RECALL SAM BROWNBACK FROM OFFICE

Kansas Senate President, Republican Steve Morris of Hugoton, is an ethical man who spilled the beans on Governor Brownback violating Kansas's Open Meetings Law.  When Sam did this he crossed the "Misconduct in Office" line making him eligible for recall under Article 43 of the Kansas Statutes.

As reported in the Capital-Journal online edition, @ http://cjonline.com/news/2012-01-30/morris-i-warned-about-koma-violations, Senator Morris attended a "legislative dinner" at the Executive Mansion, Cedar Crest, on January 9th.  Also present were members of the Senate KPERS Select Committee and the House Pensions and Benefits Committee.  During the "dinner" Brownback began advocating, saying the committees had to "do something" about KPERS.  Senator Morris quickly raised the red flag warning, he said "We can't do this."  Morris was right.

In an amazing display of "now you see me, now you don't" the Governor's spokesperson,  Sherriene Jones-Sontag, said:  the dinners are "private" and don’t violate KOMA because they are "social gatherings."

Of course they are "social gatherings" they are the "social gatherings" where Brownback wants to scheme the methodology of his extreme agenda. And that makes them meetings which should be open to the public.  If they were just "social gatherings" the Governor would have said something like, "Oh KPERS, yes, when we get back to work on Monday we can schedule a meeting about getting something done. By the way how is the family." But that wasn't close to the conversation reported by the President of the Kansas Senate.

Sam Brownback has tried to sell a lot of crazy ideas to Kansas since becoming Governor.  But you don't recall him because he wants to tax the poor and help the rich.  You don't recall him because he wants to give wealthy school districts the ability to raise money for their schools and your kids and grandkids don't get squat.  You don't recall him for any of his bad ideas.  It is politics and he is entitled to have all the bad ideas he wants.

Secrecy, the deliberate assault on transparency, and stealth government followed up by cover-up remarks from an official spokesperson?  Now you have conduct "impacting " the Governor's ability to perform the duties of his office.

Come on Democrats.  It is time to recall Sam Brownback.

What does it take to recall Sam Brownback?  You have to read Chapter 25 Article 43 of the Kansas Statutes.  That's K.S.A. 25-4301 et seq. 

Article 43. - RECALL OF ELECTED OFFICIALS

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25-4302. Grounds for recall. (a) Grounds for recall are conviction of a felony, misconduct in office or failure to perform duties prescribed by law. No recall submitted to the voters shall be held void because of the insufficiency of the grounds, application, or petition by which the submission was procured. (b) As used in this section, the term "misconduct in office" means a violation of law by the officer that impacts the officer's ability to perform the official duties of the office.

Article 43. - PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES

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75-4317. Open meetings declared policy of state; citation of act. (a) In recognition of the fact that a representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate, it is declared to be the policy of this state that meetings for the conduct of governmental affairs and the transaction of governmental business be open to the public. (b) It is declared hereby to be against the public policy of this state for any such meeting to be adjourned to another time or place in order to subvert the policy of open public meetings as pronounced in subsection (a). (c) K.S.A. 75-4317 through 75-4320a shall be known and may be cited as the open meetings act.

 75-4317a. Meeting defined. As used in the open meetings act, "meeting" means any gathering or assembly in person or through the use of a telephone or any other medium for interactive communication by a majority of the membership of a body or agency subject to this act for the purpose of discussing the business or affairs of the body or agency.