The following opinion is attributed to Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley (D-Topeka) and has been published by the Topeka Capital-Journal:
As Democratic leader of the Kansas Senate, I’ve worked successfully with many Republicans to pass legislation that has made our state a better place in which to live. One of those legislators is Senate President Susan Wagle. Our good relationship with each other is widely known in the Legislature. That is why I was disappointed she said in a recent radio interview that in next year’s Senate there will be no coalition between Republican and Democratic Senators, only her “Republican team.”
Shortly after taking office in 2011, Governor Sam Brownback said the same thing. He told Republican lawmakers his policies should be approved without the support of Democrats. Senate President Steve Morris had a different position. He wanted a bipartisan coalition in the Senate in order to stop Brownback’s reckless agenda. But, in the 2012 GOP primaries, Brownback destroyed this coalition by ousting Morris and other moderate Republicans who opposed his policies.
Since 2013, the new Republican majority, led by Susan Wagle, has rubber-stamped Brownback’s agenda. They’ve supported his failed tax experiment and continue to find harmful ways to pay for it. They repealed the child care tax credit, mortgage interest and medical expense deductions, and homestead refunds for renters. They approved the largest tax increase in state history, and Kansans now pay the highest sales tax on food in the country.
They’ve cut funding to K-12 schools, higher education and services for disabled and mentally ill Kansans. They’ve raided over $2 billion from our state’s highway fund and used the public retirement system like a credit card. Even then, our state has suffered three credit downgrades, month after month of revenue shortfalls, and gone $1.4 billion deeper in debt.
Is there any wonder why Sam Brownback has become the most unpopular Governor in America?
Throughout the past six years, Senator Wagle has been one of Sam Brownback’s loudest cheerleaders. Yet, in an astounding election-year conversion, she and twenty-five other Republican Senate candidates rolled out their “BETTER” Kansas plan to reform his policies. They are running away from Brownback as fast as they can.
Why? Because many of Brownback’s allies, including Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, were defeated in the August GOP primaries by moderate Republicans who promised to reverse his policies. But, how will change occur if they agree with Wagle’s “no coalition” position or vote for a leadership team of current Senators who’ve consistently supported the Governor?
Days after the August primaries, just such a leadership team was being promoted that included Wagle for President, Senator Jeff Longbine for Vice-President and Senator Jim Denning for Majority Leader – all of whom were enablers to the Brownback disaster for Kansas.
So, the question is, if more moderate Republicans are elected to the Senate in November, are they going to be agents for change or led down the path of more of the same? One thing is for sure. If more Democrats are elected, they will certainly be ready to form a bipartisan coalition for change to reverse the Brownback agenda.
Without leaders willing to work together in a bipartisan coalition, we won’t stop Sam Brownback and nothing will change. We won’t change tax policy where everyone pays their fair share. We won’t restore highway funding. We won’t create a new school finance formula to provide all children with the equal education they deserve. And, there will be no end to the Brownback self-inflicted budget crisis.
Kansans cannot afford more of the same. I urge you to vote for Democratic candidates for the Kansas Legislature to move our state beyond Brownback.
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