Clock ticking on Brownback’s time as governor – The Garden City Telegram

The 2017 Legislatures slow crawl reflects both complexity of intertwining bills on budget, tax and school finance, as well as the strategy of frustrating rank-and-file lawmakers with gridlock until they bend to the will of Republican leadership and Gov. Sam Brownback.

The session reaches the 100th day on Wednesday, and the clock is running out. Decisions by legislators have to be rendered by close of the fiscal year June 30.

Timing is important to Brownback, who delayed joining the administration of President Donald Trump to defend cornerstone pieces of a governorship that was to set the foundation for decades of GOP dominance. Brownback famously made Kansas a laboratory of supply-side economics. In 2012, his idea was to prove through political chemistry the power of reducing income taxes.

It didnt work out. Brownbacks approval ratings moved inversely to state budget deficits. Legislative allies retired or were defeated. After five years of experimentation, flames of revolution are flickering.

Finding members of the Legislature who believe Brownback will be Kansas governor at close of the second term in January 2019 is as hard as identifying folks eager for Brownback to pay tax-cut architect Arthur Laffer another $75,000 to make bold statements about magic of supply-side theory.

Heres a sample of Laffers pro-growth zeal: Cutting taxes can have a near immediate and permanent impact, which is why we have advised Oklahoma, Kansas, and other states to cut their income tax rates if they want the most effective immediate and lasting boost to their states economies.

When the Legislature wraps the 2017 session in the next couple weeks, Brownback will be compelled to drink a bitter concoction of school, tax and budget Kool-Aid to cover revenue shortfalls inspired by the Laffer-Brownback tax agenda.

And, then, one of the most conservative governors in Kansas history will be gone.

Dont be surprised if Brownback declares his vision of tax and education policy a success. He will point to his work on abortion, Medicaid, gun rights, welfare, the arts, government efficiency, technical education, water conservation, pensions and union busting.

His critics will respond with fervor.

The Atlantic and other publications devoted to figuring out Brownbacks next professional endeavor believe he will return to Washington, D.C., as Trumps ambassador of religious freedom. Brownback is well-suited for the role by virtue of deep personal conviction and familiarity with political life in the District of Columbia, where he served in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

I do not believe in removal of faith from the public square, said Brownback, who followed a deep calling and converted to Catholicism about 15 years ago.

Hes supported efforts in Washington and Topeka to infuse government with religion as a common-sense way to encourage the miraculous work of many highly effective faith-based charities.

Walking away from the governorship in Kansas carries no shame. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius resigned in April 2009 to join the administration of President Barack Obama. The remainder of her second term was filled by Mark Parkinson, who was her lieutenant governor.

If the Kansas Supreme Court finds legislators and Brownback failed to live up to the judicial branchs constitutional guidance on increasing K-12 funding, Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer would make calling a special session of the Legislature one of his first substantive duties as governor. He would be at the helm as state lawmakers raised taxes, again, to bail out Laffer and his followers.

Read the original post:

Clock ticking on Brownback's time as governor - The Garden City Telegram