Month: February 2022

New administrator speaks at Congressional Forum

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Opinion column

by Murrel Bland

One of the first things Cheryl Harrison-Lee plans to do is listen.

That was the message she delivered as the featured speaker at the monthly meeting of the Congressional Forum. About 35 persons attended via Zoom Friday, Feb. 18.

The forum is part of the Kansas City, Kansas, Area Chamber of Commerce.

Harrison-Lee was recently appointed Interim Wyandotte County administrator, succeeding Doug Bach, who resigned. She comes after Tyrone Garner became mayor and chief executive officer of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. Harrison-Lee will serve until April of 2023; when asked what the future might be after the interim period, she said
she will be taking it one day at a time and will make a determination then.

Harrison-Lee, who is also chairperson of the Kansas Board of Regents, discussed the importance of an educated workforce. Many Wyandotte County businesses continually complain that their top need is having well-qualified employees.

She said it will be important for the public and private sectors to cooperate to help meet that need. Greg Kindle, the president of the Wyandotte County Economic Development Council, told Harrison-Lee that there are about 7,000 job openings in Wyandotte County.

Harrison-Lee said it will be important to establish short-term and long-term goals after her listening tour. These goals will be established after a strategic plan determines community needs.

Before coming to Wyandotte County, Harrison-Lee was executive director of the Kansas Office of Recovery; she administered and distributed federal funds of $1.034 billion statewide to those impacted by Covid-19. Gov. Laura Kelly appointed Harrison-Lee to the position.

From 2012 until 2018, Harrison-Lee was city administrator for the city of Gardner in Johnson County. She resigned from that post and received $350,000 in severance pay.

Much of Harrison-Lee’s professional life was spent in the central Florida area. She worked in management for cities including Orlando, Daytona Beach, Osmond Beach and Titusville. One of her more significant accomplishments was developing a plan for the reuse of Orlando Naval Training Center.

Harrison-Lee has an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina and a graduate degree from the University of Florida.

She has one son.

Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and Piper Press. He is an advisory director to Business West.

Rep. Davids to speak at Democratic breakfast Saturday

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-3rd Dist., will be the guest speaker on Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Wyandotte County Third Saturday Democratic Breakfast at Las Islas VIP Bar and Grill, 4929 State Ave.

The program begins about 9 a.m., with the restaurant opening at 8:15 a.m.

Also speaking at the event Saturday will be State Rep. Pam Curtis, D-32nd Dist.

The event will have doughnuts from Hana’s Donuts, with no charge for the event for Democrats.

For more information about the breakfast, email [email protected].

Kansas attorney general asks high court to block redistricting lawsuits

by Sherman Smith, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt wants the Kansas Supreme Court to block a pair of lawsuits challenging the legality of a new congressional map.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Loud Light filed separate lawsuits Monday in Wyandotte County District Court. The lawsuits argue the state constitution’s bill of rights provides protection against political and racial gerrymandering.

In a petition filed Friday, Schmidt asks the state’s highest court to determine whether the U.S. Constitution prevents state courts from considering a challenge to the redistricting of federal congressional maps.

“Plaintiffs’ political gerrymandering claim is not justiciable under the Kansas Constitution,” Schmidt wrote in the petition. “No judicially manageable standard for evaluating such claims exists, Kansas courts have not historically entertained such claims, and the Kansas Constitution has nothing at all to say about political gerrymandering.”

Sharon Brett, legal director for the ACLU of Kansas, said Schmidt’s “argument that Kansas courts are devoid of authority to interpret their own state constitution is without merit.”

“The Kansas Supreme Court can — and indeed should — determine whether legislation passed by the Kansas Legislature violates Kansans state constitutional rights,” Brett said. “To hold otherwise would give this Legislature virtually unchecked power to violate the constitutional rights of Kansans for pure partisan gain. We will vigorously oppose any attempt to strip the Kansas Supreme Court of this important check on legislative overreach.”

This is the first time a redistricting lawsuit has been filed in a Kansas state court.

Traditionally, federal courts have resolved disputes. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, determined in 2019 that partisan gerrymandering claims are beyond the reach of federal courts.

The GOP supermajority in the Legislature adopted a congressional map that divides the Kansas City metro into two districts, and carves Lawrence out of Douglas County to place it in a district that stretches to the Colorado border. The goal of the map is to make it more difficult for the state’s only Democrat in Congress, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, to win re-election.

Schmidt, a Republican, is running against Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly in this year’s governor’s race.

A map produced by Republicans in the House and Senate would place Lawrence in the 1st District, which stretches to the Colorado border, and split Wyandotte County between 2nd and 3rd districts. (Submitted)

The ACLU of Kansas and Loud Light filed lawsuits on behalf of Kansas City, Kansas, and Lawrence residents who lost voting power in the redrawn map. The northern part of Wyandotte County, which was moved out of Davids’ district, has a majority Black and Latino population.

The legal argument centers on whether the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights contains specific provisions that protect voting rights.

“The constitution says very clearly that all political power is inherent in the people, and that the power of the government is for the people’s equal protection and benefit,” Brett said in an interview when the organization filed its lawsuit. “So each person in the state of Kansas should have equal ability to influence their legislators, elect the electors of their choice, and participate in the essential democracy of our state.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/02/18/kansas-attorney-general-asks-high-court-to-block-redistricting-lawsuits/.