W4K 2020 VOTER’S GUIDE for Primary & General Election Introduction

Introduction to a Voter’s Guide for the 2020 Kansas Primary and General Elections

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the 2020 election is the most important one for our country in many decades. At the national level, incoherent and divisive presidential leadership has weakened the United States at home and abroad. The Trump Administration’s slow and erratic response to the coronavirus pandemic led directly to job losses unseen since the Depression—and to the deaths of more than 125,000 Americans. We still lack an effective national response. Police misconduct and a resurgent Black Lives Matter movement have shined a light on the fundamental issue of race relations in our country and presented new challenges to which the Administration has yet to provide answers. Abroad, our alliances in Europe and Asia are weaker than they have been at any time in the post-World War II era, and our global leadership and influence have been severely diminished.

These national crises of course reverberate at the state level. The pandemic and the very necessary temporary shut-down and phased re-opening of our economy have had grave consequences for businesses in Kansas and caused massive unemployment for Kansas workers. Tensions with China have affected agricultural exports to that country and impacted farm income here. Sharp declines in tax revenues for state and local government, caused by the pandemic, will hit both K-12 and higher education, healthcare and other essential functions very hard in the months ahead.

We need leaders at both the state and national levels who have the wisdom—and courage—to deal with these exceptionally grave issues sensibly, effectively and compassionately, and who will reject simplistic, ideological solutions. Our candidates must show that they are prepared to elevate the broad interests of Kansans over pressures from powerful special interests.

We don’t have the answers to the unprecedented challenges facing Kansas and the country, but we want candidates who will make good faith efforts to find those answers, without regard to party labels or pressures from special interests. In short, this Voting Guide is intended to help preserve and strengthen moderate, sensible, centrist government in Kansas and restore it to Washington.

We have researched the voting records of incumbents and the public statements of challengers in key statewide races and all legislative contests, to see where they stand on important issues for Kansas, including the serious economic crisis we are confronting, health care, race relations, voter rights and other issues (see the following “Primer on the Issues” for details). We have also provided questionnaires to candidates and have used their responses in our assessment.

Where possible, we have given each candidate a “grade”—A, B, C, D or F—basedon those votes and statements.
This is our system:

We have tried to be objective in assigning grades to candidates. Nonetheless, we acknowledge that we have looked at the candidates through our own subjective lens. We are proud to be called “moderates” and we strongly believe our state and nation need more of them in positions of leadership. We share these views and this information in the hope that they will help to inform your decisions in these crucial upcoming elections.

A Primer on the Issues for the August 2020 Kansas Primary Elections and the November 3 General Election

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS: More than a quarter of a million Kansans, roughly nine percent of our population, lost their jobs this spring because of the coronavirus pandemic. Although some have regained employment as the economy has “reopened,” unemployment will remain at a historic high for the foreseeable future. This sharp and severe economic downturn will mean reduced tax revenues to support essential state services, at a time when those services are more necessary than ever. The challenge for members of the legislature will be to set logical priorities and work together across party lines to shepherd Kansas through this very difficult period. Our representatives in Congress must also seek bipartisan solutions to help states surmount their fiscal crises and get back on the road to recovery—Kansas cannot do it alone, nor can any other state.

RACIAL JUSTICE: The protest demonstrations that have taken place throughout the United States (and around the world) following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis are irrefutable evidence that our country has much still to do in the area of race relations. We denounce racist violence, and racism, affirm that Black Lives Matter, and believe that equal rights and equal opportunity for all Americans must be our unwavering goal. We urge Kansans to support candidates who are committed to those principles.

HEALTH CARE: Over the last ten years, the refusal of Governors Brownback and Colyer to expand Medicaid in Kansas—and this year’s refusal of the Kansas Senate leadership to permit a vote on Medicaid expansion, which was supported by Governor Kelly and a majority in the legislature—have been very costly for our state. As a result, at least 150,000 Kansans continue to be denied access to good medical care, Kansas rural hospitals have been imperiled and several have gone under, and the state and its taxpayers have lost more than $3.5 billion in federal Medicaid reimbursements to date, money that went to other states instead. Not even the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected 12,000 Kansans and killed more than 250, could convince opponents of Medicaid expansion to do what was needed.
The Covid-19 pandemic is a new challenge for Kansas, as for the nation, and our response to it must be based on science and not politics. The Governor’s phased “reopening” of the state’s economy appears to be working, but despite the understandable pressure to return quickly to “normal,” our political leaders must continue to be guided by the informed views of health care professionals. We must not “politicize” the pandemic.

PUBLIC EDUCATION: Funding shortfalls for K-12 education in the Brownback/Colyer years have gradually been reduced, to the point where the state is no longer in violation of its constitution in the view of the Kansas Supreme Court.
However, reduced tax revenues in the months ahead will generate pressures at both the state and local levels to again cut school funding. Pandemic-related changes in schedules and procedures will increase those pressures. Our legislators need to search for approaches that will get us through this difficult period without doing permanent damage to our schools and our children’s education and future prospects.

HIGHER EDUCATION: The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified the problems facing public universities in Kansas. State funding of those institutions has been declining for many years. (For example, state support accounts for only 16 percent of the KU budget, half what it was twenty years ago.) Universities have partially compensated for that shortfall by raising tuition, thus shifting the financial burden of higher education from taxpayers to individual students and their families. This is not a formula for the long term success and competitiveness of the Kansas economy in a high-tech world. The pandemic has upended planning for the coming school year, forcing universities to shift at least partially to on-line classes, shorten their “in-person” school year and, most likely, enroll fewer students. Public universities throughout the country face these challenges. States that prioritize higher education will solve them first; those that do not will fall behind.

VOTER RIGHS: In recent years, Kansas has been in the forefront of efforts to discourage eligible voters from going to the polls, through unnecessary and unwarranted proof of citizenship requirements—pushed, in particular, by then Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Those requirements were ruled illegal by the courts, but the state of Kansas, at considerable expense, has appealed to the Supreme Court to uphold them. Kobach’s efforts, supported by former Governors Brownback and Colyer, and by Attorney General Schmidt, have been an embarrassment to Kansas and an affront to democracy.

TAX POLICY: In 2016, the legislature reversed the deep tax cuts Governor Brownback had championed earlier, and which led to ruinous deficits. Most of the disastrous effects of Brownback’s failed “experiment” have been eliminated, but there is continued pressure from special interest groups (e.g., the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Prosperity) to restore Brownback’s destructive approach to taxation and governance. Further tax cuts would be especially harmful during this period of exceptional need for basic state services.

AID TO NEEDY KANSANS: Kansas is not an easy place to be poor. (According to one survey, our state’s combination of low minimum wage, per capita level of welfare, percentage of people without medical insurance, and relatively high cost of living puts us 47th out of 50 states as a place hospitable to the needy.) The Brownback/Colyer administration limited the length of time families may receive assistance and imposed restrictions on the nature of that assistance. Governor Kelly believes that government should be more responsive to the needs of our less fortunate citizens, but there remains an anti “welfare” bias in the legislature which has limited what she has been able to do.

TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT: The workings of Kansas government, both in legislating and in policy and administrative actions, have become increasingly secretive in recent years. Controversial legislation is advanced through such tactics as “gut and go.” Committee hearings are either eliminated or staged to ensure that only one point of view is presented. Policy has often been developed in closed meetings with lobbyists present—a stark violation of “open government” principles. In reaction to all this, a “transparency pledge” was circulated in the 2016 legislative session. Some improvements have been made, but much more needs to be done.

RENEWABLE ENERGY: More than 40 percent of Kansas energy production now comes from wind power (ranking us either first or second in the nation in that regard) and that is likely to continue to grow. Nonetheless, the oil and gas industry in Kansas continues to press for a rollback of renewable energy standards in the state, and regulatory relief for nonrenewable energy production.

THE ENVIRONMENT: In addition to the issue of renewable energy standards, Kansas faces threats to our clean water and air that must be addressed. Some progress has been made in reducing as much as possible depletion of the Ogallala aquifer, but those efforts should be expanded. In the absence of leadership from Washington, Kansas should work with its neighbors to address clean air, clean water, soil conservation, endangered species and climate change issues—rather than dragging its feet, litigating at taxpayer expense, and usually losing.

JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE: Governor Brownback attempted, with some limited success, to politicize our courts and sought to undermine the authority of the Chief Justice to administer the court system, threatening its funding as well. Those threats to judicial independence were removed when Governor Kelly took office, but they could be revived in the future.

IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEES: Kansas is home to more than 205,000 immigrants, roughly seven percent of our population. They earn more than $6 billion annually and pay more than $1 billion in federal taxes and $425 million in state and local taxes each year. (Even our undocumented immigrants pay an estimated $75 million annually in state and local taxes. They include 6,000 DACA recipients—Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Governor Kelly estimated that ending DACA would have cost our state more than $335 million in economic productivity per year.) In sum, immigration is a positive and constructive phenomenon for our state and for the nation.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: Which is down nationally and in Kansas, nonetheless is portrayed by some Kansas politicians as a growing threat. Immigrants and refugees are sometimes conflated, with the latter also seen as threatening (e.g., the Brownback/Colyer Administration decision to bar refugees from Syria). A number of prominent candidates this year, led by Kris Kobach, have continued to demonize both immigrants and refugees. Their views should be soundly rejected.

GUNS: Support for the 2nd Amendment should not preclude sensible rules for gun ownership. But in Kansas in recent years, the legislature (with Governor Brownback’s blessing) expanded the parameters for gun ownership in the state—for example, approving concealed carry for all Kansans 21 and older with no permit required, and concealed carry on the campuses of state colleges and universities, despite the opposition of most students, their parents, and faculty.

In the 2017-18 legislative session, a proposal to lower the age for concealed carry in the state from 21 to 18 was approved by the House, but not the Senate.

Legislation was passed and signed into law that will seek to prevent people who have been convicted of domestic violence from owning firearms. Issues such as an assault weapon ban, expanded background checks, or limitations on high capacity magazines, have not been addressed by the legislature, despite considerable public interest in the subject.

CONGRESS AND SENATE: While the issues outlined above are primarily the responsibility of state officials to address, many are relevant for our Congressional representatives as well. We have a right to expect our Senators and Representatives to understand and support constructive approaches to the following:

– The need for a coherent national approach to the continuing Covid-19 threat, instead of unquestioning support for the Trump Administration’s minimization of that threat and its “let the states do it” approach to all efforts to combat the disease.

– The urgent need for additional federal funding to help state and local governments cope with the economic and fiscal disaster the Covid-19 epidemic has spawned. Related to this, acceptance of the reality of growing income inequality in this country, exacerbated by Covid-19, and the responsibility of the federal government to address it.

– Urgent, concrete actions to address the root causes and the many ancillary effects of racism in the United States, including not only the reform of police departments but efforts to reduce the disparity in educational opportunity, wages, housing availability and health care between white people in America and their black brethren.

– The need for better health care for Americans in general, so that where you were born does not determine how long you get to live.

– Protection of the right to vote—a hard won right now under attack in many states.

– The promotion of renewable energy, protection of the environment, and serious efforts to address climate change.

– The need for a foreign policy that will restore American global standing, severely weakened over the past three and a half years of Trump’s chaotic leadership. “America First” has meant America alone, to the great detriment of our fundamental national interests and the well-being of our country and our people. We must rebuild the strength of our alliances, and return to a position of Leadership on issues ranging from climate change to trade to pandemics.

– A sensible (and non-alarmist) approach to the terrorism threat and homeland security.

– Immigration reform and a refugee policy in keeping with American values.

– Action on a national program to restore our aging infrastructure.

– The need to address and correct the relationship between government at the national level and the powerful special interests seeking to bend public policy toward their own ends—a reality never more obvious than in Trump’s Washington.

To view the Women for Kansas 2020 Voter’s guide, click here.