Kansas leaders’ disrespect, Baldwin Denim, Mission Gateway

Behind the noise

The Jan. 2 op-ed, “AARP has a conflict of interest when it comes to drug pricing legislation,” (15A) reads like all the other opinions that Big Pharma and its enablers recycle. If anyone has a conflict, it is astroturf groups like Patients Rising, claiming to speak for patients but cozying up to the pharmaceutical industry.

For decades, seniors across our country have had to pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Many must decide between lifesaving medications or paying for other necessities such as rent or food.

Congress moved closer to solving this issue when the House passed the Build Back Better Act, which would finally allow Medicare to negotiate the prices it pays for some prescription drugs. In every other market, buyers and sellers negotiate. But Big Pharma has had its handcuffs on Medicare for well over a decade, and that must change.

Here is the truth: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says reform would result in one fewer new drug out of hundreds over the next decade; meanwhile, millions of seniors would have more affordable access. Medicines work only if patients can afford them.

- John Hishta, AARP Senior Vice President of Campaigns, Washington, D.C.

Editor’s note: The column referenced here originally appeared as a guest commentary in the Chicago Tribune. It should have included an endnote identifying its author as the executive director of Patients Rising, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by drugmakers and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a lobbying trade organization.

Didn’t show up

I am so ashamed of U.S. Reps. Ron Estes, Jake LaTurner and Tracey Mann of Kansas, who had neither the decency nor integrity to attend the remembrance gathering in the U.S. House on Jan. 6. Rather than acknowledge the significance of this anniversary, they chose to stay away with their fellow House Republicans.

Their disrespect to the Jan. 6, 2021, remembrance observation is an insult to their constituents and every Kansan. Our state deserves better representation than that.

- Lorre Rhoades Dysart, Overland Park

Unpopular truth

Thank you, Kansas City Star, for having the courage to publish the Jan. 2 front-page story, “Josh Hawley vs. the truth.” The supporting articles on identifying a lie and the degrees of lying, attacking and puffery refuted the allegations of the Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election.

It is so important in today’s climate to know how to decipher fact from opinion. I feel proud to live in an area where the press will present unpopular information despite the likely negative consequences.

- Helen Hewins, Overland Park

Complex story

The Jan. 5 front-page story, “Washed Out; Baldwin Denim, a local billionaire and the demise of a beloved KC brand,” about the rise and fall of Baldwin Denim is an interesting saga but paints a simple hero-villain outcome to an obviously complex business.

Companies have twists and turns, all experience events that define their future, for better or worse. But outcomes are generally a combination of decisions and market conditions, not simply “everything was great and the new investors ruined it.”

I have seen companies that looked great in the public eye but had financials and a business model that were not sustainable. Baldwin having celebrities wearing its clothes and GQ lauding its designs was great, but it would have been better if Forbes or The Wall Street Journal praised the company’s financial stability.

I am sad to see this business close, but often the hardest decisions are the right decisions. Implying Baldwin’s failure is solely due to Cliff Illig and his TIFEC LLC being involved may have been an incomplete analysis.

- John Murphy, Belton

Good work

Thanks for giving space to the interesting and informative piece on the rise and fall of Baldwin Denim. Very well done.

- M.K. Mustard, Lake Tapawingo

Out of bounds

It matters not to me when the commentators or contributors make logical or illogical statements on cable news channels. They have their right to speak what they think under the First Amendment to the Constitution.

But when Vice President Kamala Harris compares what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to Pearl Harbor, 9/11 or the Civil War, she is completely wrong. The Japanese attacked us with military might. The twin towers were taken down by huge aircraft manned by religious zealots. The Civil War resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. Harris is totally out of touch with reality and needs to apologize to America for her incendiary remarks.

If President Joe Biden wants to unite this country, he needs to be a president for the entire country, including those who voted against him. We are suffering in so many ways and have so many issues to resolve that are more important than either Biden or Donald Trump.

Please, please. Will our leaders become facilitators?

- Lou Bresette, Kansas City

End in sight?

Doesn’t the city of Mission have some recourse with the long-stalled Mission Gateway project? (Dec. 31, 1A, “What’s next for Mission Gateway as city agreement expires?”) Why does it have to keep putting up with Tom Valenti and New York’s Cameron Group’s 16-year stall on the development? I wish someone would explain the legality of this.

- Donna Rowland, Lenexa

This story was originally published January 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.