Guns and taxes

It was too late to get it into this article, but county administrator Jeremy Willmoth said that the county basically held the same position as city officials in opposing concealed carry into public buildings. Ditto the proposed state tax plan that would cap the amount of property taxes local governments could collect, without a public vote.

The sales tax exemption on food that legislators are also contemplating is not going well over at City Hall, either. Indeed, it would feel like a bit of a sucker punch from state lawmakers because the public voted for those sales tax increases to pay for road improvements and debt financing on the new hospital, and now Topeka would shrink those funds.

This really is meddling with the tax code in a short-sighted zeal to cut taxes. State lawmakers, it seems, don't really know what they want because they claim they want to balance the budget and build a reserve, yet are proposing all these tax breaks and cuts they "hope" will spur growth.

Growth actually is occurring right now and being frugal with spending and creating a reserve fund over time seems like the prudent thing to do, not handing out tax cuts that could blow bigger holes in the budget.

And it hampers local government, which is closest to the people and the one that can suit its community's needs the most.

But City officials won't get much support on this, or the concealed carry issue, from our local legislators. They pretty much are fervent anti-tax pro-gun lawmakers.

It will be interesting to see whether the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida will push the dial back, away from concealed carry and looser use-of-force laws for citizens. This article inthe National Review probes the question well.

Concealed controversy

City officials are upset at lawmakersupset at lawmakers trying to allow concealed carry guns into public buildings. As Chief Wallace puts it, it's akin to sanctioned vigilantism.

The argument that public buildings that do not have security officers or scanners are better off allowing concealed carry is a strange one. Are we now deputizing all the concealed carry holders? Shouldn't local governments have the right to decide this on their own?

Santorum rolls

... to victory in the Kansas GOP caucus.
Proving once again, that the Kansas GOP is actively led by cultural conservatives who aren't that concerned about backing winners. But I guess you could say that about a lot of states, because Santorum is running a strong second behind Romney. This result mirrors four years ago when Huckabee, the cultural-religious conservative in the race, easily won Kansas even though it was clear by then that McCain would be the nominee.

Computer file feud

This case is dragging on forever, it seems. I'm sure Trence would love to be done with it. I think the city's attorney is right on at least one point — it could have been avoided with better communication. But I guess the question is, whose fault is that?

Caucus candidates

Former U.S. Senator Bob Dole wants GOPers to support Romney, while former Congressman Todd Tiahrt will support Santorum in Saturday's Kansas Republican presidential caucus.
The caucus event in our area is at Wellington High School.

Santorum undoubtedly is the favorite to win, with religious and cultural conservatives more likely to show up at caucus than your average Republican voter. Huckabee beat McCain in 2008, despite the fact that McCain pretty much had things wrapped up, which is (almost) the case with Romney.

But wouldn't it be nice to return to the era of Bob Dole Republicanism in Kansas? Or Nancy Kassabaum? Dole could be partisan and certainly was no liberal, but can you imagine anybody GOP leaders today winning bipartisan support for something like the American With Disabilities Act, or deficit reduction that included spending cuts and tax increases, like Dole did?

They'd be shouting about over-regulation and job-killing government meddling in the private sector.

Frazee back

It's good to have Bob Frazee back as Ark City's emergency management coordinator.

His termination from the county was too bad, but in the end things are probably better off because it was always very confusing about who he was working for.

Before, he was employed by the county, paid through a federal grant, but worked for the city. Now, he serves the city and is paid by the city and is an employee of the city. Makes more sense.

To frack or not to frack?

Don't think this is really a question up for debate. The economic activity, and the increase in oil supply, are too good to pass up. But this Eagle article about the safety concerns reminds us that it should be done with proper regulation and oversight. Yes oil companies don't want to be hamstrung by regulation, but think if one disaster occurred that marred or shut down the pending oil boom here in south-central Kansas.

There are some local oil men that think tat horizontal drilling using fracking is coming to Cowley County in the next few years and will likely create a boom for us.

Here's a decent definition of fracking, from the Bakersfield Californian:

Fracking, pioneered in the 1940s, injects a mixture of water, sand and small concentrations of toxic chemicals into oil and gas wells at high pressure in order to break up rock formations, prop them open and tap petroleum deposits that are otherwise too difficult to reach.

New docs

At the bottom of this story, the hospital mentions that it recruited two doctors to come to Ark City. One is a family doctor at Ark City Clinic, the other will be an OBGYN housed at the hospital. This is great news, especially the OB, which I've been told Ark City hasn't had for decades, perhaps even ever. A real feather in the new hospital's cap. I can think of so many women who go to Winfield or Ponca for these services, who will now have another local option.

Welfare drug testing

Kasha Kelley is trying to get this bill through again. But doesn't random drug testing of welfare recipients feels a little too Big Brother?

Kasha is big on individual rights, so why should this end with people who are receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, as the program is now called. It's not your grandmother's welfare - you can't stay on it forever and you have to be working or looking/training for work to receive TANIF. There are exceptions for hard cases, I believe.

If the reasoning is to hold accountable those people receiving government assistance, don't we have to extend that to business owners receiving tax breaks, or direct subsidies, or individuals receiving income tax credits?

Perhaps welfare recipients are a subgroup that merits more suspicion because they are not producing anything in return for their assistance. But then again, they are required to join the workforce and get off assistance, which could make them more productive.

The new era

I've had several conversations recently about how city politics have tamed over the past year.

The elected officials on the Ark City Commission seem to get along fairly well. And while there have been differences, its been amicable and not personal. You don't have the bigger personalities you once did, with Kuhn, Smith and Snell, for instance.

The new city manager (can we still call him new?) seems to have fit in quite well. He rather quietly took care of some lingering issues that festered on the old commission — software replacement, dirty water pipes, that seemed to vex the old City Hall and create controversy at the commission level.

Having hired Hernandez, this commission wants to see him succeed. I would say things are working pretty well from a "getting things done" and getting along standpoint.

Wilson v. McDonald

This will be an interesting race, if it does indeed come down to incumbent Gary Wilson versus City Commissioner Patrick McDonald.

It's kind of the rural guy (Wilson) versus the city guy (McDonald) although it's never that simple. I can tell you the main point of division goes back to that 2007 argument over tax increment financing for big box retail store (Lowes). McDonald was one of its biggest cheerleaders, while Wilson is dead set against such tax incentives for retail.

There has been a lot of water under that bridge since, but the division lingers in Ark City. And imagine if it came up again before the election ...

The relentless rivalry

There've been a few issues that have highlighted the Winfield-Ark City rivalry in recent weeks. You have the new push to reopen and car tag and tax office in Ark City, which was closed about 10 years ago. You have a recommendation from a citizen's task force to move Cowley First from Strother Field to Winfield, to save money. You have the countywide 911 consolidation plan, which includes a decision on where to put the emergency dispatch center. The task force recommended a location north of Strother Field, which would be geographically neutral. All these things remind us that we live in a county with two cities of the same size that compete for business and services, to some degree. Boundary politics can influence government decisions. There's no avoiding that. Having lived in both Winfield and now Ark City, I do have a perspective from both places. Ark City does feel like it needs to wave its hands to get attention sometimes, because Winfield is the county seat. But, as one reader from Ark City pointed out to me recently, geography and playing to the rivalry should not be the driving factor in these kinds of decisions. It would be neat if we could get to the place where people felt like residents of Cowley County as much as they do the individual towns, although that's probably like asking to change tribes.