WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, this week introduced the Protecting Our Security Through Utilizing Right-Sized End-Strength (POSTURE) Act of 2016 (S. 2563). The POSTURE Act would reverse ongoing and future reductions to end strength levels in the Active U.S. Army, U.S. Army Reserve, U.S. Army National Guard, Active Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve. U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), also a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, is a cosponsor of the POSTURE Act.
Senator Moran also questioned Secretary of State John Kerry Wednesday about a number of issues of importance to Kansans
“President Obama’s tenure is marked by across-the-board spending cuts to our military in the face of increasing threats to our national security,” Sen. Moran said. “Given the volatile, uncertain, and dangerous developments over the past several years, the readiness of our Armed Forces, particularly land forces in the Active and Reserve Components of the Army and Marine Corps, must not be not jeopardized. This legislation would help safeguard our nation while global threats demand America’s full vigilance and capabilities.”
“The president’s primary responsibility is to keep Americans safe,” Sen. Blunt said. “Yet the steep defense cuts he has proposed would do just the opposite, undermining our military readiness at a time when we face more threats, coming from more directions, than ever before. The POSTURE Act would reverse dangerous end strength reductions to our Armed Forces, ensuring our military leaders have the personnel they need to carry out their missions.”
Companion legislation was introduced in the House (H.R. 4534) by Reps. Christopher Gibson (R-NY-19) and Michael Turner (R-OH-10). This bill is supported by the National Guard Associated of the United States (NGAUS) and the Association of the United States Army (AUSA).
Recently, Michael Smith shared how Kansans can participate in the March 5 Presidential caucuses. Sadly, only two percent of the public will follow it. Primary elections, especially the caucuses conducted in Kansas, are a dismal exercise in internecine party bloodletting that polarizes our politics and reduces the quality of nominees for political office. The direct primary a dismal failure.
Chapman Rackaway is a Professor of Political Science at Fort Hays State University.
Since 1972, when Democratic nomination reforms functionally mandated primaries to select nominating convention delegates, the situation has progressively worsened. In a classic case of using a bazooka to kill a rat, direct binding primaries gutted political parties, unmoored the general public from their best political linkage institution, and encouraged fringe candidates to pursue party nominations. Primaries have given us Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders, and most notably Donald Trump. Without the ability to sidestep party officials, such fringe candidate would never have serious chances at major party nominations.
Primaries are especially vile because of the gap between their democratic promise and their unrepresentative results. Reformers believed primaries would invigorate democracy, create incentives to be informed, and boost turnout. They have done the exact opposite.
In Culture War, political scientist Morris Fiorina shows how primaries encourage candidates to seek the extremes. Ideologues and those mobilized by interests with extreme goals are the participants, pushing candidates to the far left and right before requiring them to navigate to center for the general election. Why do candidates seem like hypocrites, starting extreme and becoming centrist as the campaign goes on? Because primaries make them.
Turnout is the most troubling result of primaries. In 2012, nationwide primary turnout reached a new low of fifteen percent. There are two very different types of primary election: ballot or caucus primaries.
Caucuses, the selection method used here in Kansas, is even worse than the ballot primary. Ballot primaries are elections, similar to any where voters go to their normal polling place and select candidates. Caucuses, though, are public meetings featuring speeches and organizing, vote-trading and negotiation among participants. A voter in a ballot primary can complete their citizen’s duty in minutes, whereas the typical caucusgoer is committing to at least an hour and a high level of procedural involvement. The time commitment, arcane rules for candidate selection, and uncertainty of where the events are held all contribute to low participation.
In 2012, ballot primaries ranged in turnout from thirty-one to a low of two percent, for an average of 22% according to the United States Election Project. (https://www.electproject.org/2012p) The turnout percentage is much worse in caucuses, which range from Iowa’s high of six to a low of less than one percent in multiple caucuses. Kansas tends to the average of the range, with a high of 2.9% in 2008 to a low of 0.9% in 2004.
When Bernie Sanders strongly won the New Hampshire primary over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Sanders railed against Clinton’s large number of uncommitted Superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention, warning them against favoring Clinton saying that to do so would be to ignore ‘the will of the people.’ When we consider that all of the 700 Superdelegates equal .0000002% of the people, and New Hampshire’s primary electorate is just .00013% of the people, is either group representative at all?
The lack of representation, absence of engagement, and polarizing results should provide more than adequate evidence that the direct primary is an antidemocratic disaster. Even returning to the old days of ‘smoke filled rooms’ and party insider choice would be better than the mess we see today. Direct election of local party leaders, who then would choose nominees, would reduce the number of elections, increase accountability, and moderate the candidates in much-needed ways.
Chapman Rackaway is a Professor of Political Science at Fort Hays State University.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A transgender activist is suing Kansas over its refusal to update her gender on her birth certificate.
Topeka resident Stephanie Mott filed the lawsuit against the Kansas Department of Health and Environment last week.
The Wichita Eagle reports KDHE denied Mott’s request to amend her birth certificate to list her gender as female. The Transgender Law Center says the Kansas agency has made that type of change to birth certificates in the past, but stopped doing so shortly after Gov. Sam Brownback took office in 2012.
A KDHE spokeswoman says the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
Mott ran unsuccessfully for a vacant seat in the Legislature last year. She says it’s important that her birth certificate reflects her authentic self.
By HOLLY DICKMAN Ellis County Horticulture Extension Agent
K-State Research & Extension, KSU Watersheds, and the city of Hays invites the public to attend two Water$mart Irrigation Programs.
The first program, “Water$mart Irrigation for Homeowners” will be held on Thursday, March 3, at 6:30 p.m., at the Ag Research Center in Hays (supper included). K-State Research and Extension Irrigation Specialist Dr. Cathie Lavis will give a quick “tour” of typical residential landscape irrigation system components that will give you confidence to work with your own irrigation system or to interact with a landscape irrigation contractor.
The second program, “Water$mart Irrigation for Professionals/Installers” will be held on Friday, March 4, at 10:30 a.m., at the Ag Research Center in Hays (lunch included). Once again, Dr. Lavis will present, this time providing an overview of the critical elements that contribute to efficient irrigation and a description of some of the water-saving components you should be using in every installation.
The Water$mart Irrigation Programs are free to the public but it is requested that those interested in attending pre-register with the Ellis County Extension Office at (785) 628-9430, no later than Wednesday, March 2.
Water conservation and water quality are on the minds of many these days. Are you doing what you can to be as Water$mart as possible? Have your questions answered by joining us for the Water$mart Irrigation Programs.
TOPEKA – In recent years, bullying has become cyberbullying, and stalking has become cyberstalking. Legislation to protect Kansans from such crimes has struggled to keep up with the changing climate, but a bill passed in the House this week will change this.
The House passed a bill 113-11 to further legal protection for Kansans against crimes committed on electronic devices.
Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, supported House Bill 2501 and said electronics are specified because they can create crimes that have never existed.
“Most of the laws that were written years and years ago did not address electronics. We didn’t have cyber sex crimes or anything like that,” Ballard said.
HB 2501 broadens definitions of crimes in Kansas, including blackmail, to include distribution of materials online. It also prohibits the dissemination of private photos in cyberspace without consent.
“These crimes are new,” Ballard said. “And they are new every day.”
Shawn Sullivan, director of the budget, wrote in a fiscal note that the bill could result in additional charges in existing cases. He said it could also create more revenue for the state through docket fees and fine revenue.
The House Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice introduced the bill at the request of the Kansas attorney general’s office. There were no opponents to the bill during public hearings.
The bill will be heard in the Senate next. The Kansas Sentencing Commission said in a supplemental note that if the bill passes the Senate, it could result in a higher prison population. This information is based on the commission’s Prison Population Projection report, which estimates that Kansas prisons will exceed their capacity for male prisoners in 2017 by 516 inmates.
The Management Development Center at Fort Hays State University will offer a workshop, “Advanced Grant Writing,” at 9 a.m. Friday, March 4, in the Expeditions Room of the Sternberg Museum of Natural History.
Participants will learn how to target federal and non-federal funding sources through proven methods designed to increase the probability of funding. Leslie Page, coordinator for FHSU’s Office of Scholarship and Sponsored Projects, will facilitate.
The workshop will build on introductory grant writing skills and enhance the skills of those with basic grant writing knowledge. Participants will focus on a comprehensive approach to proposal development and strategies designed to increase the competitiveness of proposals.
“Finding grant funding sources can be a great challenge,” said Sabrina William, director of the MDC. “This workshop will walk participants through strategies to help their proposal stand out and achieve funding goals.”
Participants who complete the workshop will receive a certificate. The cost is $199. Registrations received prior to Friday, Feb. 26, are appreciated. Hays Area Chamber of Commerce members are eligible for a 15 percent discount.
To learn more about this workshop or to receive discount codes, contact Conni Dreher at (785)628-4121 or by email at [email protected]. Registration is available online at www.fhsu.edu/mdc.
Voting is almost closed in a singer/songwriter contest sponsored by Country Music Television and the Nashville Songwriters Association International. In the contest Blaine Younger, former Hays-area musician’s song “PatiOasis” has been one of the top played out of the 11 finalists and with only a few days left to vote, votes from the area could put Younger into the number one spot.
To vote, visit cmt.com. Votes will be accepted until Feb. 29.
This is the first year the Victoria native has been a finalist in the contest that started with around 2,400 entries.
After regional successes with the Blaine Younger Band, he moved to the Kansas City area and started back up about three years ago as a singer-songwriter and joined the NSAI after taking a break from music.
“I like that setting, so that’s where I’m focused,” he said, in an earlier interview.
Younger said “PatiOasis” is drawn from his experiences living in western Kansas.
“It’s all about Hays, Kansas, if you ask me,” Younger said, “It’s about making a Patio Oasis in your backyard, with your family and friends.”
SALINA -The cause of Wednesday’s fatal mobile home fire remains under investigation.
Despite an extensive investigation, fire officials have not been able to definitively determine the cause of the fire that killed a 3-year-old boy and sent two other people to the hospital, according to Salina Fire Marshal Roger Williams.
“We dug and dug and dug and just haven’t been able to figure it out,” he said.
Williams said it appeared the fire started in the front of the mobile home, but how is a question that has yet to be answered.
Just before 11:45 a.m., fire crews responded to the blaze in the 900 Block of North 13th Street.
Two mobile homes were fully engulfed in flames.
Firefighters located a 3-year-old boy in one home, according to Salina Fire Marshal Roger Williams.
The child was transported to Salina Regional Health Center where he died a short time later.
A 3-month-old infant was transported to Wichita by ambulance for treatment of smoke inhalation.
The children’s grandmother has been flown to Wichita for treatment of second and possible third degree burns over 40% of her body and a 5-year- old girl was also treated for minor injuries, according to Williams.
Williams said the mobile home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived. That home was destroyed. The fire quickly spread to a second mobile, which was severely damaged.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former Wichita high school music teacher has pleaded guilty to attempted unlawful sexual relations with a student.
The Wichita Eagle reports that Alan Martens entered his plea Monday. He had been charged with two counts of unlawful sexual relations. Dan Dillon, spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office, said that one of the charges was amended as part of a plea agreement and the other charge was dismissed.
Prosecutors say Martens exchanged text messages that were sexual in nature with a female student at Wichita Heights High School. It’s illegal in Kansas for teachers to have sexual relationships with students, even if the student is old enough to give legal consent. The age of consent in Kansas is 16. Court records say the student was at least 16.
Martens’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for April.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas judge has refused to lower the bond for a former Dallas Cowboys running back accused of hitting three people with a car while leaving a party earlier this week in his hometown.
Joseph Randle is being held on $100,000 bond for four counts of aggravated battery and one count each of criminal threat, criminal damage to property and possessing marijuana.
Police say the 24-year-old backed into three people with his car early Sunday, then returned to the Wichita home he’d been asked to leave and forced his way inside.
Randle asked a Sedgwick County judge Wednesday to lower his bond to $5,000, but the judge refused because Randle hadn’t hired a lawyer or filled out an application for a court-appointed attorney.
