Serving Kansas City (Wyandotte County) Kansas for over 50 years!
The deadline for submitting applications for the KCK Women’s Chamber Foundation 2022 scholarship for nontraditional women students is approaching.
The deadline is Friday, April 1.
Women students who are 24 years old or older may apply. Applications are at https://bit.ly/KCKWCF2022.
For more information, visit https://www.kckwcfoundation.org/.
by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector
Topeka — Kansas Democratic and Republican candidates for U.S. Senate signed a pledge to support a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution setting term limits for the federal House and Senate.
Mark Holland, a Democrat and former mayor of Unified Government of Wyandotte County, and Joan Farr, a Republican who ran previously for Kansas governor and an Oklahoma seat in the U.S. Senate, agreed to support a limitation of three terms in the U.S. House and two terms in the U.S. Senate.
“Mark’s and Joan’s strong support of term limits shows that there are individuals who are willing to put self-interest aside to follow the will of the people,” said Phillip Blumel, president of U.S. Term Limits. “America needs a Congress that will be served by citizen legislators, not career politicians.”
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Republican from Kansas, is seeking re-election in 2022 to his seat in the U.S. Senate. He’s been a senator for the past decade and served in the U.S. House from 1997 to 2011.
Farr is listed as a candidate for U.S. Senate in both Kansas and Oklahoma. In Kansas, she would be on the August ballot with Moran.
Holland, executive director of Mainstream UMC that seeks inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals in the church, was pastor of Trinity Community Church in Kansas City, Kansas, until 2018. He was mayor of the unified city and county government from 2013 to 2018.
The constitutional amendment promoted by U.S. Term Limits has been introduced in both chambers by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican serving his second term in the U.S. Senate, and by U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, a South Carolina Republican finishing his second complete term in the U.S. House.
In 1996, U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas signed a pledge with U.S. Term Limits not to seek a third full term in the Senate. He complied with that agreement and was elected governor of Kansas. In 2010, Farr received 18% of the GOP vote in the gubernatorial primary against Brownback.
The resolutions regarding the amendment on term limits would require a two-thirds majority support n the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, and ratification by 38 states, to become part of the U.S. Constitution.
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/briefs/two-u-s-senate-candidates-from-kansas-sign-term-limit-pledge/
by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector
Topeka — The Kansas Legislature sent to Gov. Laura Kelly a bundled bill Wednesday containing redistricting maps for the House, Senate and state Board of Education.
Senate and House maps were heavily vetted by respective chambers before adopted separately by wide margins. Objections were raised to final adjustments to the Board of Education map, which is based on the 40 Senate district boundaries.
The Senate approved Senate Bill 563 on a vote of 29-11, while the House adopted the same piece of legislation 83-40. Kelly could veto the bill, but an override would be the likely result. In addition, litigation could emerge challenging constitutionality of any of these maps. The Legislature’s map of the four congressional districts has attracted several pending lawsuits.
Republicans in the House and Senate didn’t launch an aggressive defense of the three maps before the votes were counted, given that the bill was expected to pass by a comfortable margin.
“There’s not any reason to get into a lengthy discussion,” said Sen. Rick Wilborn, the McPherson Republican who chaired the Senate Redistricting Committee.
House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat, said the Board of Education map violated redistricting guidelines setting up potential showdowns between two incumbent Democrats in eastern Kansas and two incumbent Republicans in central Kansas.
“It sends an appalling message to those that want to serve with our state,” said Rep. Tom Burroughs, a Kansas City, Kansas, Democrat who nevertheless voted for the bill.
In eastern Kansas, Democrat Ann Mah of Topeka and Democrat Janet Waugh of Kansas City, Kansas, would be forced to compete for the same seat. Waugh isn’t expected to seek re-election in November. Mah said she didn’t plan to run again in 2024.
Republican Deena Horst of Salina and Republican Ben Jones of Sterling would go head to head in two years for a board seat representing central Kansas. Jones faces re-election in November, but Horst’s four-year term would be up in 2024. Every two years, five state Board of Education members face re-election.
Democrats in the House and Senate also questioned the decision by mapmakers to fracture Wyandotte County among three of the 10 Board of Education districts.
“You’ve take the smallest county in the state of Kansas — Wyandotte County — and spread it out between three state Board of Education positions. I see no positive in that type of splitting,” said Sen. Pat Pettey, a Democrat from Kansas City, Kansas.
The Legislature and governor in Kansas are responsible for redrawing House, Senate and Board of Education boundaries every decade based on population shifts documented in the U.S. Census. Each of the 125 House districts will have close to 23,500 residents. Each of the 40 Senate districts would have approximately 73,500 people. The 10 Board of Education districts would serve 293,000 people.
Each of the approved maps and alternative maps can be viewed online on the website of the Kansas Legislative Research Department.
The Senate map was named “Liberty 3” and the House map ended up with the name “Free State 3F.” The Board of Education map, which required each member to serve four Senate districts, was designated as “Apple 7” and ties into boundaries established by “Liberty 3.”
Concordia Republican Sen. Elaine Bowers said she supported the Senate and state Board of Education boundaries. She objected to how the House map constructed districts in her home area of Cloud County.
“I believe there were better ways to draw those boundaries that would have been easier to understand for voters to understand,” she said. “However, in spite of those concerns, I respect the process and I vote ‘yes.’”
Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, said the Senate map separated communities of interest that had developed during the past decade in his district among Tonganoxie, south Lawrence, Eudora and Baldwin City.
“The proposed 19th District boundaries attempt to establish a community of interest between east Topeka and north Lawrence. Such a community does not exist,” said Holland, who voiced similar objections with the House and Board of Education maps.
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/2022/03/31/legislature-forwards-house-senate-and-board-of-education-maps-to-governor/.