all-his legislative session—last year, he was to some degree just using up the last of the [...]

Republicans are a political party in flux

Mark Hendrickson Guest columnist With Rick Santorum having dropped out of the race, Mitt Romney is apparently the Republican nominee for POTUS, barring a “black swan” event swooping down out of nowhere. Why has the Republican Party taken so long to decide upon its presidential nominee? The two most common explanations given have been the [...]

Kansas revenues more than anticipated this fiscal year

Martin Hawver Guest columnist There are few words besides, maybe, “the DNA doesn’t match” that spark more interest in the Legislature than “you have more money than we thought.” It’s the latter, thankfully, that the Legislature and the governor and the state heard last week when the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group of officially designated gurus [...]

OUR VIEW: April 17 marks National Tax Freedom Day

Congratulations, you’re now working for yourself. Prior to April 17, every penny you earned went to feed the monstrous federal government. Tax Freedom Day arrived on April 17 this year – four days later than last year. The National Taxpayers Union calculates the number of days each American must work each year to pay their [...]

Big government making Boeing a bad actor

Howard Rich Guest columnist Last I year joined a pro-free market chorus in condemning Barack Obama’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) — which filed suit against aircraft manufacturer Boeing after the company dared to create new jobs in a Right-to-Work state. “The Obama administration’s war against Boeing is indeed a war against jobs,” l wrote. [...]

OUR VIEW: Using state plane for basketball trip bad idea

It’s almost as if they just can’t help themselves. Politicians don’t need any assistance to make them look shady. They do it to themselves. The latest example? Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Speaker of the Kansas House Mike O’Neal hopped the state-owned plane on a jaunt to watch the University of Kansas Jayhawks play in [...]

Vetoes signal hands-on trust fund; hands-off barbers

Martin Hawver Guest columnist Two little bills that nobody paid much attention to when they were passed by the Legislature suddenly have become worth considering now that Gov. Sam Brownback has vetoed them. One would have very simply prevented the governor or Legislature from dipping into the Kansas Oil and Gas Valuation Depletion Trust Fund [...]

Whirlwind tour for U.S. Commerce Clause

David J. Porter Guest columnist There is a widely held view that Congress has virtually unlimited power to legislate, especially concerning economic matters. Consider, for example, the passage of the controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act two years ago. While Congress’ power to regulate the economy is not completely unbounded, it is very far-reaching [...]

Redistricting challenges lie ahead for legislators

Martin Hawver Guest columnist Set to the side, for the moment, whether Kansas bars can offer a “happy hour” of lower-priced drinks, and the big issue that Kansas legislators wrangled with through the session and until just minutes before they took off for spring break is congressional reapportionment. This is interesting, and there is a [...]

OUR VIEW: Good idea, bad timing for bill to eliminate food tax

There’s good news and bad news in a plan adopted by members of the Kansas House. First the good: Kansas is one of only a handful of states that taxes groceries the same way other items are taxed. Right now, at 6.3 percent, the regressive grocery tax forces those with lower incomes to spend a [...]