Voice For Liberty

Tag: Americans For Prosperity

  • AFP Kansas legislative scorecards released

    The Kansas Chapter of Americans for Prosperity has released its legislative scorecards for the 2010 session of the Kansas Legislature. These scorecards rank members of the Kansas House and Senate by the way they voted on selected legislation and amendments.

    AFP’s scorecards use a different mix of votes than my Kansas Economic Freedom Index, although judging by just a quick glance, the results appear to be similar. Between the two tools Kansans should be able to get a good picture of where their representatives rank in terms of voting for issues of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and economic freedom.

    Past issues of AFP scorecards are available at Kansas legislative scorecards, rankings. Also see Kansas Economic Freedom Index.

  • Stossel video, discussion, to be in Wichita

    This Monday the Kansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity is sponsoring an event titled “Stossel in the Classroom.” The event will feature a DVD video presentation by John Stossel, followed by group discussion.

    Stossel’s most recent book is Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel — Why Everything You Know is Wrong. His appearance in Wichita last year was reported on by me in John Stossel urges reliance on freedom, not government, in Wichita.

    The meeting is from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm on Monday, May 24. The location is the Alford Branch Wichita Public Library (private meeting room), at 3447 S. Meridian.

    For more information, contact John Todd at john@johntodd.net or 316-312-7335, or Susan Estes, AFP Field Director at sestes@afphq.org or 316-681-4415.

  • Wichita economic development to be topic of meeting

    This Monday (May 17), economic development tools and incentives in Wichita will be discussed at a meeting sponsored by the Kansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity.

    Susan Estes, AFP Field Director and John Todd, AFP Volunteer Coordinator will lead the meeting, whose topic is “Local government economic development incentive tools with particular emphasis on the proposed Bowllagio STAR bonds project.”

    The meeting is from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm on Monday, May 17. The location is the Alford Branch Wichita Public Library (private meeting room), at 3447 S. Meridian.

    For more information, contact John Todd at john@johntodd.net or 316-312-7335, or Susan Estes, AFP Field Director at sestes@afphq.org or 316-681-4415

  • Kansas is a Republican, not conservative, state

    A recent editorial prepared by the Kansas Republican Party concluded with: “Kansas Republicans are presenting a united front with sound plans to meet the challenges of a 21st century economy. Our philosophy centers on liberating the promise of the individual and family as the answer, not more government growth, on a path to prosperity.”

    That’s a fiscally conservative message. The practice of many Kansas Republicans, however, is far removed from this message advocating limited government. Kansas Republicans, especially the Senate leadership, are working to increase taxes in Kansas in a way that leads to more government growth at the expense of many thousands of private sector jobs in favor of government jobs.

    It starts with Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson. Although he is a Democrat, it was not long ago he was a Republican, even holding the chairmanship of the Kansas Republican Party. In his State of the State address in January, Parkinson proposed a temporary once cent on the dollar increase in the sales tax and an increase in cigarette taxes. Although the majority of the sales tax is pitched to Kansans as a temporary measure, these temporary taxes have a nasty habit of becoming permanent.

    In the Senate, the leadership trio of President Stephen Morris, Vice President John Vratil, and Majority Leader Derek Schmidt agree with the governor that increasing taxes is the way to balance the Kansas budget. In particular, Vratil imported a California law that taxes the sugar content of soda pop. The California law had the benefit that the tax revenue would go towards promoting childhood health. In Kansas, the revenue would go to the general fund.

    In both the Senate and the House of Representatives, Republicans hold a majority of seats. But many Republicans do not vote a conservative position on taxes and spending. At a recent legislative forum, Representative Ray Merrick, who is House Majority Leader, explained the political reality in the House. There are 76 Republican members of the House, but Merrick said that on the “very best day” there are 55 who will vote with him, meaning they are conservative Republicans. 63 votes are required to pass legislation in the House.

    Who are these legislators that belong to the Republican party but don’t vote with conservatives on issues of taxation and spending? According to rankings prepared by Americans For Prosperity-Kansas, for the 2009 session of the Kansas Legislature, the Democrat with the highest (most fiscally conservative) ranking is Jerry Williams, with a ranking of 55%. There are 11 Republicans who rank equivalent or lower than this. Their names are:

    Jill Quigley of Lenexa,
    Sheryl Spalding of Overland Park,
    Kay Wolf of Prairie Village,
    Ron Worley of Lenexa,
    Terrie Huntington (now in the Kansas Senate) of Fairway,
    Jo Ann Pottorf of Wichita,
    Tom Sloan of Lawrence,
    Don Hill of Emporia,
    Bob Brookens of Marion,
    Barbara Craft of Junction City, and
    Charles Roth of Salina.

    For the Senate, a similar analysis is clouded by the presence of Democrat Chris Steineger, who is an outlier among Democrats for his consistent votes in favor of fiscal restraint and taxpayers. But some of the worst-ranking Republicans are these:

    Jean Schodorf of Wichita,
    Pete Brungardt of Salina,
    Stephen Morris of Hugoton, who is President of the Senate,
    Tim Owens of Overland Park,
    Roger Reitz of Manhattan,
    Derek Schmidt of Independence, who is Senate Majority Leader,
    Vicki Schmidt of Topeka, and
    John Vratil of Leawood, who is Vice President of the Senate.

    The Kansas Economic Freedom Index, a new project of mine, will also let us learn who votes in favor of economic freedom and against big government, no matter what their party affiliation indicates.

  • Dr. Milton Wolf at AFP Kansas summit

    At the Kansas Defending the American Dream Summit 2010, produced by Americans for Prosperity-Kansas, Dr. Milton Wolf addressed the crowd on health care issues. Wolf is a physician and second cousin to President Barack Obama.

    “Three months ago I had never been to a political rally,” he told the audience. He started a website — The Wolf Files — and became involved.

    He told the audience of some of the personal attacks he’s received.

    “Freedom isn’t free, and liberty cannot be a spectator sport.” The government takeover of health care is really a cover for an assault on our freedom, he told the audience. Deep in the thousands of pages of the bill is health care rationing, which its supporters claim is not the purpose of the bill.

    Wolf said that by coming between citizens and their doctors, there is no other part of life that regulators can’t touch.

    Donald Berwick, the head of Medicare, says that there will be rationing. He compliments the British health care system, but doesn’t talk about the results. Wolf said that the results for cancer survivability in Great Britain are much worse than in the United States.

    He said that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius received a report from her own agency that said health costs will rise after government reform, but that she withheld release of the report until after Congress voted.

    There are free market solutions for health care. First, get the government out of the patient exam room. Government should not be regulating who get mammograms.

    Second, make health care insurance companies answerable to consumers, not their employers. Where free markets are allowed to work in medicine, such as laser eye surgery, the costs have come down tremendously.

    Third, eliminate junk lawsuits. From $100 billion to $200 billion is spent each year on defensive medicine, he said. He mentioned a novel concept: health care dollars get spent on health care, not lawyers.

  • AFP Kansas event features Malkin, satirist O’Rourke

    This Wednesday April 28 Americans for Prosperity-Kansas is holding its annual “Day at the Capitol” event in Topeka. This year’s event features nationally-known speakers, as AFP-Kansas State Director Derrick Sontag explained in an email conversation:

    “We’re excited to have Michelle Malkin, P.J. O’Rourke, and many other great speakers join us for our annual Day at the Capitol. This is a year in which it is especially important for our grassroots activists to take time out of their busy schedules to make the trip to Topeka and advocate for a more limited and responsive government. One that doesn’t place the state legislature’s spending problems on the backs of taxpayers by increasing taxes. Activists will receive updates on the prominent federal issues of the day, along with hearing from legislators and experts concerning our state budget and the multitude of tax increase proposals before the Kansas Legislature.”

    Besides Malkin and O’Rourke, AFP Foundation President Tim Phillips and Vice President of Policy Phil Kerpen will speak. The event will end with a rally on the Statehouse steps.

    Registration for the event is $20 and may be done accomplished online by clicking on kscapitolday.eventbrite.com. More information about the event is there, too.

    A free bus trip from Wichita is available. Contact John Todd at john@johntodd.net or 316-312-7335, or Susan Estes, AFP Field Director at sestes@afphq.org or 316-681-4415 to reserve a spot on the bus.

  • AFP ads spotlight Kansas budget

    One of the things that government spending advocates don’t like to talk about is the fact that spending in Kansas has risen rapidly in recent years. This is particularly the case for schools, partly due to the Kansas Supreme Court ordering more spending in the Montoy decision of 2005. But other Kansas government spending has risen sharply too.

    As long as revenue flowing to the state kept pace, Kansas was able to afford this spending — whether the spending was wise or not. But starting two years ago revenues failed to keep pace with spending, resulting in great stress on the Kansas budget. This year the governor and many legislators are calling for one or more taxes to be increased, or a new tax to be formed, so that spending can continue to rise.

    Americans for Prosperity-Kansas has prepared two advertisements that highlight how spending in Kansas has increased rapidly.

    The first ad spotlights the rapid rise in spending on schools, both by the state and by all sources of funding. School spending is important to the state, as slightly more than half of the state’s general fund is consumed by K through 12 schools.

    The second ad makes the case that Kansas has a spending problem, not a taxing problem. Tax receipts have risen, but spending rose, too.

  • Kansas budget can be balanced without tax increases

    As the Kansas Legislature prepares to get to work next week producing a budget plan for the next year, Kansans are being told that tax increases are inevitable. Several sources, however, have ideas and detailed plans as to how the state can avoid tax increases.

    Kansas Senator Chris Steineger, a Democrat from Kansas City, has a list of cost-cutting measures that could be implemented quickly. See Kansas can have fast, achievable savings for his list.

    Steineger also has what he calls the billion dollar list, which contains items that could save even more money. Some of these proposals such as downsizing the legislature, consolidation of Kansas counties, and consolidation of state agencies, might take more time to implement. But these proposals, if implemented, would place Kansas government on a permanent low-cost track.

    The Kansas Policy Institute has developed some proposals for savings that it delivered in the form of a letter to Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson. The proposal contains some revenue enhancements that are not in the form of tax increases, which is usually what proponents of revenue enhancements mean. It also contains many cost-cutting measures.

    In the letter, KPI President Dave Trabert raises a point that I’ve not heard from any other source. The large budget gap that is routinely mentioned is composed in part of federal stimulus (ARRA) dollars that Kansas received, just like other states. But these funds will not be available in the next budget year, fiscal year 2011. According to KPI, ARRA funds accounted for $205 million of spending in fiscal year 2010.

    Should these “missing” funds — which everyone knew were temporary — now be used to create a large “budget gap” in order to justify the need for tax increases? Trabert explains: “KPI uses a taxpayer-focused approach that defines 2010 spending as that which was funded by state taxes. Your proposed 2011 budget would allow government to continue spending at levels funded by both state and federal tax dollars. It was well known that the stimulus money was temporary and that the state should plan accordingly, so state taxpayers should not be required to pay more to make up the difference.”

    The need to avoid further tax increases is vital to the Kansas economy, as Trabert notes in his letter to the governor: “The Kansas economy is already absorbing a $163 million unemployment tax increase that is negatively impacting jobs and we must do everything we can to avoid further damage.”

    The KPI letter and analysis may be read by clicking on Letter to Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson.

    Another plan comes from Americans for Prosperity-Kansas, which has prepared its commonsense budget proposal for fiscal year 2011. AFP’s plan contains both long-term and short-term measures for restoring our state’s fiscal health. It contains many specific measures that could be taken immediately to balance the budget without raising taxes.

    The AFP document is a comprehensive look at Kansas government spending, as noted in the introduction: “Following the approach of a concise but broad-ranging examination of every function Kansas state government attempts to perform, AFP has produced a budget that makes real tax cuts possible for Kansas taxpayers. AFP has gone beyond the traditional cursory examinations of state spending where the stock solutions are merely eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and/or rooting out duplication.”

    As an example, for the Revisor of Statutes office the proposal suggests this: “This department received an increase of over 23 percent for FY 2008 which only partially reflects the cost of two FTEs for committee staffing. With the updated computer systems and additional staffing the Revisor’s office should be able to suffice with the reduction of 15 percent of appropriations funding.”

    The AFP budget proposal was developed by Steven J. Anderson, a certified public accountant with extensive experience in government accounting and budgets.

    The AFP budget proposal may be read at AFP-Kansas releases FY 2011 “Commonsense Budget Proposal.”

  • AFP to present Kansas budget update

    On Wednesday March 31, Susan Estes of Americans for Prosperity-Kansas will present on the topic “An update on the budget shortfall in Kansas, how we got there through excessive spending, and how our state’s tax burden compares with neighboring states.”

    This presentation will be from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm at the Wichita Central Public Library in downtown Wichita, in the private meeting room on the top floor.

    For more information or to RSVP, contact John Todd, Wichita AFP volunteer coordinator at john@johntodd.net or 316-312-7335, or Susan Estes, AFP Field Director at sestes@afphq.org or 316-681-4415.