If there is one place where Americans and Kansans find common ground, it is accountability. Everyone gets that.
When candidate-speak is unaccountable, when fact-checkers can’t keep up, in the face of cascading catastrophic issues, when one side says this and the other that, well–hell, yes! We want accountability. And truth.
So, why is it that Kansas’ monopoly party slavishly reinforces faulty facts/perceptions, or worse yet simply refuses to show up at election time? Absence from Kansas debates looks at first like a troubling infection, but examined more closely, it’s a pandemic.
To say they are following Trump is almost cliché. We need not document his many no-shows. But whether it’s copycatism or just arrogance, this campaign tactic has trickled, or cascaded, down to Kansas.
In Salina, JR Claeys, our Saline/Dickinson County 24th district Senator who also runs/manages/consults Trump’s campaign and many others, has followed suit. Who is the ONLY candidate who refused to appear or even send a statement, for the League of Women Voters forum? Claeys.
But his refusal’s arguable effect on Salina history is even more disturbing. For more than a half century, the Chamber of Commerce and the League of Women Voters have co-hosted pre-election candidate forums.
This year, the forum was planned as usual. Till it wasn’t.
Suddenly, the Chamber withdrew. No longer did it feel responsible to offer the public an examination of candidates. The Chamber had “received …. concerns regarding [League] partisanship.” Their “community partners” made it clear “that there is a perception in the community that the League is a partisan organization.” So, they decided to “protect [their] reputation as non-partisan.”
Who, it might be asked, is partisan here? An organization that wants the public to be informed, or one that doesn’t? It’s nearly impossible to avoid the echo Chamber’s language regarding the League of Women Voters as a ‘partisan organization.’ In 2016, only slightly more ridiculously, now-Kansas-Attorney-General Kris Kobach, infamously conferred the label “communist League of Women Voters.”
After 50 years, why the Chamber’s change of mind—and heart?
The same question might apply in another Senator’s campaign, that of Larry Alley in SD32 Cowley County. When pressed in an earlier debate about his votes against the best interests of his constituents (Medicaid expansion, women’s reproductive health, tax issues), Alley said he’d answer questions for a second debate, but refused to appear on stage with his opponent, Lawrence Moreno. Not exactly a debate.
Faced with that reality, the Optimist Club and Chamber of Commerce abruptly cancelled, citing ‘lack of volunteers.”
The US House race for CD1 is also instructive. Incumbent Tracey Mann of Salina was approached on numerous occasions by broadcast outlets, Chambers of Commerce, and women’s groups, with no response except ‘schedule conflicts.’
The requests: August 17, Douglas County Women For Kansas; September 16, Hutchinson Women for Kansas; October 8 or 14, Hays Chamber and FHSU; Oct 21 or 22, WIBW TV; October 11, 23, or 24, KSAL Salina. In all cases, either no response or ‘schedule conflict.’
Most interestingly, says Democratic candidate Paul Buskirk, “The Douglas County W4K, after no response, saw that Mann was appearing just a few miles away in a nearby town the day before their requested debate. They went. Asking him directly why he’d not responded and renewing their request, Mann told them that he visited each county only once in a given year.”
The brick wall of no-shows is not limited to more rural areas. In Kansas’ largest city, Mary Knecht, League of Women Voters Wichita-Metro member, relates their experience. “Candidates who refused the invitation to participate in a forum for the November 2024 election were Ron Estes, Ty Masterson, and Dan Hawkins” In other words, both another US House member (Estes) and the leaders of both Kansas Senate and House.
Why do these public servants feel no responsibility to their public?
In Claeys’ case, he has steered dollars and grants to the downtown TIF district, K-State Salina Aviation program, the Airport Authority, the new federal-grant-supported housing project (in which the Senator is rumored to have a financial interest) and others.
Money talks. Where Claeys goes, bucks bellow. As a VP of Axiom strategies, he manages (or ‘consults with’) his and numerous other election races–including Donald Trump and Kris Kobach. All races famous for their blizzards of last-minute postcards against opponents, most filled with unsubstantiated accusations. https://salinapost.com/posts/
Axiom’s profits also come from the ballot initiatives like the $2M KC Chiefs’ proposed new stadium. Dollars paid stayed–with Axiom. https://www.kansascity.com/
And then there are JR’s salaries.
Besides his legislative salary, due to double next year, Kris Kobach hired his former campaign manager and spokesperson as ‘Senior Advisor,’ at over $75,000 a year. https://www.cjonline.com/
What really costs us, however, are not his salaries, but his influence. Who funds him? “100% of his contributions came from PACs, corporations or other types of businesses.” His fund-raisers are held in well-heeled Kansas City and Wichita at hundreds to thousands a plate.
Under these circumstances, why talk to constituents at their doors, to the public at a League of Women Voters debate, or even/especially to the press? Salina press uniformly reports non-response. Nathan King, Salina Post says, “I called 4 different phone numbers repeatedly asking for response. Got nothing.” To confirm, I personally emailed Claeys and left voicemail asking for response. I, too, got nothing.
So, did Claeys’ Trump our Chamber of Commerce? Or vice versa?
Either way, the public is robbed of its right to truth. Unaccountably.
