Shawnee County is the 3rd Judicial District in Kansas and will soon be replacing District Court Judge Thomas Conklin, who retires on July 4.
A June 23, 2008 press release from the Kansas Judicial Branch indicated the nominating commission will pick the successor to Judge Conklin. But what is known about this commission and does their political makeup reflect Shawnee County?
Thursday’s Kansas Register announced Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ appointment of Katherine Taylor DeBruce, a Democrat from Mission Hills, to the Supreme Court Nominating Commission.
Did the $13,000 contributed to Gov. Sebelius by Katherine DeBruce, her husband Paul DeBruce, and his DeBruce Grain company, have any influence on Sebelius’s appointment to the Supreme Court Nominating Commission? And what about the $5000+ DeBruce Grain gave to the Kansas Democratic Party in 2006 for “plane travel”? (more…)
The Wichita Voters for Truth PAC sent out this hit piece against State Rep candidate Jan Beemer in the Nov 2006 election, but never filed its Jan 2007 PAC report with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission explaining how much money was raised and spent on that mailing. Bruce McKinney from Wichita was the Chair and Treasurer of this PAC.
According to the June 24, 2005 Wichita Eagle, “Gay Pride Parade, Festival Sunday”, Bruce McKinney organized the first Wichita gay pride events in 1990 and was quoted by the Eagle June 22, 2007, “Parade and Festival Part of Gay Pride Event,” about last year’s event. Bruce will likely be at the 2008 Pride Parade and Pride Festival this Sunday in Wichita, so if anyone sees Bruce at these events will you remind him the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission would like to talk to him about his missing PAC report from 2007? (more…)
State Rep Annie Kuether, (D, Topeka), is a friend of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and is known as a strong environmentalist in the Kansas legislature. Why is she investing in “Big Oil”? (more…)
Last month the City of Lenexa held a mail ballot election on whether to raise its retail sales tax by 3/8ths of a cent. The measure passed with 5782 “yes” ballots (58.15%) and 4161 “no” ballots (41.85%). But Lenexa spent over $10 for each of these “yes” votes to raise its sales tax! (more…)
A D.C. group, Help Abolish Legal Tyranny (HALT), recently announced their 2008 report cards that blast state and federal systems for failing to hold judges accountable. Kansas received a C- grade. (more…)
Thursday’s Kansas Register, which is published by the Kansas Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh, shows new permanent administrative regulations concerning the oversight of authorized poll agents. These new regulations go into effect on July 7, 2008: (more…)
Today’s ProPublica “Top Stories” E-mail contained an item about the Associated Press’ recent crackdown on blogs excerpting its stories. ProPublica cited this article, Copyright Infringement Alleged by the Associated Press, and the New York Times’ Bits, The AP, Hot News and Hotheaded Blogs. (more…)
A variety of Internet sources say Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius attended the 2008 Bilderberg meeting in Chantilly, VA on June 5-8, 2008. No mention of Gov. Sebelius attending this meeting can be found in the Kansas press.
In 2007 Gov. Sebelius attended the Bilderberg meeting in June in Istanbul, Turkey and the Kansas City Star reported the story on Sept 2, 2007:
Sebelius in June attended a gathering of the Bilderberg Group in Istanbul, Turkey. Bilderberg is an exclusive group of international business leaders, top politicians and academics from around the globe that meets once a year at top resorts. The enigmatic group is the frequent subject of New World Order conspiracy theories. (more…)
The editorial in today’s Kansas City Star, “Wanted: Fiscal responsibility in candidate plans,” compared proposals by Senators Obama and McCain:
Experts say both candidates’ economic proposals would increase the federal deficit. That’s unacceptable. The country is ready for a president who will model fiscal responsibility.
The topic of this editorial is welcome, but why is the Star writing an editorial about fiscal responsibility when they support most tax increases, and do such little investigative reporting about waste of tax dollars? Why does the Star do so little to promote accountability in government? (more…)