Syndicated to Kansas newspapers Oct. 24, 2016
Now, whether you are a fan of Democratic former Kansas Gov. John Carlin or not, he last week provided a little common-sense campaign advice that you have to hope all candidates for the Legislature are taking seriously.
Because while it is important for Democrats, it is probably more important for Republicans, especially those seeking seats in the House.
His advice: Tell the voters you make your pitch to for a vote for House or Senate that the state’s budget/tax/education problems aren’t going to be solved in just one or two sessions of the Legislature.
That’s from a guy who has experience running a state as governor (1979-1987), as a House member (1970-1979) and running the Kansas House of Representatives as its Speaker for two of those years. Oh, and he’s been politically tumble-dried a time or two so he is also very practical. He knows government from the inside and outside.
His advice to candidates—especially for the House—is that all of them, presumably Democratic first, but also Republicans (though he obviously favors the moderate Republicans who vote along with Democrats on occasion) tell voters that the state’s fiscal and other problems aren’t going to be fixed in two years, and that voters ought to realize that there are going to be some uncomfortable votes ahead.
He’s undoubtedly right. The budget shortfalls, the taxation of Kansans, providing adequate state aid for public schools, providing health care for poor Kansans and their children—these aren’t issues that can be wrapped up quickly. Not during one two-year House term, and probably not in the first three, or maybe even four, years of a State Senate term.
So, the newly elected lawmakers do their best, changes tax rates that thousands of Kansans (those LLCs, farmers and the self-employed) are going to wince about—but know need to be raised or at least imposed—and get voted out of office after one term?
That’s a possibility, and one that Carlin thought that candidates ought to explain to their voters.
Now, let’s see what needs to be done.
The tax experiment that Gov. Sam Brownback supported apparently hasn’t worked. The state didn’t see a dramatic economic boost through exempting more than 300,000 of us from state income tax. The school finance issue has essentially frozen spending on educating the kids. The highways…well, they’re apparently third-best in the nation, but it’s hard to know how long that is going to last. And, health care for the state’s poor is going downstream, and hospitals in western Kansas are in financial jeopardy.
Lots to fix, and there’s probably more, but the fixes aren’t going to be easy or politically popular when for most Kansans and probably most Americans politicians get graded on what the tax bill adds up to.
The focus will, of course, be on those two-year House terms, because about the time the state starts seeing fiscal/governmental daylight, those newly elected members will stand for re-election.
Anyone figure that we’re going to see bumper stickers in 2018 reading “I’m nearly done raising your taxes, so re-elect me to the House”? Probably not.
But it’s clear that fixing a government that has been rolling downhill for the past four years isn’t going to be done quickly; there are going to be good decisions and bad decisions and anyone expecting a two-year fix is probably over-optimistic.
So, how does this work out? Hard to say whether voters now are ready to see that their newly elected House and Senate members are going to inconvenience them for at least two years and ought to get second terms.
After all, when’s the last time you asked for two dates?