By Andy Marso and Amy Jeffries

One question that seems to come up almost every election season is why people sometimes vote against their own best interests — specifically, their economic interests.

Diane Wahto of Wichita asked it this way:

“Why do Kansans often vote against their best interests? … When we don’t have money to fix the highways or fund social programs, who cares about those other things?”

Ernest Schein of Olathe sent a follow-up:

“When will people stop voting against their economic interest? The governor who was supposed to lower taxes actually raised them on the vast majority of residents when he signed the sales tax increase into law.”

There is evidence that some Kansans have voted against their own economic interests.

In 2015, the Kansas Legislature passed a historic sales tax increase in an attempt to balance the budget.

Before that, the Legislature passed and Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law major changes to the income tax structure in 2012. It was sold as a tax cut for all Kansans.

Former State Budget Director Duane Goossen — who served in the Graves, Sebelius and Parkinson administrations and who is no fan of those tax changes — has done some new number-crunching.

The analysis shows that Kansans making $25,000 a year or less ended up paying more in income taxes. That’s because in addition to reducing income tax rates, the 2012 changes included the elimination of credits and deductions, like the food sales tax rebate, that lower-income Kansans benefited from most.

When the changes first came into play in 2013, about 600,000 Kansas income tax filers were in that $25,000-or-less income category — more than a third of all filers.

For that group at least, the 2012 tax changes were detrimental.

Then in 2014, voters re-elected Brownback and gave Republicans a bigger majority in the Kansas House.

That occurred despite a Docking Institute poll conducted in September 2014 showing almost two-thirds of Kansans were concerned that economic conditions in the state would hurt their families, and barely 30 percent were satisfied with how Brownback and legislative leaders were handling the economy at the time.

Fiscal issues often take a back seat to social issues, perhaps especially in Kansas. Thomas Frank famously took note of that in his 2004 book, “What’s The Matter With Kansas?”

Gary Brinker, director the Docking Institute and a sociology professor at Fort Hays State University, said abortion in particular has been a litmus test for many Kansas voters.

But there are indications that economic interests will matter more in 2016.

In the primaries, voters cast out six Republican state senators and eight incumbent House members. Those lawmakers generally had been in line with Brownback on tax policy and had been endorsed by Kansans For Life, an anti-abortion group.

And now, as Election Day nears, we’re hearing more talk of the state economy from the governor and conservative Republicans who are still in the running.

They argue it’s not the 2012 tax changes that have hurt the state budget but the downturn in industries like agriculture and oil and gas. And they contend the tax plan passed in 2012, on a macroeconomic level, is still beneficial for all Kansans.

Andy Marso is a reporter for KHI News Service, and is on Twitter @andymarso. Kansas Elections Editor Amy Jeffries is on Twitter @amyoverhere. KHI and KCUR are partners in a statewide collaboration covering elections in Kansas.

JEFFERSON COUNTY – A Kansas teen died in an accident just after 1a.m. on Sunday in Jefferson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a1995 Mazda pickup driven by Skylar L. Callahan, 18, Meriden, was southbound on Detlor Road one mile south of the Kansas 4 and 54th Street Junction.

The vehicle left the roadway to the right, struck 3 wooden fence posts, overturned and the driver was ejected

Jefferson County EMS transported Callahan to Stormont Vail in Topeka where he died.

He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

KANSAS CITY – A former Kansas City woman was convicted by a federal jury this week of engaging in a fraud scheme in which she stole $440,000 in lottery winnings from her victim as part of a scheme that resulted in a total loss of more than $640,000, according to Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Freya Pearson, 43, of Georgia, formerly of Kansas City, was found guilty of all nine counts contained in an Oct. 28,2014, federal indictment.

According to evidence presented during the trial, Pearson convinced her 61-year-old victim to transfer $480,000 into the bank account of an organization called Recidivism at Work (RAW), a nonprofit entity Pearson established the day before her victim made the first wire transfer. This victim, who had been working as a housekeeper before going on disability and who lived in public housing, won $2.4 million in the Missouri Lottery in 2008. After setting money aside for taxes then purchasing a home for herself, a home for a daughter and a car for another daughter, she established an annuity to provide approximately $30,000 per year for the rest of her life.

Pearson convinced her victim she was a friend and falsely represented herself as a financial advisor. Pearson instructed the victim to withdraw her lottery winnings from the annuity account. The victim made three wire transfers in April, May and June 2010 to deposit the funds into Pearson’s RAW checking account. Whether the money was an investment or a business loan, Pearson materially omitted to disclose to the victim that she would use the money to gamble and for her own personal expenses. A partial summary of Pearson’s gambling expenses, which began the day after the first wire transfer, was over $96,000. Pearson also spent $12,000 on travel, purchased three vehicles (a Cadillac Escalade, a Pontiac Sunfire and a Chevrolet Tahoe) and spent money on restaurants, shopping and other personal expenses while she lived in the St. Louis, Mo., metropolitan area. Pearson made payments to her victim of approximately $1,200 per month for a little over a year before she quit paying her altogether – a total of approximately $38,000. No identifiable money was used for the nonprofit entity, and little for any business purpose.

 

When she met the victim in 2010, Pearson was unemployed and her only income came from child support and Social Security benefits for one of her children. While she was receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from her victim’s lottery winnings, Pearson applied for and received federally subsidized housing benefits under the Section 8 program meant to assist low income residents. In March 2010, Pearson applied with the Weston Housing Authority (in Platte County, Mo.) for Section 8 benefits – claiming that she was unemployed and homeless. Based on these representations, the Weston Housing Authority arranged for the rental of a duplex in Kansas City-North, with housing authority paying $875 per month and Pearson paying $200 per month. Pearson continued to receive federal benefits after moving to Orange County, Calif., in March 2012, until she was terminated from program for fraud in 2014. Pearson received a total of $76,837 in federal housing benefits over four years. In 2011, Pearson also began receiving welfare and/or food stamp benefits.

 

Pearson filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 2, 2010, but did not disclose the RAW bank accounts, which had total balances of $56,506. Pearson received a discharge of her debts on March 15, 2011.

 

Pearson filed no tax return for tax year 2010, and thus did not pay income taxes of $122,000 that would have been due on the $441,830 of taxable income Pearson received as a result of defrauding her victim.

 

Pearson defrauded the victim of a total of $441,830. Pearson evaded $122,000 in federal income tax. Pearson defrauded the Weston Housing Authority of $76,837 in housing benefits. Pearson thus caused a total loss of at least $640,667.

 

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., deliberated for about two hours before returning the guilty verdicts to U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips, ending a trial that began Monday, Oct. 24, 2016.

 

Pearson was convicted of three counts of wire fraud, four counts of money laundering, one count of tax evasion and one count of making false statements to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (related to her application for federal housing benefits).

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas officials are considering lowering the expected rate of return for public employee pension investments.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the Kansas Public Employee Retirement System has assumed an annual return on investment of 8 percent for three decades. A transition wouldn’t change pension benefits to KPERS’ members. But a lower expected return on investments would mean taxpayers and possibly employees would need to chip in more money.

Consultants have been meeting with the pension’s board for months to weigh options. Retirement system executive director Alan Conroy says the board is “in the thick of considering it.”

A final decision might be made at the Nov. 18 meeting or put off until January.

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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Missouri woman recently charged in the 1989 death of a woman in Kansas City, Kansas, has been moved to a Kansas jail.

Carolyn Heckert was arrested in Smithville, Missouri, earlier this month and charged with first-degree murder in the December 29, 1989, death of Sarah DeLeon. DeLeon was found stabbed to death along railroad tracks in Kansas City, Kansas. Police said had also suffered a head wound.

KMBC-TV reports that authorities moved Heckert from a Missouri facility to the Wyandotte County Detention Center this week. She’s being held on $1 million bond.

Police said new DNA collection and testing technology prompted police to review the DeLeon case.