On Kobach, courts and welfare, vindictive Kansas Legislature can’t get it right

The Kansas Legislature is receiving plenty of deserved derision for its failure to pass a balanced budget. Tuesday was the record-setting 110th day of a 90-day session that’s been extended largely because legislators won’t repeal unfair income tax breaks for business owners.

But examine what the Legislature has approved this year, and the result is even more disappointing. The members too often have approved laws that are cruel, vengeful, retaliatory (and any other synonym you want to use for vindictive) toward minorities, courts and the poor.

Kansas voters need to remember this chaos and utter incompetence when they next elect a governor and the 165 people who serve in the House and Senate.

Beyond creating a budget nightmare, lawmakers have acted improperly in other ways.

▪ The Republican-controlled Legislature passed a totally unnecessary law to grant Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s wish for power to prosecute practically nonexistent election fraud. Gov. Sam Brownback signed the bill Monday.

Kobach has sought this change as part of his constant efforts to repress voter registration, especially among minorities.

The Legislature unwisely succumbed to Kobach’s flawed contention that local and federal prosecutors aren’t looking hard enough for fraudulent voters. The lawmakers ignored all evidence to the contrary.

Kobach is committed to a plan that will waste taxpayer funds and his staff’s time as it tries to find cases to prosecute. No doubt some charges will be filed, if just to keep Kobach’s name in the media. In the end, he won’t be able to deliver on his scare talk that election fraud is happening all around Kansas. But don’t expect that to stop Kobach from being a demagogue on the issue long into the future.

▪ The Legislature also passed, and Brownback recently signed, a reckless measure that would eliminate funding for the state’s entire judicial branch if the Kansas Supreme Court overturns a 2014 law on judicial selection in district courts.

This is an unconscionable intrusion on the actions of another branch of government. The Legislature’s act is essentially extortion: Rule in our favor or be shut down.

The lawmakers appear ready to create a constitutional crisis by seeking to control decisions made by the Supreme Court. The really important issue at play here is whether the Legislature ultimately can intimidate the court into how it rules on the all-important issue of state funding for K-12 schools.

The justices should follow the rule of law when they reach any decision, not the infantile whims of legislators.

▪ Several weeks ago, the Legislature approved a law that was mocked across the country for its naked animosity toward people on welfare.

It banned them from spending Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds on a long list of goods and services. The most absurd part set a $25 limit on recipients’ ATM withdrawals.

Fortunately, federal officials are investigating the probability that this would unfairly restrict access to benefits and thus imperil Kansas’ ability to get grants for its welfare programs.

Over the weekend, the Legislature backed off and said state officials could raise or eliminate that $25 limit. That needs to be done as soon as possible. Maybe lawmakers learned something.

Now, about that budget....

This story was originally published June 9, 2015 at 5:13 PM with the headline "On Kobach, courts and welfare, vindictive Kansas Legislature can’t get it right."