I’ve been a “Kansan” for only 6 years.. a conservative for much longer. Early on after moving to Kansas, it seemed clear to me that the Republican Party establishment in this state is as pompous, self-serving, a very definition of feckless…feeble, weak, worthless, as I recall believing the Scott County (IA) Republican Central Committee to be.
And, as ‘they’ say, the “chickens came home to roost” on Tuesday.
For at least the next 4 years, Kansans will enjoy the wise leadership of very liberal Democrat governor, Laura Kelly. Due in large part to the full support of at least 27 current and former Republican state lawmakers, including two former governors and the ‘revered’ former Kansas senator, Nancy Kassebaum.
These fine Republicans did not just give Governor-elect Kelly passive support. They signed a petition, took out newspaper ads. They made television campaign commercials.
Seems these folks didn’t much care much for their two-term former governor, Sam Brownback. Apparently too much Trump-like for their sensitive stomachs. The Republican gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach’s traditional GOP views on illegal immigration, taxes, and social issues were just too much to take for former governor, Bill Graves for one. Kobach has even had the temerity to suggest that there might be some illegal voting goin’ on when no meaningful personal ID is required to cast a ballot (ID is required in Kansas, but I didn’t observe any ‘suppression’.).
Maybe some Kansans will recall the great job Gov. Graves did in his two terms, so good in fact that his administration was followed by that of Kathleen Sebelius…remember her?
We saw the results of the GOP’s electoral genius in my home 3rd district. All 4 Republican officeholders in Johnson County, including State Senator, Barbara Bollier, said last summer they were supporting the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
The incumbent 3rd district 3-term congressman, Republican Kevin Yoder, thus went on to lose his reelection bid by an embarrassingly significant margin, to a 27 year old pro-choice, pro-LGBTQ, far left Lesbian. No word if that bothered Senator Bollier or her colleagues.
I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this kind of blatant self-destructive disloyalty. How any of these current GOP officeholders can expect to ever win elective office again is beyond me. I don’t think even the Democrats would want people like this! DLH
