Readers talk about value of reading, Kansas legislators, Sen. Blunt, Koch brothers
Priceless reading
I think we might need to spend more money on preschool and allocate extra funds for kids who reach the third grade without knowing how to read.
I have taught adult reading classes and have seen what it does to people to go through school without knowing how to read.
The benefits from learning to read are priceless.
Corky Lewis
Lee’s Summit
Golden parachute
When voters go to the polls, they should keep in mind that the state legislators who have swiped millions of dollars in state-deferred payments to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System to balance the budget have created a nice and cushy retirement plan for themselves.
In this plan, Kansas legislators who participate in KPERS (a significant majority) take their roughly $12,000 to $15,000 annual salaries and prop them up by including their per diem and other expenses as part of their income for KPERS final average-salary consideration for their retirements.
This bloats that small salary to about $75,000 annually for purposes of KPERS.
Legislators pay no taxes on their per diems or expenses if they live more than 50 miles outside of Topeka.
Before you vote in the general election, please take the time to quiz your candidates regarding what they intend to do.
If they commit to making a change to the rules everyone else has to follow, hold their feet to the fire.
Mike Keating
Park City, Kan.
Misguided Blunt
Sen. Roy Blunt: We are Democrats, or liberals by your definition. We are not pinkos, tree huggers, activists or commies, as your TV campaign ad says.
Just because we don’t agree or support you doesn’t mean we are not loyal, hard-working Americans. And most of us have served our country in one way or another.
You support a political candidate who has the endorsement of Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
It takes a lot of nerve to accuse real Americans of being commies. That is a national insult.
I hope you lose and have to work cleaning rest rooms.
David M. Oliver
Bates City, Mo.
Koch brothers
We see that the campaigns of Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri and Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas are in the top 10 in donations by the Koch brothers, the largest providers of contributions to their individual campaigns.
The working men and women of Kansas and Missouri who give donations to their respective challengers, mostly Democrats, are rightly dismayed at the way the Koch brothers control the country.
It is true. The Koch brothers control the United States more so than thousands of working Americans.
I am sure our Founding Fathers, who railed against the tyranny of monarchies, would find little difference between the Kingdom of Koch and the British monarchy of their time.
What a shame.
Koch Industries is a leader in science and many other successful ventures. But the Koch brothers will be remembered as the ultimate American bullies, buying votes like any common thug.
Why should Americans bother to vote? The laws protect the bullies.
John Kovelan
Lenexa
This story was originally published October 28, 2016 at 5:38 PM with the headline "Readers talk about value of reading, Kansas legislators, Sen. Blunt, Koch brothers."