Among the moderate Republicans defeated Tuesday in the successful campaign by the hard right to put the Kansas Senate in Gov. Sam Brownback’s hip pocket was Dwayne Umbarger of Thayer.
Sen. Umbarger was chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee and was one of those who fiercely resisted taking fuel tax dollars dedicated to highway maintenance and construction and moving them to the state general fund. His defeat by Sen. Jeff King is bad news for KDOT.
It would be a stretch to label Sen. Umbarger or the other seven moderates who were defeated in Tuesday’s purge as liberal. They are, rather, Republicans who, like Bob Dole, Nancy Kassebaum, Bill Graves and Jim Pearson before them, are public officials with a positive attitude toward state government. They believe that the purpose of government is to serve the people. As a consequence, they supported — and still support as citizens — good highways, an independent justice system and an education system dedicated to excellence.
In order for government to do those things for Kansans, the money must be raised to accomplish them. This year the Legislature approved massive reductions in taxes that Gov. Brownback signed into law, which will make it impossible to continue the present level of state services to the people from 2014 forward, unless the lawmakers reverse course — or Kansas experiences absolutely unprecedented economic growth.
As a consequence of Tuesday’s election, Gov. Brownback and his captive Legislature will speak as a single voice and be responsible alone for what happens next.
As the saying goes, things will have to get worse before they can get better.
Things are going to get worse very soon.
The 2013 Legislature will get a good look at the writing on the wall. The monstrous tax cuts that made conservatives puff up with pride will turn into equally monstrous revenue losses when they go into effect. When the revenue stream slows and shallows, state appropriations for the public schools, the community colleges and the rest of higher education will be cut back.
School districts will have a choice: reduce the quality of the education they provide to students or make up the difference by raising district property taxes. Colleges and universities can fire teachers, enlarge classes or raise tuition.
KDOT can stop construction and cut back on maintenance when the Legislature continues its past practice of siphoning off fuel tax revenues to the general fund to keep from raising revenues in traditional ways.
And there are other places to trim state spending when state revenues fall. All of them will result in fewer and less adequate services to the people of Kansas.
When the people realize that you get what you pay for in government just as you do at the department store, the voters will send a repair crew to Topeka to mend the mess today’s wrecking crew is so gleefully creating.
It’s a crying shame that so much damage must be done before the common good can once again become our state government’s guiding light. But perhaps these are the difficulties through which we must pass to reach the stars.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
