Kansas governor promises to beat COVID-19, rips ‘violence and sedition’ at Capitol
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly promised Tuesday that the end is in sight for the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic disruption it’s caused, while calling for healing amid a fractured political landscape including “destruction, violence, and sedition” at the nation’s Capitol.
“We can not let political fights slow us down,” the governor said in her State of the State speech Tuesday night. “In the weeks and months to come, we need to get every Kansan vaccinated. We need to get our economy moving. And we need to get all our kids back into the classroom.”
The annual speech is usually a Statehouse spectacle, delivered at the Capitol to a joint session of the House and Senate and attended by Supreme Court justices, cabinet secretaries and tribal leaders. The COVID pandemic moved it entirely to broadcast and online media for the first time.
“Instead of giving a speech to the Legislature, I’m going to have a conversation with you — the people of Kansas,” Kelly said.
Kelly defended her administration’s handling of the pandemic and the rollout of the vaccines to fight the coronavirus disease.
She dismissed recent reports that Kansas was last in the nation in getting the vaccine to its people, which she called a “reporting lag.”
“As of today, 84,555 Kansans have been vaccinated,” she said. “And we will continue this coordinated effort.”
She outlined the plan going forward from Phase 1 of vaccine distribution — limited primarily to health-care workers and nursing home residents — to Phase 2, which will include a larger group.
The next groups to get the vaccine, starting around the end of the month, will include seniors over 65, along with “essential frontline workers” including police and firefighters, teachers and child-care providers and grocery store and meat packing plant workers.
Kelly cautioned that while the pandemic’s end is in sight, it’s not here yet. People are still dying and hospitals are still strained, she said. She urged Kansans to continue to “wear a mask, physically distance, and avoid mass gatherings.”
In the Republican response to the speech, newly elected Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, praised the people of Kansas for their “hard work and sacrifice” during the pandemic, but called on the governor to end mask mandates and limits on businesses.
“The state should always be on the side of keeping businesses open, not letting unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats define who is essential and which of you is not,” he said. “We will not support the governor’s regime of unconstitutional mandates and edicts.”
Masterson has expressed doubts for the necessity of masks, saying that surveillance testing was a more effective tool against the virus. He, and Speaker of the House Ron Ryckman, declined to require the use of masks in the state legislature.
Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita and chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services committee, questioned Kelly’s statements on the vaccine rollout.
“The numbers don’t add up,” Landwehr said, adding that some vaccination providers, like Sedgwick County’s Health Department, are complaining of shortages, while others appear to have gotten more than they needed.
“If there’s an issue with distribution, they need to come clean and tell use what’s going on and we can come up with a solution,” Landwehr said.
Kelly addressed events in the nation’s Capitol, where supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the building Jan. 6. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died violently in the melee to disrupt certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral win.
She called on Kansans “to be better than what we see in Washington.”
“In light of the destruction, violence, and sedition that took place at the United States Capitol last week, we can’t simply treat this like any other moment,” she said. “That would be an insult to Kansans and all they’ve seen these past 10 days and all they’ve experienced these past 10 months in their own lives.”
Kelly, a Democrat, did not address her party’s calls for four members of the Kansas congressional delegation to be held to account for voting against certifying the electoral college results. The Kansas Democratic Party has called for Sen. Roger Marshall and Representatives Jake LaTurner, Tracey Mann and Ron Estes to be expelled from their seats, while the state’s lone congressional Democrat, Sharice Davids, accused them of acting in bad faith by making baseless charges of election fraud.
However, Kelly praised Marshall’s Senate predecessor, Republican Pat Roberts, who retired earlier this month after 40 years of service in elected office.
“Pat was and remains famous, not only for his wit, but for his ability and willingness to work across the aisle,” Kelly said. “As we tackle the challenges of these historically uncertain times in the weeks and months to come, let us all do it with leaders like Pat Roberts in mind.”
Masterson, who recorded his remarks before the governor spoke, didn’t address the Capitol riot, but said the Republicans “sincerely hope (Democrats) are willing to come to the table and set aside partisan politics for the benefit of our Kansas families.”
Masterson and Kelly both staked out lines of battle for a coming fight over taxes.
Republicans plan to try again on a bill to decouple state tax returns from federal taxes, allowing residents to minimize state taxes that went up due to changes Trump and Congress made at the federal level.
A bill to enact those cuts is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Assessment and Taxation committee Wednesday.
“Kansas taxpayers should . . . be allowed the opportunity to take advantage of the federal tax cuts and we must work to enact meaningful property tax reform to allow seniors and families to stay in their homes,” Masterson said.
Kelly, however, said the pandemic has left many Kansans with needs to be met in education, infrastructure and business development, and the Republican plan would be a rerun of the failed “tax experiment” of her predecessor, former Gov. Sam Brownback.
“It seems as though some of my colleagues in the Legislature have already forgotten just how devastating that experiment was to our economy, to our schools, and to our future,” she said.
House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer praised the governor’s positive tone and focus on bipartisanship.
“I think she can help bring people together work with both Democrats and Republicans try to find bipartisan solutions to problems,” he said.
He echoed the governor’s concerns about further tax cuts.
“It is devastating to the state budget and hopefully we can find enough Republicans that understand that and put our students above tax cuts for multinational corporations,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes said in a statement that the Governor’s priorities are the “safety and prosperity of Kansas.”
“The governor understands that the only way to keep our economy moving and to keep kids in school is by beating this virus, and she’s putting public health over politics to get it done,” Sykes said.
Speaker of the House Ron Ryckman, R-Olathe, said Kelly had failed to follow up her words with actions.
“On Laura Kelly’s watch, our state lags behind in vaccinations, hasn’t been able to deliver benefits to unemployed Kansans, and has fallen behind other states in economic growth. Kansans are tired of excuses and ready for action,” Ryckman said.
Contributing: Bryan Lowry of the McClatchy Washington Bureau
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Kansas governor promises to beat COVID-19, rips ‘violence and sedition’ at Capitol."
