August 1999

Aug. 30, 1999
     Well, us Railsters were wondering when a Kansas governor would finally grow up and decide that even the governor of a rather small state ought to have a Cadillac to ride around in...
     We're a little sorry that as far back as two governors ago, let's see, that would be Joan Finney and then Mike Hayden, someone didn't decide that Gov. John Carlin's decision to quit using Cadillacs as some tribute to national gasoline shortages, or use of owl feathers for upholstery stuffing, or some such, was pretty transparent.
     And speaking of transparent...have you ever noticed a beige Cadillac? Of course not. Beige Cadillacs literally melt into the crowd in any parking lot that holds more than a dozen cars. It's almost a stealth car. Which is the problem. Poor young Bill Graves, getting sniped at by both the perennially jealous (who we didn't notice on the ballot in 1994 or 1998) or the increasingly obnoxious environmentalists who would put governors on bicycles for treks of less than a dozen miles...

***
     OK, we're also a little curious about this new privately owned and operated resort to be built on the banks of Lake Clinton, just west of Lawrence.
     The good news, of course, is that it's going to be privately operated. That means we don't have to worry about, say, a Bartender I and a Civil Service Cocktail Waitress II figuring out how to get us drinks that are still cold...
     It also means, though, that the developers might have to negotiate with not only the Department of Wildlife and Parks, the Department of Commerce and Housing, and the governor, and maybe the Legislature...but possibly a delegation from Lawrence, where, remember, a car full of people in sandals can not only stop a freeway dead in its tracks, but certainly find some beleaguered animal or bug that would be inconvenienced by turning soil on the shore of a lake that was not even there 22 years ago.

***
     And another thing that we've seen in Topeka that you might be watching for in your city or county.
Seems the Topeka City Council decided that it wouldn't continue to finance the air wing of the Topeka Police Department, grounding the helicopters for the next calendar year.
     Which, we guess, is one of those decisions elected officials make...except that the police department is trying to raise money to keep the helicopters in the air.
     Now, what's that word that is one less than "extortion." The Catholic Church quit selling indulgences centuries ago. Anyhow, it's something that you might want to watch your local city or county budgets for...

***
     Hey--don't bother those hogs at the mall! Now, we're not certain, but we're guessing that will be the shout from the new chair and vice chair of the House Agriculture Committee...Reps. Dan Johnson, R-Hays, and Sharon Schwartz, R-Washington. Johnson's never seen a hog he didn't like, and Schwartz's hog operation is so big that the Kansas hogs she doesn't own are just there to keep the gene pool from getting too shallow.
     Hog bills for the 2000 Legislature. Sure, House Speaker Robin Jennison, R-Healy, has found a good way to make sure none of 'em get loose where they can do any damage...

***
     Now, you figure out who's having fun, and who's getting themselves in future political trouble by beating up the State Board of Education for its science standards.
     Who's been the foremost spear-chucker at the board? Try State Rep. David Adkins, R-Leawood, who desperately wants to grow up to be something...how do we say this politely? Something statewide.      Like attorney general if Carla Stovall tires of the job, or maybe governor, if he can queue up for the GOP nomination in a year in which he still has most of his hair and all of his teeth.
     Because, you see, this SBOE-bashing goes over real well, say, while holding a $3.75 decaf, skim milk latte in a Leawood coffee emporium, but not quite so well elsewhere in the state, where people tend to think biscuits 'n gravy, instead of biscotti when they're talking politics and events of the day.

Aug. 23, 1999
    Well, Railsters figure that we've seen the opening salvo of what us Statehouse loungers like to call a "battle of the cufflinks."
    That's a mild corruption of the term we use when bankers fight bankers over things such as who should get to charge us the highest fees for the least work. Basically, it's a fight among rich people who own no clothes that don't require dry cleaning.
    The battle opened in the little election in Johnson County last week, where a pretty darn socially conservative woman was elected to the seat former State Rep. Cliff Franklin of Merriam resigned. It's a Republican thing, of course, there being just one Democrat in Johnson County's
outsized Kansas House delegation.
    What happened was that Republican precinct committeemen and committeewomen from Franklin's district got together and elected Judy Morrison to fill out the final year of Franklin's term, while Merriam City Councilman and moderate-to-liberal Republican (notice how that label always grows out from the middle to the left?) Mike Scanlon stays at home this winter.
    After all the self-congratulatory back-patting last year about how moderate-to-liberal Republicans had defeated former GOP Chair David Miller and safely reelected Gov. Bill Graves, maybe moderates in some parts of the state have now gotten a wake-up call.
    Or not.
    Because M-to-L Republicans haven't taken over the entire state. Of course, the preposterously big 1st District remained mostly moderate-to-liberal throughout the 1990s and still generally is. But
just look at the Sedgwick County-dominated 4th District, home of Todd Tiahrt & Co. The 2nd District?     It's a county-by-county toss-up.
    But it is the 3rd District's Johnson County GOP mecca, though, where M-to-L Republicans may see their apparent 1998 victory over social conservatives crumble from lack of attention. Now, Morrison's victory was among a pretty small voter pool, just 27 (remember, these are precinct leaders, not the general public voting) but it may just be an indicator that moderates are either not paying attention, or that some of those moderates are, well, only moderately moderate.
    Because, while Johnson County moderate GOP honchos believed they had enough votes to win the seat for Scanlon (indeed, they predicted a 15-12 victory), they lost by 17-10 to Morrison, who just happens to be the sister-in-law of Herb Taylor, president of the arch-conservative Kansas
Republican Assembly. That's the sort of victory that raises the energy level of socially conservative Republicans like a Cherry Mash-eating contest. And, so far, there doesn't appear to be a lot of reaction from those M-to-L Republicans who believed they had made JoCo safe for latte
drinkers of the world last year.
    Key, of course, is socially conservative Republicans keeping one another enthused about the possibility of some victories in next August's primary election, while M-to-L Republicans don't notice anything being seriously awry.
    Is that possible?
    Absolutely.
***
    OK, we're a little curious about how long legislators are going to let Secretary of Aging Thelma Hunter Gordon keep compiling a waiting list of Kansas' frail elderly who need assistance to stay in their homes, instead of just providing the assistance they need...
    The issue here? A shift from "caseload" management of services to that elderly population under which, basically, the state spends whatever it takes to accommodate their needs and prevent them from being sent to nursing homes, to a system under which Aging has a fixed budget, and
helps all the frail elderly it can before it runs out of money.
    The latter, of course, presupposes that an election-year Legislature is going to deny services to Kansans with enough spunk, friends and probably descendants to become a sizable portion of the voting age population of the state...

Aug. 16, 1999
    Let’s do some quick housekeeping, then start talking state politics and government.
    First, we divide the labor. We’ll do it like this: You live your life, have fun, work, play, etc.
    Meanwhile, I’ll hang out at the Rail, that band of brass that surrounds the atrium on the third floor of the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka, smack between the House and Senate chambers, and the place where the hottest gossip and fact blend, yielding if not absolute truth, at least the political buzz of the week.
    A nice thing about the Rail–besides it being just the right height to prevent people from falling into the three-story deep hole that separates the House and Senate–is that it rings summer and winter, when the Legislature is in session and when the boys and girls are at home for the summer...
    That’s the Rail. Us folks who hang out there are, by default, Railsters. We watch state government and politics. I’ve been hanging out there for nearly 25 years, and, frankly, am starting to look like it.
    So, here’s the deal. You live your life, have fun, etc. I’ll watch your back for you, and report in every week.

’Nuff housekeeping...let’s start talking...
    Doesn’t matter whether you are a Creationist or Evolutionist, the vote by the State Board of Education last week has some effects that maybe you’ve not considered yet...and need to, because politicians are going to be spending the next few months figuring out just what the vote means...to them.
    It’s a whole new issue that has to be added into the “moderate/liberal”- “social conservative” fight between Republicans who decide to vote in primary elections. Whether it comes down to a deeply held conviction about how we got here and why we don’t have fur, or just a way to dodge the question by touting the ever-safe mantle of support for “local control,” the issue adds a new layer of complexity to determining what a candidate is about.
    And, no, this isn’t just a Republican fight-it-out-at-the-primary issue. It’s also an issue that Democrats are watching, for several reasons. There are some deeply religious Democrats in the Kansas Legislature who are going to have to figure out what to say about the issue.
    And remember that Kansas legislative Democrats are still a pretty conservative bunch, and they pick up seats in districts where they are outnumbered by registered Republicans when Republicans at primary elections elect candidates who are just too far out in right field for a significant number of Republicans, all Democrats and even unaffiliated voters.
    Yes, Republicans can go too far to the side of the road. Just look at the career of Republican ex-3rd District U.S. Congressman Vince Snowbarger, who got whipped by Democrat and now-U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore.
    The 2000 campaigns have already started, and now, we’re already watching new issues get thrust into the races...

...Another side-effect...
    Watch the legislation that makes the State Board of Education a 10- or 11-member board appointed by the governor...that means without popular elections.
    Well, Gov. Bill Graves has made it clear he is upset with the State Board’s decision to ignore the whole issue of evolution in its science testing...But, Kansans like to vote. Or, at least, those who go to vote like to find enough work there to make it worthwhile...
    So, while you’ll hear a lot about eliminating the state board as an elective body...consider the possibility of something less than that happening...like more duties stripped from the board.     Remember, it lost control of community colleges last year, and has been neatly carved out of the “school to work” job training program. There are baby steps that still emasculate the State Board that fall well short of making it evaporate...