Two weeks before state Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, is sworn in as governor, she’s already accomplished an amazing feat…darn it.

Besides hiring a handful of administration staffers, she’s managed to keep her Cabinet secretaries who will run state agencies confidential and she has kept quiet on the initiatives that will become the headlines for what is likely to be a dramatic change in the way the state operates.

It’s all generalities so far. No details, just pretty much repeating the same issues that she holds important—and has for years…darn it.

It means little hot news as outgoing Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer makes sure that he didn’t leave anything embarrassing in a desk drawer that Kelly is going to get the keys to in two weeks.

And that’s why the handful of remaining Statehouse reporters are scurrying around trying to find out what’s going on. Call it secret, call it businesslike, call it what you want, but this is one of the quietest not-quite-yet changeovers in the governor’s office in recent memory.

Just how long things keep quiet is not-quite unclear.

Kelly will appoint her Cabinet probably a couple days before she takes the oath of office—or maybe not. The state pay period ends on Jan. 12, and you gotta figure that current Cabinet officers are going to want to buy that new car while they are still on the state payroll, and that new Cabinet officers aren’t going to be getting a car loan before they officially have a job.

Kelly, as a first-term governor, has 21 days from swearing-in to release her first budget according to the Kansas Constitution. (Carryover governors have just eight days after the Legislature convenes for the session to issue their budget.)

So, we could be looking to Feb. 3 (a Sunday, so probably a day or two earlier) for release of her budget. And that’s the real key to the session. The Inaugural Address, well, that’s largely where she wants the state to go, not tax-dollar by tax-dollar how she intends to get it there.

Of course, we know she wants to finance at a constitutional level K-12 public education. She and the rest of the state have a Kansas Supreme Court order that says the state needs to spend about $90 million a year more to get it to that level. And everyone wants the kids to get a good education, so they can support themselves and their families, and the state prospers with a good work force right here at home.

And Kelly wants to expand Medicaid (call it KanCare) in Kansas, to take full advantage of federal assistance to provide health care to the poor, the elderly, the disabled and their children. Call it public health, call it assisting health-care providers, so we keep hospitals open in small rural towns. Call it what you want, but it’s a priority for Kelly and depending how you phrase it, it’s a priority for Kansas.

Don’t forget that she also wants good highways and other transportation for Kansans driving to work and to visit their relatives, and…for the transport of goods to keep the Kansas economy strong.

Nothing there most Kansans don’t want…but it’s how much and whose money is used to achieve those priorities that will be the scrap this session.

So that’s why this pre-session secrecy is tantalizing.

Who’s going to run what, what’s going to be funded, who is going to pay for it and what Republicans do in the way of agreeing with Kelly or painting her vision for the state as “un-Kansas” or unaffordable?

But—at least we Statehouse reporters—would like a drib or drab of news in the meantime…

Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com

“I know farming is expected to be just another business. But I believe farming will always be a way of life as much as a business for me.”

A longtime farmer friend conveyed this message at Kansas Farm Bureau’s centennial annual meeting. He is not a retired farmer thinking of old ways and old days.

While he’s cultivated and no-tilled many an acre, harvested thousands of bushels of wheat, raised countless cattle and more importantly a wonderful family, this gentleman remains a vibrant, modern farmer from western Kansas.

Truth be known, there are many, many like-minded individuals who take pride in their chosen professions of farming and ranching.

Without a doubt today’s farmer/rancher knows very well his or her vocation constitutes a business. Many carry a ton of debt on their shoulders while at the same time realizing their livelihood hinges on the fickle fate of Mother Nature. Still, they understand this business of agriculture is more than dollars and cents.

“My most important possessions remain my family and way of life,” my sage friend said. “That’s who I am. That’s who I will always be.”

Some of his fondest memories include late suppers during the bustle of wheat harvest with everyone gathered around the back end of a pickup, eating cold cuts as the golden Kansas sun sinks under the horizon on the wide-open Kansas plains. Other recollections involve covered picnics in the hay field on a late summer Sunday.

How could he forget a story about a walk through the old red barn about midnight to check on a young heifer ready to calve while listening to other cows shifting in their stanchions and chewing their cuds.

And the smells – not just manure, but freshly turned soil, or new-mown hay, a just-filled trench silo full of silage or a barn full of Holstein cows on a cold, winter day.

It’s no secret the farm and ranch vocation may be one of the few remaining holdouts where those who toil on the land seek to balance the headlong search for economic viability with emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

Most family farmers and ranchers have not lost sight of this tight-rope act. They understand to stay in this business of farming/ranching, they must continue to learn how to farm more efficiently, and smarter. Without a profitable operation, they would be forced to leave their land. To exist anywhere else would be inconceivable.

Farmers and ranchers remain emotionally tied to the sights, sounds, smells and the rewarding performance of planting, growing and harvesting crops as well as feeding, raising and continuing the life cycle of healthy livestock. The indefinable desire to carve out a life with the earth and sky remains an overpowering force that belongs in their hearts.

Could it be when asked about their vocation, farmers and ranchers often refer to it as a “business,” rather than a way of life?

Or could it be they are wise enough to know – that must be their answer?

John Schlageck is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas. Born and raised on a diversified farm in northwestern Kansas, his writing reflects a lifetime of experience, knowledge and passion.