Good morning everyone:
For a holiday week, it seemed long. It might very well be because news doesn’t take Saturday off. We are running out of words and pithy things to say this morning, so let’s just get down to business, first with all the significant stories we published this last week followed up by other news you may have missed but need to know:
- A deep look at the background of the commission members who will play a major role in the selection of the next state Supreme Court justice. Along with that is this companion piece with biographies of each of the 20 candidates seeking the open seat on the court.
- In a highly anticipated move, Roger Marshall announces his campaign for U.S. Senate.
- State Republicans decide against holding a caucus next spring.
- State Supreme Court finds evidence of retaliation against a state trooper who successfully appealed his firing.
- Republican Kansas Treasurer Jake LaTurner announces he’s dropping out of the Senate race and is running for Congress against Republican incumbent Steve Watkins.
- Partners at conservative political consulting firm Singularis part ways.
- Finney County Commissioner William Clifford is lining up to run for Congress in the 1st District.
- Former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius says she’s not in a hurry to make an endorsement in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.
Hall of Fame support
In Kansas, we’re getting used to celebrity endorsements.
Kris Kobach had rocker Ted Nugent.
Sharice Davids had singer/songwriter Janelle Monae.
Jeff Colyer had Chiefs coach Andy Reid.
Now, former Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman David Lindstrom has enlisted the help of four Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Famers to help him out in his run for the U.S. Senate.
Lindstrom will be holding a fundraiser next week that will be headlined by some of the greatest players to wear a Chiefs jersey.
Former Chiefs Bobby Bell, Willie Lanier, Will Shields and Emmitt Thomas will be featured at the event set for Sept. 17 in Bucyrus in northern Miami County.
Bell, a linebacker and defensive end, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983. Lanier, a linebacker, was inducted into the hall in 1986. Shields, a guard, went to the hall in 2015. And Thomas, a cornerback, was enshrined in the hall in 2008.
Tickets run anywhere from $500 for a pair to a general reception to $11,200 for a pair to an executive roundtable earlier in the evening.
Overland Park seeks opinion on NDOs
Cities across the state have been wrestling with whether to adopt ordinances that will protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination.
But now questions have arisen about how the ordinances might conflict with a 2013 law passed by the Legislature called the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act, referred to as the KPRFA.
The 2013 religious freedom law bars governments from “substantially” burdening someone’s right to exercise religion unless it demonstrates that doing so furthers a “compelling governmental interest” by the least restrictive means possible. The law passed overwhelmingly in the House and Senate six years ago.
Lawyers in Overland Park, which is now considering a nondiscrimination ordinance, have asked the attorney general for an opinion about how an NDO might be affected by the religious freedom law. The city wants to known how it could analyze a claim or defend against a challenge to the NDO under the state law.
“No Kansas state court of appellate jurisdiction has applied the KPRFA yet, let alone analyzed whether NDOs impose substantial burdens under the KPRFA, or whether the NDOs serve interests that satisfy the KPRFA’s compelling interest test,” wrote City Attorney Tammy Owens.
“Without any guidance, it is difficult or impossible for cities to know how to draft or enforce NDOs in a manner that is consistent with the KPRFA,” Owens wrote.
“Because of the growing number of cities adopting NDOs, and legislative history indicating that the KPRFA was intended to be used as a claim or defense against NDOs, we think this is a significant issue of statewide interest.”
At the time when the law was passed, there were reports that the 2013 legislation was more acceptable than a variation of the bill proposed in 2012 that critics said would have allowed discrimination against the LGBTQ community.
We won’t relive the committee debate over House Bill 2203, which established the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act. However, here are links to the testimony for and against the bill, which later became law.
Support for the bill: Kansas Family Policy Council, former Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, Kansas Catholic Conference, American Religious Freedom Program, former state Rep. Lance Kinzer.
Opposition to the bill: American Civil Liberties Union
Neutral: Kansas Equality Coalition
Marshall unfazed by Pompeo
Congressman Roger Marshall said Saturday he’s not worried about whether U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will eventually run for the U.S. Senate.
Fresh off his own campaign announcement for the Senate, Marshall said in an interview that he’s not worried about what Pompeo is planning to do.
“I guess I try not to deal with a theoretical,” he said. “The secretary has made it very clear that he’s taken running for the Senate off the table. I am going to do everything I can to be the nominee for the Republican Party and win the general election.
“I’m not going deal with that theoretical. I think it’s our race to get into and just run the very best race we can. The secretary and I have a great relationship so I feel confident that it’s going to all work out.”
Familiar consultant
Former Johnson County Commissioner David Lindstrom has hired Chris LaCivita as his consultant heading into the heat of the U.S. Senate race.
LaCivita is a partner in the Arlington Va. consulting firm, FP1 Strategies, which also includes Corry Bliss as a partner.
If you recall, LaCivita came to Kansas at the behest of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2014 to help U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts successfully fend off a vibrant challenge from independent candidate Greg Orman.
LaCivita joined the Roberts campaign as part of restructuring that including installing Bliss as the senator’s campaign manager. Word has it that Bliss is primarily engaged in congressional campaigns right now.
Among other things, LaCivita was the chief strategist for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an independent group that ran ads against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004.
He also was the political director at the National Republican Senatorial Committee for two cycles and a senior adviser to the Republican National Committee in 2016.
He also was the executive director at the Virginia Republican Party and a political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Pompeo roundup
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo generated plenty of coverage with his visit to Kansas State University on Friday. Here’s the complete wrap of all the coverage, local and national, where once again Pompeo reiterates that he plans to remain with the Trump administration as long as he possibly can.
- Here’s McClatchy’s interview with Pompeo.
- The Hill newspaper recounts Pompeo’s interview with McClatchy.
- CNN covers what it described as an “unexpected grilling” of Pompeo.
- KWCH in Wichita also interviewed Pompeo and offered this coverage.
- The Associated Press’ John Hanna tries to answer the question: Will Pompeo run?
- Bloomberg’s coverage focuses on Pompeo’s comments about the “dilution of core human rights for the sake of political ‘pet causes.'”
And if you missed the speech, here’s the video if you care to watch.
Low-key congresswoman
In many ways, Democratic Congresswoman Sharice Davids has seemingly taken a page out of former U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore’s playbook.
Moore survived in a Republican district for years with a generally workmanlike approach, never getting too splashy and always reaching out to constituents (he had a reputation for being everywhere).
This story from Roll Call last week shows that the newly elected congresswoman (knowingly or not) seems to style herself in a similar way.
And if social media is an indicator, she seems to be everywhere.
Foster children lawsuit may expand
A lawsuit that accuses the state of harming children in foster care may be expanded to include more plaintiffs.
The Kansas City Star reported last week that attorneys are seeking to add more children to the lawsuit, arguing that the problems facing the state’s foster care system have continued since the litigation was filed last November.
The lawsuit contends that children in the state’s foster care system were forced to sleep in “one-night placements” that could range from anything from a bed or a couch to a shelter or a hospital.
The instability harms children by causing emotional, psychological and developmental distress, the lawsuit argues.
Kansas Medicaid debate
Kaiser Health News examines the debate over Medicaid expansion, looking both at what happened in the past as well as what might happen in the coming year.
Weir defends herself
Republican Congressional candidate Sara Hart Weir went on the radio last week to defend against criticism that she warmed up a little too much with the Trump administration when she was the head of the National Down Syndrome Society. Weir responded to the charges when she appeared on Pete Mundo’s radio show on KCMO.
She portrays the story as one of a chief executive officer who chose to engage with the Trump administration in an effort to get things done for her organization and the people it represented. “My political party for the last seven years has been Down syndrome,” she said.
Weir made no apologies for reaching out to build a relationship with Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, saying it will benefit the National Down Syndrome Society.
“We’re going to continue to engage with her, and I know that relationship will yield lots of success for my former organization.”
