8-16-23
Today I’m sharing the words of Clay Wirestone a liberal contributor to the Kansas Reflector and admittedly liberal publication, but his message is right on!
He wrote: Kansas Democrats need to take it down a notch.
Gov. Laura Kelly announced Monday morning that she was forming a political action committee to support moderate candidates from both parties for the state Legislature. From the reaction online, you would think she named a lesser prairie chicken as lieutenant governor. How dare she, was the sentiment on Twitter. ….
Wirestone continued – Not for the first time, I’m going to make a vital point to my readers. Laura Kelly is one of the most gifted politicians working in Kansas. She’s the only Democrat to win statewide office in the past 17 years. She knows what she’s doing, and those who underestimate her do so at their peril.
To summarize, Kansas has for decades been essentially a three-party state. Democrats have served alongside moderate Republicans and conservative Republicans. For many years, moderate Republicans held sway, with governors such as Bill Graves charting a sensible course in Topeka. That changed with the ascendance of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback in 2010. He waged war on moderates in his party, but the dismal outcomes of his tax “experiment” fueled their comeback in the 2016 elections.
Moderate Republicans joined with Democrats to overturn those tax cuts. In the six years since our state’s fiscal position has improved markedly. This accomplishment took bipartisan cooperation.
Kelly said on Kansas Reflector’s weekly podcast, “When I did come into the state Senate there were a number of moderate Republicans and I worked very closely with {them} to get a lot of good things done.”
“Right now we’ve got a state Legislature that really does not reflect the vast majority of Kansans’ values, and we need to ensure that it does.”
Wirestone’s message was simple – Governor Kelly’s new bipartisan PAC is Kansas’ best chance to neutralize the out-of-control power of the ultra-conservative Kansas Legislature.
Still a registered Republican I will be donating to Kelly’s new Political Action Committee to support the efforts and legacy of good Kansas leadership championed in the past by men like Jim Lowther, Lloyd Stone, and Don Hill and continued by our current elected officials.
Governor Kelly’s last quote said it all.
“Right now we’ve got a state Legislature that really does not reflect the vast majority of Kansans’ values, and we need to ensure that it does.”
Good policy will outdistance party politics every time and this is an opportunity we should not miss.
I’m Steve Sauder
