Letters: KC readers discuss Grand Avenue Temple, Mike Thompson, Kansas redistricting
Musical memories
I’m so sorry to see the end of the Grand Avenue Temple, and I’m hoping the pipe organ can be saved and moved to another location. (May 9, 1C, “Freed slave donated land; Helen Keller spoke there. Farewell to Grand Avenue”)
Standing on the stage and looking at the audience is an awesome sensation. In the 1990s, the temple had monthly noontime 30-minute organ recitals called Brown Bag Concerts. People brought their lunches and listened to organ music. I was one of the musicians who presented a recital.
It was difficult to get a spot because the idea then was that only musicians with performance degrees could present organ recitals. I had a master’s degree in music education. It was put to a vote, and I was told I won by one vote and was able to present a recital. I still have the photograph of me standing on the stage, introducing myself via a standing microphone before I went to the organ to present my recital.
Fond memories — and one vote does count.
- Marie Asner, Overland Park
Wrong on facts
The Star quoted Kansas state Sen. Mike Thompson, a Shawnee Republican, as condemning the 17th Amendment to the Constitution that gave American voters, not state legislators, the power to choose United States senators. (May 7, 3A, “Rewrite the US Constitution? Not so fast, says Kansas Senate”)
Many conservatives think the 1913 change to the Constitution was a bad idea. Sen. Ted Cruz, for example, has said that the 17th Amendment makes it less likely that politicians will break into your home and steal your television. That, of course, is literally true, but much of their argument is false.
Thompson, for example, says that before 1913, “the states had the ability to recall our senators.” He’s wrong.
States appointed U.S. senators, but they never had the ability to recall them. States have never even been able to control how their senators voted. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 explicitly provided for individual voting by senators. The Founding Fathers did not place them under state control.
Shawnee voters should know that their senator in Topeka doesn’t know what he’s talking about. They also might ask themselves why they sent someone to the Legislature who wants to take away their power to vote for U.S. senators.
- Max J. Skidmore, University of Missouri Curators’ Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Overland Park
Our voices
Redistricting is like horse racing. Like the Kentucky Derby, redistricting is the premier event for the Kansas Legislature. But unlike the Derby, redistricting happens just every 10 years.
The odds-on favorite is the political party in power in the state. Party members jockey for district boundaries, bumping citizens out of the way. Muck from the field is flung in all directions. And the party in power almost always ends up in the winner’s circle with districts that assure their candidates’ victories. Everyone else loses.
As with horse racing, the people want a clean finish, which means that the drawing of district maps and the subsequent Kansas Supreme Court review need to be completed before the candidate filing deadline. Kansans need to ask themselves: Do they want to see redistricting be about the voters and the community?
Voters should be heard in redistricting. They should select their representatives, not representatives selecting their voters.
Let’s work together to make redistricting more about citizens and less about the horse, I mean political party.
- Connie Taylor, Olathe
This story was originally published May 11, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Letters: KC readers discuss Grand Avenue Temple, Mike Thompson, Kansas redistricting."