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Loud Light Kansas Politics Recap: Leaked Republican call, roleplaying political violence, and more

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The Pitch has partnered with a local political awareness organization called Loud Light. Their goal is to engage and empower individuals from underrepresented populations to build community power. And impact decision-makers. Each week of the year that the Kansas statehouse is in session, they release a short video recapping what the legislature is up to.

Knowing the nitty-gritty of what’s happening with your representatives is the only way to stay involved with the way local government affects your life. You can donate to support Loud Light’s work by clicking here.

Here is this week’s video and transcription:

I’m Davis Hammet with Loud Light. Here’s what happened week 5 in the Kansas Statehouse.

Governor Vetoes GAC Ban (SB63)
The Governor vetoed Republican leadership’s bill that would establish a 2-tiered health care system where certain treatments will be legal or illegal based on someone’s gender identity. Additionally, the bill threatens healthcare providers, education professionals, and state employees and goes beyond medical care creating legal restrictions based on how a child acts or their “manner of dress”. Next week, it is expected that Republican leadership will attempt the first veto override vote of the session where they will need ⅔ of the entire House and Senate to force the bill into law.

3 Day Grace Period Passes House
A leaked video of a private Zoom meeting with Republican leaders including Elections Chairman Pat Proctor revealed a very different narrative about election bills than what legislators have claimed publicly. Rep. Proctor shared that a bill to abolish the 3-day grace period is part of a strategy to “chip away” at voting access in a push to end early and absentee voting options in Kansas. Proctor then told attendees “please don’t put this on facebook or in the news. ”In the 2010s, postal service delivery time began slowing in Kansas due to USPS facilities closing. Kansas has one of the shortest time frames in the nation between when ballots are mailed out and when they must be received back so in 2017 legislators, including every single Republican at the time, voted to create a 3-day period where mail ballots could be counted if they arrived by Friday and had a postmark proving the ballot was returned to the government by Election Day. Last November, the law protected over 2,000 Kansans from having their votes thrown out because of federal mail delays. Following the 2020 election Republican legislators did a 180 on the policy and began trying to repeal it claiming a variety of shifting justifications for why the policy should end. The bill to abolish the 3-days and begin throwing out thousands of ballots every election already passed the Senate and is expected to receive a final House vote next week.

Republicans block Medicaid… Again
Republican leaders have blocked proposals to expand Medicaid from being introduced and heard this year. In an attempt to overcome leadership’s suppression tactics, House Democrats attempted to bring Medicaid expansion up for debate by offering it as an amendment on the floor. The proposal which aims to help working class Kansans access healthcare and prevent rural hospitals from continuing to close was rejected by Republican legislators. Kansas remains one of only 10 states that have refused to expand medicaid which has now cost the state nearly $8 billion dollars in lost healthcare investments.

Roleplaying Political Violence (Youtube Link)
A few months ago Republican officials were outraged and demanded a University of Kansas professor be fired when a video showed the professor saying men who believe women are inherently less intelligent should be shot. The professor was fired. This week during a debate Republicans Rep. Patrick Penn and Rep. Kyler Sweely who both served in the U.S. Army roleplayed on the House floor that they were calling out a firing command to assassinate Sweely’s political opponent, former Democratic Rep. Jason Probst who lost by less than 300 votes in November. So far the Republican legislators involved have refused to apologize for or acknowledge their comments and Republican Majority leadership has refused to take any disciplinary action. Just last year Rep. Penn tried to have a democratic legislator censored for saying information Republicans provided on a bill was incomplete during a debate.

Coming Up
Next week is turn around, where most bills need to pass either the House or the Senate in order to continue moving through the legislative process this year. Monday is the last day for non-exempt bills to pass out of committee and Tuesday through Thursday, legislators will be on the floor all day trying to pass bills before the Thursday turn around deadline. A lot of things will happen and now that the midnight rule is gone, the biggest votes may happen at the darkest hours. Stay tuned, stay engaged, and until next time, thank you so much Kansas!

Categories: Politics
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angelchrys
21 hours ago
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Overland Park, KS
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Lone Catholic nun stands before Kansas House to oppose immigration enforcement resolution

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Only one person — Sister Therese Bangert — showed up to testify in person at a Kansas House hearing on a resolution in support of President Trump's immigration enforcement agenda. (Kansas Reflector screen capture from Legislature's YouTube channel)

Sister Therese Bangert of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth offered the only in-person testimony during a Kansas House committee hearing on a resolution directed Gov. Laura Kelly to support President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement agenda. No one spoke in favor of the resolution. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — Sister Therese Bangert stood alone before the House Federal and State Affairs Committee to denounce a resolution urging Gov. Laura Kelly to do everything in her power to support the immigration enforcement agenda of President Donald Trump.

Bangert, who has been with the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth for more than 60 years, said the nation’s immigration system had been broken for decades. By default, she said, the federal government had allowed migrant laborers to fill jobs in the United States without extending to those individuals an accessible path to legal residency or citizenship.

She said people targeted by the Kansas Senate-approved resolution were Kansans in every way except for possession of U.S. immigration documents.

“I suspect these are the immigrant women who are milking cows in the western Kansas dairy industry, the men and women on the killing floors of Kansas slaughterhouses and those roofing the homes in my neighborhood,” said Bangert, who was worried they were all vulnerable to deportation. “I find troubling the heated rhetoric when speaking about our sisters and brothers who are immigrants.”

No one showed up at the House hearing to argue in favor of Senate Concurrent Resolution 1602. Likewise, there was no one present to articulate a neutral position. Wichita Republican Rep. Tom Kessler, chairman of the House committee, said written testimony lauding the resolution had been submitted, but it wasn’t publicly available.

When the Senate conducted its hearing in January on the resolution, Bangert wasn’t given the opportunity to speak to lawmakers. Sen. Mike Thompson, chairman of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee and sponsor of the resolution, said Bangert needed to notify the committee 24 hours in advance to be granted permission to testify. Proponents of the measure, including Attorney General Kris Kobach, were permitted to address Thompson’s committee.

The Senate went on to approve the resolution on a party-line vote of 31-9. It was expected to pass the House by a wide margin.

During the House committee hearing, Rep. Susan Ruiz, D-Shawnee, noted the absence of a throng of in-person witnesses to argue on behalf of the Senate resolution.

“There is no one here as a proponent, which I find really odd,” Ruiz said.

The void was partially filled by Republicans on the House committee who offered commentary demonstrating their sense that Kansas governors ought to authorize use of state resources to help patrol the national border, including deploying Kansas National Guard troops, and to assist with Trump’s strategy of detaining and deporting thousands or millions of people. There was no evidence of support for a concurrent crackdown on Kansas businesses hiring people without proper documentation.

Rep. Brian Bergkamp, R-Wichita, said the state and nation needed a higher standard of border security to address immigration among people without permission to remain temporarily or permanently in the United States. The security concept mirrored justification for a metal-detector at the main entrance to the Capitol instead of relying on an antiquated open-door policy for visitors, he said.

“I definitely stand for immigration,” Bergkamp said, “but in a more orderly fashion.”

GOP Rep. Kyle McNorton of Topeka said it was wrong for anyone to view people in the country without permission as law-abiding individuals.

“They broke the number one law coming across our border without permission and are still here,” McNorton said.

In response, Wichita Democratic Rep. Angela Martinez said the majority of people in the United States without authorization had overstayed a Visa rather than enter by sneaking across the border in defiance of immigration authorities.

“I support the deportation of criminals,” said Martinez, who was temporarily placed on the committee to coincide with debate on the resolution. “I ask this committee to sit and be honest with yourself. If you were subject to violence and tyranny and you couldn’t support your children and there was an opportunity for a better life … would you go?”

Rep. John Alcala, a Topeka Democrat among temporary appointments to the committee, said proponents of the resolution hadn’t taken into account economic harm that would fall on Kansas if full deportation occurred.

He said the National Immigration Law Center estimated Kansas’ workforce was comprised of thousands of people without documents to stay in the United States. He said an NILC study indicated there were 25,000 in manufacturing, 17,000 in food service and 16,000 in construction. In 2020, he said, NILC estimated those workers paid more than $600 million in state and federal taxes.

“I don’t think people realize what the impact will be on businesses that are struggling with labor shortages,” Alcala said. “How are we going to offset that economic loss? Can Kansas afford that loss of revenue? I don’t think so.”

Lawrence Rep. Brooklynne Mosley, a Democrat, said issues of human dignity and moral injury might not have been considered by champions of the resolution.

“What does that do to the cloth of a community when they start to see families being ripped apart?” she said.

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angelchrys
3 days ago
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Overland Park, KS
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Judith Butler: “Once you decide that a single vulnerable minority can be...

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Judith Butler: “Once you decide that a single vulnerable minority can be sacrificed, you’re operating within a fascist logic, because that means there might be a second one you’re willing to sacrifice, and a third, a fourth, and then what happens?”
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angelchrys
6 days ago
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Overland Park, KS
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Motivational posters

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I finished up a big draft of my manuscript and got to thinking about what’s really worked for me this time around.

I thought it’d be fun to turn some of my pep talks to myself into posters you can download and print.

You can download them here.

The posters were drawn straight into my diary then blown up and cleaned up.

This image was at the top of last Friday’s newsletter, titled “So what?

I shared a batch of 7 questions I ask myself when I don’t know what to do next and y’all had so many great responses and questions of your own! Some of my favorites: “What advice would you give to a friend with this problem?” “Really?” “Who are you when no one is watching?” “What would this look like if it were easy?” “What if this was fun?” “So what?

More in the newsletter.

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angelchrys
12 days ago
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Overland Park, KS
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U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall points to DEI hiring policies as factor in crash of flight from Wichita

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U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, said he was convinced diversity hiring practices at the Federal Aviation Administration were a factor in the midair collision of a commercial jet from Wichita and a U.S. Army helicopter over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. (Kansas Reflector screen capture from the U.S. Senate's YouTube channel)

U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, said he was convinced diversity hiring practices at the Federal Aviation Administration were a factor in the midair collision of a commercial jet from Wichita and a U.S. Army helicopter over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. (Kansas Reflector screen capture from the U.S. Senate's YouTube channel)

TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas asserted President Joe Biden’s attempts to improve diversity among air traffic controllers by rejecting white male applicants factored in the catastrophic midair collision of a passenger jet from Wichita and a military helicopter.

Marshall, a Republican, said he was convinced the Biden administration’s emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion policies within the Federal Aviation Administration lowered hiring standards, increased the frequency of near-miss incidents in U.S. airspace and set the stage for the Jan. 29 crash.

He connected those points to the fireball collision of a U.S. Army Black hawk helicopter and American Airline’s Flight 5342 about half a mile from Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, D.C. The 64 people on the airline, including passengers from Kansas, and three aboard the helicopter died.

“I think diversity issues did contribute to the accident,” Marshall said during a news conference Monday in Topeka. “What I think you’re going to find is there were a lot of qualified white men that they were not hiring because they were holding spots for DEI hires.”

Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, Wichita Mayer Lily Wu, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom and U.S. Rep. Ron Estes, a Republican representing Wichita, issued a joint statement declaring their “unequivocally stand with the families and friends of the passengers of Flight 5342. Caring for and supporting those impacted is our top priority.”

The group vowed to be “unrelenting in our work at the local, state and federal levels to ensure U.S. aviation safety remains the best in the world.”

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Republican from Kansas, said the roster of victims hadn’t been made public, but there were Kansans among them.

“Many Kansans are personally impacted by this tragedy,” Moran said. “It was a sad day for Kansas and our nation, and I know this is a loss we will be grieving for a long time.”

Marshall, too, expressed concern for victims and their families or friends. He said at least three of the dead were from the El Dorado area where he grew up.

Marshall, who was employed as a physician prior to election to Congress in 2016, said working in an air traffic control tower was more difficult than being a medical doctor because of the multitude of tasks and responsibilities involved in directing aviators in and out of airports.

“It takes a very special person,” the senator said. “I don’t care if it’s a guy or a girl, what color your skin is, it needs to be a qualified person. They need to be able to do their job.”

Marshall echoed comments by President Donald Trump, who criticized DEI initiatives at the FAA. Trump pointed to an FAA report noting the agency had been intent on hiring more people with disabilities as air traffic controllers.

In addition to the DEI issue, Marshall questioned why the Reagan National air controller didn’t step in when the Army helicopter climbed to an altitude of 325 feet when that route required helicopters to hold to a ceiling of 200 feet. He said the controller should have been commanded the military helicopter pilot to reduce altitude and ordered the crew to more closely hug the shore of the Potomac River.

The National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation of the collision of the Virginia-based helicopter and the passenger jet from Wichita’s Eisenhower National Airport.

Early indications were a single air traffic controller was handling both aircraft at Reagan National and the helicopter pilot was warned twice about presence of the passenger jet on final approach.

Marshall said there had been an unresolved shortage of air traffic controllers since he was first a candidate for U.S. House in 2016.

“There’s a huge problem with the air traffic control situation, a huge problem where the military helicopter was,” he said. “I’m not the person that thinks we have to form committees and pray about this for two years to realize that there was a problem here.”

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angelchrys
13 days ago
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Marshall continues to be a waste of carbon
Overland Park, KS
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No survivors after Wichita flight crashes in D.C., officials say

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By Celia Hack, Meg Britton-Mehlisch Officials said Thursday morning they don’t think there are any survivors following a collision between a passenger flight from Wichita and a helicopter near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night. Sixty-four people were aboard the American Eagle flight from Wichita, while three were in the military helicopter. […]

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angelchrys
18 days ago
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Overland Park, KS
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