Letters: Readers discuss KPERS obligations and Venezuelan sanctions

KPERS solvency

I was shocked to learn that, like former Gov. Sam Brownback, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly appears to view the KPERS fund as transferable or expendable. (Jan. 27, 1A, “Kelly plan extends time to pay KPERS debt”)

State workers like me spent our entire careers making government better than we found it. And despite low wages and long hours, because we worked hard and believed in the higher value of public service, we earned every single dollar of our retirement — an investment the state recognized by creating KPERS in 1962.

However, since the 1990s, legislators and governors stopped fully funding their portion of retirement money. Then came the bright idea to raid the funds a decade ago, and now, to transfer monies for a “what-if” recession and pay an impossible balloon IOU in the future?

Such specious fiscal planning kills any hope of regaining parity in KPERS. It kills the promise Kansas made to its underpaid employees when it wanted their hard work and years of faithful service.

Deborah Snyder

Lawrence

One-way only

Do we remember that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez sent heating oil to northeast states during frigid winters in the mid-2000s?

But when Cuba offered medical aid to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, President George W. Bush refused. When other countries wanted to assist Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, our government said no.

We are too busy sending weapons and misery elsewhere. End the crippling sanctions against Venezuela.

Elizabeth Smith

Kansas City