Missouri General Assembly, we’re talking to you: When the public speaks, listen | Opinion

The landslide victory of the Kansas City Public Schools’ bond issue has prompted lots of local head-scratching. How did the campaign pull off such a lopsided victory?

There are a few explanations: a smart campaign, a rattled national political environment, the improved performance of the schools. And yes, all played a role in the outcome.

In this case, though, and in many others, the simplest answer may be the best. Local voters, it turns out, are very smart. They study the issues carefully. As a result, they almost always make the right decision.

Sadly, local politicians act as if they believe the exact opposite. They claim voters are “confused” at the polls, or “misinformed” by special interests. They think voters lack the policy brilliance they, and they alone, possess. As a result, they spent countless hours trying to overturn the will of the people, or block its expression altogether.

It has to stop. Voters are not stupid. They know what they’re voting for, or against. The people should be heard, not ignored or overruled.

Public’s common sense

A quick look at the recent record reveals the public’s good, common sense. School bond issues, and general bond issues, passed throughout the area, surpassing the supermajority requirements of Missouri law. The April 8 results were, for the most part, a ringing endorsement of the need for quality local services.

But those results were not an aberration. Over the years, Kansas City voters have routinely backed significant spending for improvements: streets, streetlights, sidewalks, jails. Voters said yes to a new airport terminal. They backed the revitalization of downtown.

Kansas Citians have endorsed taxes for East Side development. They’ve provided funds for public safety and indigent health. They’ve approved taxes for mass transit. They’ve overwhelmingly supported the earnings tax.

Jackson Countians have given law enforcement more tools to fight drugs. In 2006, they said yes to taxes for rebuilding the Truman Sports Complex.

But voters aren’t just brilliant when voting yes. They’ve also smartly voted no: rejecting a sales tax for early education, a separate plan for medical research, a tax extension for new or rebuilt stadiums for the Chiefs and Royals. Voters turned down those initiatives because the ballot measures were half-baked proposals lacking clarity and intelligence.

Voters will hand local government a check. They won’t hand over a blank check.

Wisdom of the voter

Statewide, Missourians have shown similar wisdom. They’ve approved marijuana sales and possession; gaming; Medicaid expansion; and a pro-abortion rights constitutional amendment. Last November, voters said workers deserved a higher minimum wage and paid sick leave. They were smart to do so.

Yet virtually every significant debate in Jefferson City now involves overturning the voters’ will. The first bill Gov. Mike Kehoe signed this year overturned the voters’ decision to allow local police control in St. Louis.

Now there’s talk of another abortion rights referendum. Repealing the wage-and-sick leave ballot measure is on the table. Sports gambling, approved by voters, has been delayed.

It happens locally, too: The Platte County Commission ignored the voters’ expressed desire to impose a tax for children’s services.

These repeated attempts to overturn voters are not about policy differences. They expose the deep arrogance of elected politicians, who think they, and only they, are smart enough to govern.

They are wrong.

Will of the people

Politicians who like to thumb their noses at the people insist ours is not a direct democracy. It’s true: We elect the people who make the laws. But voters have also reserved to themselves the right to make important choices on taxation and spending.

They have the right to do, by petition, what the General Assembly won’t. That right should be respected, and not routinely spat upon.

Lawmakers who don’t like what voters decide should simply end public votes on levy increases and project proposals. As long as the right exists, however, it must be honored. When the public speaks, lawmakers should listen.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas has supported a downtown baseball stadium that could be constructed, he says, without a public vote. He should rethink that position and put the stadium on the ballot. Voters are smart, usually far smarter than the people they elect to office.

This story was originally published April 15, 2025 at 12:35 PM.