TheChat: Serving in the Kansas Legislature likened to sailing on the Titanic
You made it through one hot week. Your reward? A cool drink this evening courtesy of Dave Helling.
▪ “I feel like I am rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic.” — Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, on the political peril that lies ahead for lawmakers dealing with next year’s cash-strapped budget.
Wagle made her comments as the state finance council approved a $900 million certificate of debt — a tool the state uses to maintain cash flow. The $900 million certificate was the state’s largest ever. Wagle said she favors more budget reductions. “We haven’t cut expenses enough,” she said as Gov. Sam Brownback listened nearby.
▪ “Since the 2008 recession, the unemployment rate has consistently declined. We assumed with that decline we would see a decline in the child poverty rate. That hasn’t been the case.” — Florencia Gutierrez, a senior research assistant for the Annie E. Casey Foundation that just released a new report on the welfare of kids in Missouri.
According to the foundation’s annual assessment of child well-being, Missouri ranked 28th nationally.
▪ “We tend to think of human trafficking as something that happens in a distant, undeveloped country. But the tragic reality is, right here in the United States, human trafficking is a real and growing problem.” — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on a bill he signed in Kansas City this week that beefed up laws against the crime.
The bill Nixon signed makes it a crime for anyone to advertise a non-consenting person for sex.
▪ “It is an intentional and malicious misstatement of fact.” — former Missouri Sen. Jack Danforth on a TV ad that attorney general candidate Kurt Schaefer is airing against his GOP primary opponent, Josh Hawley.
Schaefer’s ad charges that Hawley was part of a team that argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of a terrorist. Hawley said his name was wrongly listed on a legal brief and was subsequently removed from future court documents.