Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Casino competition

Some execs from Marvel Gaming stopped by the Courier and Traveler yesterday on a public relations tour of Cowley County. They're trying to forge win community support for their plans to put the casino in Wellington, not Mulvane. Marvel's proposal is in Wellington.

I asked President and COO Roger Wagner about competition from the Indian Casinos on the border. He said it would be his job to "put them out of business." He was supremely confident that even folks in Okla would come to the Kansas casino because of better payouts and more games and attractions.

Why then, are border casinos still being built, I wonder?

(Ark City native and football hero Lloyd Buzzi is the PR front man for Marvel and will moving back to this area from Las Vegas to lobby for the Marvel proposal.)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

property values

This is a bit off topic, but I recently got my property valuation notice on my home in Ark City. For the first time in the four years I've owned the home, the value went down. About 2-3 percent, I think.

This lowers my taxes but I'd rather have my investment grow. Guess the housing market slump is affecting us all. Wonder if anybody else experienced this?

Probably a good time to buy.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Stalking updated

At the legislative forum this morning, Greta Goodwin said the Senate DID pass the stalking bill, with an amendment that includes mandatory training for all law enforcement and prosecutors. She claims that lawyers and others who looked at it thought the small word changes would not have much of an affect unless the legal community understood the purpose.

Because it was changed, the House has to OK it, which she thinks will happen quickly when the session reconvenes next week.


From a purely political perspective, this could be a masterstroke on Goodwin's part. She can now claim that she took the bill Kasha initiated and make it meaningful, thereby getting some credit for it.

In the end, though, the politics don't matter if it helps prevent violence as a result of stalking.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Stalking bill

You do have to wonder why Kasha Kelley's stalking bill, which sailed through the House, hasn't gotten quick attention from the Judiciary committee. Kasha suspects Greta Goodwin, a potential political opponent in November, has held it up for political reasons. Greta says its just the timing of handling lots of bills on that committee.

Word is that it will get pushed through committee when the Legislature returns, starting next week. Frankly I think it would be a political loser for Greta to hold it up this year, considering local support for it.


Kasha has not yet said she will run against Greta. Certainly having a new baby will factor into her decision. There's some speculation that Kasha will wait until the June 10 deadline to file against Greta so that nobody else files for her (Kasha's) 79th district, and then the GOP can bring forth their candidate of choice with nobody to oppose them.

In this case, the Democrats would need to find somebody fairly soon to run for the 79th. They failed to find anybody at all last time, when Kasha ran unopposed for her second term.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Randy Emerson

Randy Emerson ran some newspaper ads this week, well ahead of the election in Augs. He failed to knock off Sheriff Odell four years ago but looks like he's game for another try. I think Don Read, however, will be the assumed front runner because of his role as Undersheriff. They will face off in the Republican primary. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Read enjoys a pretty good reputation in the community. Here's a link to story when Emerson first announced. Here's the story when Read did.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Chris Smith

Spoke with Chris Smith, the county attorney, recently. Said he hadn't decided yet whether to run for re-election. He's had quite a term with the Thurber case. Smith was pretty tough when he challenged Jim Spring four years ago. I wonder if the job has meet his expectations and viceversa. Here's a quote from a Traveler story on Oct. 25, 2005 on Smith referring to Spring.


"My opponent's poor track record with the filing, prosecution, and resolution of cases during his four years as county attorney speaks volumes in regard to his lack of motivation and dedication to the citizens of our community, and in regard to the quality of his experience, "Smith said.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Tiahrt's tanker




Tiahrt has made fighting the Air Force Tanker deal a top priority. He mailed out a glossy four page phamphlet outlining his efforts to his constituents in the 4th District.

It really does look like a campaign piece, and raises the question of whether stuff like this should be mailed out at taxpayer expense when it, arguably, crosses the line into campaigning. (Boeings lost of the tanker deal will undoubtedly be used against Tiahrt in the upcoming election)

If anything, it highlights the power of incumbency to communicate with voters. Members of both parties do it, so Tiahrt shouldn't be singled out. But it does seem to test a basic sense of fairness....

(Also, it's interesting that the free-trading, competition-advocading Tiarht sounds like middle class spokesman Lou Dobbs when he states things like: "American tankers should be built by American company with American workers."

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Obama "Cling" comments

These words Obama told donors in SF have been getting lots of media attention. What do you think?

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.
"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Does this describe.....us?

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

More on money

A Kelley vs. Goodwin race would start out on pretty equal financial footing. Reports filed Dec. 31 show Goodwin had $13,276.48 cash on hand and Kelley $15,797.98. Both reported quite a few PAC and business contributions from the last period, and not much from individuals.

Of course this was updated 3 and half months ago and could look different right now

Friday, April 11, 2008

Don Betts

Don Betts, the state Senator from Wichita, was in Winfield this week campaigning. It's a good year to be a Democrat, but we'll see whether Betts can raise enough money he probably needs to compete.

As of Dec. 31, financial reports showed he had about $10,000 cash on hand, Tiahrt had more than $1 million.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Mars update

Foss Farrar just spoke with John and the municipal court clerk. Apparently he was charged initially with domestic violence, disorderly conduct and public intoxication (Traveler story did not have domestic violence charge) In the end, though, the prosecutors must have felt like there wasn't much there — he pled guilty to disturbing the peace and paid $60 fine and $70 court cost.

Apparently, his wife called police because her husband was upset and she was concerned about him. He was arrested near the college on Central.

Monday, April 7, 2008

John Mars

John Mars filed to run against County Commissioner Carmelita Clarkson in the Democratic primary. Clarkson is the anti-administrator commissioner; her opposition to Leroy Alsup is well known. I wonder if Mars will make this an issue. Frankly I was surprised to see Mars get involved again — he didn't run for re-election to the Ark City school board last year and he got into some legal trouble this fall.

I was also surprised to see that Mars, even though he lives in central Ark City, is part of Commission District 3, which stretches all the way to Udall.

Here's the written description of the district (I couldn't find a map on the Web) Represents all those residents living in the townships of: Fairview, Harvey, Maple, Ninnescah, Omnia, Richland, Rock Creek, Salem, Silver Creek, Vernon, Walnut and Windsor. Also those residents of Arkansas City living in precincts: 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 2A and Winfield residents living in precincts: 1 West, 3 Ward, 4 Ward and 5 West

Friday, April 4, 2008

Politics of immigration

As of Friday evening, efforts to pass tougher immigration laws in Topeka were still bogged down. As it stands now, it looks like the business/farm lobby is getting what it wanted – a limited bill.

Area rep. Kasha Kelley said a bill in the House last week was so watered down she voted against it. Kasha has been a friend of business but not on this one. The chamber of commerce led the fight against strict employee verification and penalties for hiring illegal residents.

I understand the frustration over illegal immigration, but imagine if Creekstone got their business permit pulled, or had to shut down for a time, because they were accused of violating this law.

Good for Ark City?

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Local donors

There aren't too many people from this area listed as donors to presidential campaigns in Federal Election Commission filings, as far as I can tell.

From Ark City, Greg and Diane Kelley of Ark City each donated $750 to Mike Huckabee, the biggest contribution to any candidate. In Winfield, Kent Olmstead donated $300 to Hillary Clinton. John Zerener $544 to Edwards and Sigurd Daehnke donated $221 to Brownback.

Yours truly has donated $100 to Obama, but only contributions of $200 and above come with identification of donors.

The FEC Web site has a searchable database. The easiest database I've seen to search is at the Huffington Post.

http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Abrams runs again

Steve Abrams is running for another term on the state board. There's a group of people organized to recruit moderate candidates to replace the conservatives and I'm sure Abrams is a target. http://www.ksalliance.org/.

He beat Tim Aiken of Derby in 2004 in the Republican primary. Word is that Aiken might run again. He'd probably be better off running as a Democrat — the social conservatives are hard to beat in primaries.