Kansas Meadowlark

Mary Ca Ralstin recently appeared at a candidate forum with her opponent, Brandon Kenig, to discuss education issues in Kansas. While Ralstin is a passionate advocate for education, she seems to act like a Democratic Party activist while calling herself a Republican. Is this deception, or advancing one’s political agenda, or both?

At the candidate forum, why was Ralstin not asked about policy questions related to teachers having drugs at school? Unbelievably, in 2005 Ralstin supported a teacher dismissed for having drugs in a high school parking lot. (more…)

Dr. Elizabeth Ann Sanders, a member of the Johnson County League of Women voters, asked the candidates in State Board of Education District 2 candidate forum: “Using the moderate-conservative continuum, how would you characterize … the majority of your political views, and please explain that characterization.”

In Kansas, the furthest left you can be politically is a “moderate.” The world “Liberal” in Kansas only refers to a city in southwest Kansas, and has nothing to do with political philosophy.

Dr. Sanders is a very smart woman (more…)

The Johnson County League of Women Voters (LWV) along with the Johnson County Community College (JCCC) hosted a forum recently for August primary candidates, which can now be viewed online. A recent Meadowlark article asked about the “tilt” in the panel discussions because the LWV is mostly a left-leaning group and is confusing “non-partisan” with “not political” in their promotion of the public forum.

The inclusion of Richard Voss on the panel to ask questions of candidates Steve Baru and Jeff Colyer in State Senate District 37 is a good example of the bias introduced by the LWV in this process. Remember: the JoCo LWV declined a request to provide transparency in how these forums were run. (more…)

The Johnson County League of Women Voters is confused about the words “non-partisan” and “not political” and their concern for transparency in their candidate forums. (See the candidate forums online, or on local cable TV channels.) The JoCo LWV and Johnson County Community College sponsored these recent candidate forums.

The League is a completely political organization, supposedly interested in government transparency, but they declined requests to provide transparency about participation of their members in these recent forums.

The League should be commended for their public service in organizing these forums, but should be challenged about their use of JCCC government resources if they are not providing a level playing field to all candidates. This will be the first of several articles about the tilt in the JoCo LWV-JCCC candidate forums. (more…)