TheChat: Kansas faces a new reality

Good morning.

▪ “Special sessions. Fights with the court. Schools on the brink. Unwelcome national publicity. Bills paid late. Waiting lists for services. Deteriorating bridges. Get used to it, Kansans, because this will be our new normal unless we chart a different financial course.” —former 12-year Kansas budget director Duane Goossen who served under Republican and Democratic governors.

Goossen has been intensely critical of Gov. Sam Brownback’s fiscal policies.

▪ “The six-month revolving door legislation only pays lip service to ethics reform.” — Catherine Hanaway, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Missouri, assessing the new six-month waiting period before a retiring legislator can become a lobbyist.

All four GOP candidates agree that six months is not long enough. Hanaway wants a ban of at least four years. (link via johncombest.com).

▪ “It’s going to bankrupt our country in the future. That may be a little dire to say that.” — Missouri Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, a Harrisonville Republican, on the scourge of Alzheimer’s.

Hartzler is a supporter of research funding to battle the disease. She may be stretching things a bit when she speaks about the disease bankrupting the nation. But you catch her drift.

▪ “It makes me a little worried that nobody was like, ‘You are wrong,’” — polling wizard Nate Silver on his latest forecast that Hillary Clinton has a 79 percent chance of winning the presidency.

Running with the pack is what makes Silver nervous, and these days he’s doing just that.

This story was originally published July 6, 2016 at 6:11 AM.