Resolved: On ballance, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has done more good than harm.

The main focus on this round will focus on 3 issues; the economy, healthcare, and education in Kansas. I will also be showing how the Brownback administration has shot Kansas in the foot and how the Governor has resorted to gimmicks and hypocrisy instead of solutions. In 2012 & 13 the Governor enacted tax cuts designed to help businesses, promising the same paradoxical tale that all the other trickledown economics advocates say: That cutting taxes will INCREASE the governments’ revenue. 3 years after the cuts what do we find? The Kansas deficit has significantly gone up, and a lot more than expected, “Just a few days after the November election, the Kansas budget office revealed that revenue projections were off by more than $200 million, bringing the budget gap facing Brownback to $600 million in all.” [1] Despite claiming to be fiscally conservative I’d say increasing the deficit by 50% is not fiscally responsible. And it is from this deficit that most of Kansas problems come from. For where is the State going to pull the money from to pay this deficit? As you will see much of it will come from the neediest of Kansans. Healthcare In the field of healthcare Brownback has made a bed that others have to sleep in. Early in his administration he gave back over $31 million dollars allotted to Kansas through the Affordable Care Act. The money was to help the State of Kansas “to pioneer development of an online computer exchange capable of helping people select, enroll and purchase health insurance.” [2] Kansas was chosen as a state to experiment with steam lining healthcare access, however it seems the Governor was more interested in his own ideologically driven experiment, now Kansas will have to go without or fund it itself. Who knows how much that money could have saved had it been accepted back then? Despite his rejection of the ACA without it Brownback would be in an even bigger hole. The Governor has diverted rebate money, $55 million, that would normally help pay for Medicaid (a program to help the poor get access to medicine) in to covering the deficit [3]. The governor has also used a budgeting gimmick to suck money from healthcare. The ACA matched Kansas dollar for dollar to fund a program designed to help uninsured children get access to medical care, what Brownback did was take the $17M instead, leaving the funding technically neutral [4]. However I’d argue taking money that would have gone to poor children and spending it on a self made fiscal crisis is not a good thing. The Governor is putting the healthcare of Kansans secondary to his ideology. And to top it all off, average health insurance premiums in Kansas has risen higher than almost any other state [5]. Education The Governor may tout that overall school funding has increased, yet we are seeing simultaneously budget cuts and schools closing early [6]. He is not increasing funding, he’s reversing the damage done by previous cuts and it’s still not enough. Average pupil spending is down $548 from 2008. The cuts have been so deep the Brownback administration was ordered by the Kansas Supreme Court to increase funding by $129M at one time the man even wanted to cut a program to fund pre-schools [7]. In response Brownback has threatened the Court with eliminating their funding. The entire judicial branch of Kansas is under threat because they ruled against the Governor’s cuts [8]. He’s also going after teacher and government employee pensions, encouraging early retirements and hiring cheaper inexperienced teachers to fill the vacancy [7][9]. The long term impact of these cuts are clear, “the executive director of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System says Brownback’s proposed tweaks will ultimately cost the state more than 8 times what they save in the short term.” [9]. This could easily apply to all of the areas of Brownback’s short sighted cuts. The Economy/Jobs It should be first noted the tax cuts are directly responsible for the credit rating of Kansas to drop. These tax cuts were mostly aimed at business large and small under the general theory of trickledown economics that the wealthy would reinvest their money and create jobs. Who benefitted the most from these tax cuts? Not surprisingly under this flawed theory the rich benefitted the most, the rich are taxed at a lower rate and taxes were actually raised for lower income families [16][10]. Brownback wants to make you believe a rising tide lifts all boats but not notice that the bigger boats get lifted much higher, especially when the tax rate on the 1% is less than half the rate on the middle 20% of Kansans [16]. There is no evidence that these tax cuts have lead to major job creation promised now or in the future [10]. At best it can be said that job wise Kansas is treading water. Kansas is behind nationally on job growth, but not doing any worse when it comes to unemployment, the job creators have pocketed the money instead of reinvesting it at the cost of the average Kansan [11][12]. Furthermore this supposedly anti tax conservative he has increased the sales tax [17], wants to raise taxes on cigarettes and has decided to slow down future tax cuts, even reversing some [13][17]. It should also be noted that no other state, not even Missouri, has plans to cut income taxes has low as Kansas [14][15]. Perhaps he’s slowly realizing the failure of his experiment. Conclusion Governor Brownback has lead Kansas down the path of financial ruin, benefitting the rich at the expense of the poor. His promise that the rich would act as major job creators has not come to pass. Through gimmicks he has taken from uninsured children, teachers, pensioners and the average tax payer so the rich can afford lower taxes (with no obligation to reinvest in the state). I haven’t even mentioned how he cut the transportation budget to nearly zero, forcing the department to sell bonds (debt) to pay for road maintenance which is desperately needed [18][12]. Or that last election over 100 republicans actually campaigned for his Democratic opponent; he only won the election by 4%, hardly a vote of confidence from the people of Kansas. Sam Brownback is not a man to be imitated; he is a regressive ideologue whos policies ultimately cater to the rich at the expense of everyone else. SOURCES IN COMMENT SECTION