Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Local races

I think we have a good crop of candidates for county commission and for judge. The GOP primary will decide the next county commissioner. I think it's a hard choice, all of them are qualified and all have pretty similar ideas about county government, it seems. Guess experience might be the deciding factor.

In the District Court judge's race, all are attorneys with solid reputations. Chris Smith probably has the best name recognition as county prosecutor, but really all of them are pretty well known. Watch LaDonna Lanning as the sleeper in this race. I would guess she is the least well known but with five candidates, she could slip through. I know of several women who like the idea of a woman on the bench.

Pompeo v. Hartman

This was the first time I'd heard Hartman speak. There is a bit of a tycoon presence about him, sort of a Donald Trump aura with his success in business and how it takes credit for things.

Course my take is that both guys are too ideological and puritanical in their comments about how government should work. But Hartman appears to go even further, if not in his actual positions but in his strong persona and language.

Not sure he's the kind of guy who could work with 434 other people to help craft legislation. While Pompeo might not be either, I think he's personality might be more suited to Congress, and his intellectual approach is also impressive.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Questionable judgement

Seems like the judicial candidates are using an over abundance of caution in declining to attend forums. Seems like the public should get more credit for understanding that they might not be able to answer certain questions due to the need to stay neutral as a judge.

As one reader said recently, this district court judge position probably has more influence and power over the lives of Cowley County citizens than any other elected position because of the power to make direct decisions over their freedom and property.

Municipal pollution?

Mell Kuhn is back in full form.

Only he could offer up this type of playground put down, as he did in remarks today about the auditors who looked at the city's organizational issues.

Some of his criticisms are surely valid, but these bold, over-the-top statements are childish and poison the atmosphere and fracture any unity on the commission.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

A full circle of shame, blame

For those keeping up with the debacle that is the Shirley Sherrod story, this piece by Politico about online provocateurs is informative.

Not to be too philosophical here, but I think the real culprit here is — US. You and me, the reader, the viewer the information consumer.

Seems like society is eating up factional attacks that promote each faction's agenda. Doesn't matter much whether they are vetted, edited and put in context. No, the point is the political or ideological agenda. The truth, as much as it can be obtained, is secondary or even irrelevant.

The immediacy and unaccountability of the online world fuels this type of information dissemination. And traditional media, the ones we rely on to provide editing, context, get caught up because so many people follow the story.

The media really is a reflection of society. In many ways the online world is great, because of the information access and ability to bring more transparency to a story or issue.

But it would be nice if Fox News, MSNBC and other outlets didn't allow itself to be used by people like Andrew Brietbart to stoke political flames to win factional wars. However, in the end, Glen Beck, Andrew Brietbart, Keith Olberman aren't the problem. Those hucksters and fear mongers have been around forever. They are political pornographers.

Those of us who watch them, are the problem.

Fox News is singled out because it is at the center of so much of this. It may not even have a political agenda per say, but it has an audience/money agenda. It knows these things get ratings, stoke the fears and worries of conservative-leaning whites, or confirm their beliefs.

How else can you explain the pushing of this story, the obsession with the ACORN story, the obsession with the Black Panther story, and the obsession with the Vance Jones story?

And then there's Obama and his administration's cowardly response to this stuff. Normally they don't over react, (in fact probably don't react fast enough) but this time they got sucked into the muck. At least they have apologized.

Perhaps the damage to this innocent bystander, whose story should actually be celebrated (she fought against her own racial prejudice after her father was killed by a white man and a cross burned in her yard) will inject some sanity back into the media and political discourse?

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Dept. of Bigortry, part 2

Some disappointing reader reaction to my post about the racism surrounding the opposition to the proposed Muslim mosque near ground zero in New York:

I believe it is a stupid idea to build a muslim shrine on the very ground where American citizens were murdered. The muslim community has no right to go anywhere near Ground Zero in my opinion.

Oh yeah, they absolutely should be able to build a mosque at ground zero. Don't all great victories in battle get a shrine built to them? Gettysburg? Bull Run? thermopylae? Let's remember the great victory of the brave men who flew a plane into the WTC and killed all those enemies of the muslim faith.

How many Christian churches are allowed to be built in Muslim countries ? Zip zero nada ....

The level of stereotyping and discrimination here is stunning. But alas, in the blogosphere, things sometimes tend to balance out. Here are some other comments:

I forgot it was Islam that attacked us on 9/11. So yeah, basically all Muslims should be held responsible.

You folks realize 300 of the victims were muslim, right? And the terrorists were extremists?
Throughout history entire races of people have been blamed for the actions of a few from said race.


There are a couple facts that have to be agreed upon here by any sane-thinking person.

1) The proposed mosque is NOT on ground zero, but a couple blocks away.

2) Other than sharing the same general religion, there is absolutely no connection between the people proposing the mosque and the terrorists who flew the planes into the towers. (This would be like holding all Christians accountable, and restricting their practices, because of people like Fred Phelps.)

3) The free exercise of religion is a constitutional right.


Thank God the mayor of New York gets it. Bloomberg supports the building.

"Everything the United States stands for and New York stands for is tolerance and openness," he said.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Schodorf soaring?

Could this be true? It's a press release from Jean Schodorf Campaign today:

Schodorf catches up to Hartman and Pompeo

The Schodorf for Congress Campaign said today that their polling of Republican voters in the Fourth Congressional District now shows Jean Schodorf in a statistical tie with Wink Hartman and Mike Pompeo in the Republican primary for Fourth District Congress.
Those surveyed were asked, “If the election for congress were today, would you be voting for Jean Schodorf, Jim Anderson, Mike Pompeo, or Wink Hartman?” The names were rotated among callers.
The results:
Hartman 19%
Schodorf 18%
Pompeo 16%
Anderson 9%
Not sure 39%

The poll was conducted by Jayhawk Consulting Services on July 15, two days after Jean Schodorf was endorsed by former U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker.

Jean Schodorf said, “I’m very pleased with where we are at this point. Although Mr. Hartman and Mr. Pompeo have been advertising heavily, we have managed to close the gap with old-fashioned person to person campaigning. Our own advertising begins in earnest this weekend.”

Jayhawk Consulting Services conducted 400 live personal interviews. There is a 95% level of confidence in the results. Dr. Jim Yonally, President of Jayhawk Consulting Services, has over 30 years of experience in public opinion polling, campaign consulting, and Kansas public policy development. “Over the past 12 years our polls have correctly predicted the outcome of candidate elections with 94% accuracy,” said Yonally.

His firm surveyed Republicans who have actually voted in at least two of the last three primary elections. Polling was done on a geographic representation of past voter turnout, using experienced callers who are well-educated adults.

For more information contact: Jean Schodorf 316.259.0912 or 316.831.0229

Audit-acious Part 2

The performance audit is suggestions some serious changes to the organizational structure of city government. The idea of an umbrella community development department makes some sense.

Seems the overall theme of the audit is a lack of planning and deliberate delivery of services, such as vehicle replacement, road and infrastructure repair, etc.

Hopefully the commission won't just shelve this audit. The spat over whether to bring the auditors back to present the information hopefuly won't sour the whole deal.

Mell Kuhn's brash statements about the auditors not telling the city anything it didn't know already is typical bombastic rhetoric on his part. This kind of talk can bring the whole effort down.

He does make a good point, however, about the need to act on the recommendations and not just sit on the thing, a feeling it seems like the whole commission shares.

Clean it up!

This story about Jim Sybrant complaining about code enforcement illustrates a dilemna about keeping up property in town. First, code enforcement can only get to things they get complaints on. This may sound poor, but it has been the case in every town/county I've covered as a journalist (four, other than this one.) Actually, Fort Pierce Fla., did begin to take a proactive approach, but they sunk a bunch of money into prosecuting code violators in a big effort to clean up the town.

Second, are the codes what they should be? Barbed wire fencing is apparently allowed in certain conditions in town? Also, remember the yard parking, and the sofas etc on front porches?

The city can't get cleaned up if the codes are sufficient.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Department of Bigotry

Sad stereotyping going on in New York City, where plans to build a mosque not far from ground zero are stoking xenophobia and illustrating the hatefulness of stereotyping.

Good for the TV stations refusing to air the ad.

Fire folks

The city audit shows that the fire department might be understaffed, which is understandable with no permanent chief, no ems coordinator (that's news) and no fire marshall.

Sounds like the city has fallen behind on fire inspections. Positive news is that morale seems to be improving, and the auditors don't actually suggest getting a new fire chief at the moment. I believe interim chief Les Parks has said he's not interested in the full gig.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Audit-acious

With the Home National closure story getting most of the attention, the performance audit of the city of Ark City is getting a little overshadowed. But this is a big deal, and could reshape city operations if recommendations are followed through. City hall reporter, Andrew Lawson, is doing a yeoman's job of covering this thing in detail and getting the info to the public. Here's his second story, which covers street repair.

Remember a few years ago when the city hired a consultant to create a street repair program? Sounds kind of familiar. As I recall, though, that proposal was very costly.

The audit covers lots of interesting stuff, including recommendations on water billing and computer repairs, which will be featured later this week.

Bank on it

Seems like RCB's arrival in Cowley County has been fairly well received. We'll see what happens if they reduce workforce at the Ark City downtown location, which seems likely.

But they seem to fit the small town, conservative model that perhaps HNB got away from as they expanded into the Wild West. Most of their bank locations are small towns in Oklahoma. Will they sell off the Scottsdale Arizona properties, seems to be a big question?

Sunday, July 11, 2010

HNB no more

As workers covered up Home National Bank signs with RCB signs Saturday, you could feel a sense of history and change. The bank that for decades was owned by a local family and was so much a part of Ark City's financial, commercial and community life, is gone. But not totally - we still have three banks in town. And RCB does appear to be a regional-community bank, which could be the best news. We'll see what kind of changes they make to their new Ark City locations.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Moran-Tiahrt debate

The debate will be replayed these times and channels, according to political science professor Bob Beatty at Washburn.

C-SPAN: 7:30pm on Saturday, July 10.
KSN: 10:35 pm, Sunday, July 11.
KSNT: 11am, Sunday, July 11.
KSHB: 1:00, Sunday, July 11.

Lighting the way

If the preservation boardapproved the sign,you can bet the city commission will, too.

This is probably as it should be. The sign isn't too incongruous for the building.

Just hope that making these exceptions doesn't hurt the downtown's designation as an historical district. Hopefully this issue will raise awareness and eh em, get people talking about a Main Street program?

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Tiahrt v. Moran

Coverage from the Eagle here. Immigration and security sounds like topics that dominated the debate. I was glad to hear, actually that Tiahrt supported in-state tuition for immigrants and even driver's licenses for illegal aliens (Don't think this is a good idea, but liked that he was on the side of trying to assimilate them) but of course today, when running in a GOP primary, Tiahrt can't have those positions so he's changed his mind.

It's funny that each is exposing the other's more moderate, or less conservative positions in their pitched battle to appear the most conservative. Tiahrt is highlighting Moran's vote against Bush tax cuts, and his opposition to military tribunals in certain cases. Moran, probably rightly, says they violated the U.S. constitution. But right now that's the last thing he wants voters to know .....

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Illegal fireworks

Seemed like there were more illegal fireworks this 4th than ever before in the city limits of Ark City. There was a garage fire in Winfield from smoldering fireworks.

Love fireworks myself, we shot some off in the county. But it will take a few more accidents, or one horrible one, for the county to reimpose the ban. I wonder how smart it is to let folks shoot fireworks. Some of them are pretty powerful. Like mortar rounds.

Tiahrt-Moran debate

Tonight on KSN. This should be good. Both are catering to the tea party crowd somewhat, although Tiahrt is a card-carrying member. Tiahrt has been the aggressor, but Moran has also gone after Tiahrt on spending, big government votes. Which seems to be about all they can talk about.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Immigration reform push

Obama gives a speech to launch new effort at immigration policy reform.

Here's an idea — what if BOTH sides compromised a bit on the immigration wars and the county tightened the borders AND helped legitimize the people with good records who came here illegally.

Remember, you like those $2 socks at Wal-Mart and that $2.97 lb hamburger.

Let there be light!

The overwhelming majority of votes in the UNSCIENTIFIC online poll support letting Land Rush Leather light the sign.


Should Land Rush Leather be allowed to light its sign?
Yes — I don't see the problem.
(248 Votes, 76%)
No, the Kansas Historical Society is right.
(67 Votes, 21%)
I have no opinion.
(10 Votes, 3%)

I have mixed feelings about this. Gotta follow the guidelines, and if one exceptions are made where does it stop. But it doesn't seem like that big of a violation to light a sign that otherwise follows the rules.