The right has lost Kansas & the loonies are disappearing! Not yet, but soon?

By Diane Silver

Imagine my surprise when I woke up to this pronouncement on Alternet about Kansas, my current place of abode:

"The progressive backlash in my old home state is complete. The right wing not only has lost control of Kansas, they've been virtually thrown out of the state..."

Oh gosh, I wish this were true. I really, really, really do, but this declaration by former Kansan Martha Burk is a tad premature.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that Burk's vision may well come true. It may even happen within the next few years. It just hasn't happened yet.

To claim that it has is to naively misrepresent the situation. Ignoring reality is a lousy way to win elections.

First as a newspaper reporter and now as a political activist and blogger, I've been watching politics in the Sunflower State for more than 20 years. Here's how I read the tea leaves.

In the Alternet piece -- which first appeared in Ms. -- Burk takes note of all the Kansas political news that's been zipping around the media since November.

Yup, our governor is Democrat Kathleen Sebelius, and she is really popular. Her lieutenant governor running mate is the former chairman of the state GOP, and he did switch parties to run with her. Right winger Phill Kline got soundly booted out as Attorney General and another moderate former Republican, Paul Morrison, won easily. Democrat Nancy Boyda scored an upset victory over longtime Congressional incumbent Jim Ryun. A couple of moderate Republicans switched parties in the Legislature and won seats.

Perhaps most important, Operation Rescue's "Wichita '07 -- A Cry For Justice" event was an utter bust. Instead of the thousands who were supposed to march on the Wichita clinic of Dr. George Tiller, only a handful of people came.

But Burk left a lot out of her story, and the missing facts are telling.

The biggest sign that the religious right still has a firm hold in Kansas is the makeup of the Legislature. The Kansas House is still ultra-conservative. In January, House members elected social conservative Melvin Neufeld as speaker.

In the state Senate, a woeful 10, yes I said "ten," of the 40 senators are Democrats. In the House, only 47 of 125 representatives are Democrats. Not all of the Democrats are progressive, or even moderate.

Liberal legislation barely gets a hearing in the Statehouse, while almost anything that limits state services or helps the religious right goes to the front of the line.

It's true that the darling of the religious right, former AG Kline, was soundly defeated in November, but a month later he landed on his feet. The Republican Committee of Johnson County -- the state's most prosperous county -- elected Kline to fill the last two years of the recently vacated district attorney's office.

This resurrected Kline's political career, which up to that moment seemed dead on arrival. Given that Kline may well have national ambitions, it's important to watch what he does.

Kansas' future is important because it has often served as an early warning system for the rest of the nation.

How will we know if the religious right is finally on its way out in this reddest of red states? Look for these signs.

1. Watch the primary battle between ultra-conservative Jim Ryun and moderate Lynn Jenkins. The two are fighting for the Republican nod to run against Boyda.

The primary is 14 months away and the 2008 general election still 17 months off, but Ryun and Jenkins are already going after each other with a vengeance. The most recent ignition point is a Club For Growth ad attacking Jenkins. The tussle has already made the local newspaper and the left-wing blogosphere.

What to Watch
If Ryun wins in 2008, then forget about claiming that the religious right has lost power in Kansas. If Jenkins or Boyda win in '08, then there very well may be hope.

2. Keep an eye on the struggle over the Johnson County District Attorney's office.

Kline already has one Republican and one Democratic challenger. To make matters more interesting, the county Republican Party may already be taking sides -- against Kline.

What to Watch
If Kline runs and wins all the fury his insider election created, then moderates and liberals will have proven themselves to be toothless against the right.

3. Scope out the religious right's effort to retake the state Board of Education in '08.

Moderates won control of the state board in November, but enough seats are up for grabs in the next election that the majority could flip once again.

What to Watch
If all the furor over the right's anti-evolution stand doesn't elect a moderate majority, then the religious right may have years of renewed health.

4. Keep sight of the legislative districts and the leadership races.

This is the down and dirty local level of politics in Kansas. The candidates go neighbor to neighbor, particularly in House districts.

What to Watch
If moderates and liberals can't take control of legislative districts, particularly in the House, then the age of a more moderate Kansas may be another decade or so in coming. The winners need not be Democrats to bring a bit of sanity to the Statehouse. However, they do have to turn away from what folks out here politely call the "social conservative" wing of the GOP. If that happens, and a moderate House Speaker is elected, then folks, we really will have a new ballgame.

Kansas: "Anti-schools" education head resigns & walks off with $11,000 severance

By Diane Silver

No surprise: Kansas Education Commissioner Bob Corkins resigned today rather than waiting to be fired when the new moderate Board of Education takes over in January.

That's good news No. 1. The second bit of good news is that the board named Dale Dennis as the interim education commissioner. The current deputy commissioner of finance, Dennis is a longtime professional in the department.

I knew him when I covered the Statehouse for The Wichita Eagle. Unless he has changed enormously, Dennis is a solid pro who can be trusted to do a good job. This is in stark contrast with Corkins who got the job without having any education experience and with a reputation for trying to limit funding for public schools.

The Lawrence Journal-World also reports that Corkins received a severance package worth $11,000. I suppose that's fair and legal, but given the damage he may well have done to education in this state, I'm not certain Corkins should receive anything. Once again incompetence is rewarded.

The Lawrence Journal-World has the full story, including this choice quote from a moderate board member.

Board member Janet Waugh of Kansas City said that with Corkins, "who is basically anti-schools," at the helm, the public image of the state"s public education system had been hurt.

I have more on Corkins here.

Kansas evolution standards to evolve slowly towards science

For many of us the needed "spring cleaning" of the mess left by the Religious Right-dominated state Board of Education can't come too soon.

Apparently, though, the anti-evolution, intelligent design-festooned science standards won't be overhauled immediately. The new pro-science majority takes over the board in January.

The cause of the delay isn't sinister, AP reports. It's the wish to "do it right," says Steve Case, associate director of The University of Kansas' Center for Science Education.

That sounds OK to me as long as the changes come as soon as possible.

The Kansas Evolution Aftermath: Corkins' fate may be decided today

By Diane Silver

This afternoon at 3:30, ultra-conservative Education Commissioner Bob Corkins may well be out of the job -- or, at least, that's the speculation of Kansas newspapers.

The state Board of Education meets in a private conference call at that time. Conservatives are still in control of the board and will be until new board members take office in January. However, the mysterious meeting is said to involve "nonelected personnel." Stay tuned.

Corkins, of course, is most well known for having absolutely no education experience before taking office and for constantly searching for ways to funnel public money to private schools.

The sooner he is out of office and the search begins for a qualified commissioner, the better.

The last gasp of the Kansas anti-evolution school board

By Diane Silver

In January the new moderate, pro-science and -- dare I say -- pro-public education majority will finally take over the Kansas Board of Education. The changing of the guard can't come a moment too soon.

This week the anti-evolution, hooray- for-private-schools old board showed once again why voters made the right move in changing the balance of power.

First, the outgoing conservative majority handed over $42,000 to the Kansas Association of Public Charter Schools. While state education officials claimed they had to give out the grant as part of a federal program, moderate board members said the process smelled a tad fishy. What reeked? Only two groups applied.

What's worse is that this latest grant goes to a group run by a Topeka woman who earlier received another grant from the conservative-led board. Other members of the woman's family and even her friends received money from the conservative board. All of which might lead one to wonder if perhaps it's time to change one's relatives.

Meanwhile, recently ousted board member Connie Morris is getting the most out of the end of her term. She plans to take two out-of-state trips, including one that will occur after she attends her last board meeting.

I am feeling snarky today; I'll admit it. I so wish, though, that I had a job like that. Get fired (as Morris was by the voters), work your last day and then have the boss pay for you to take a little vacation. What a deal!

Morris, by the way, says she will write a report and turn it into the board about what she learns on her trip. She wants, by her own words, to be "a person of intregity." Here's Morris' full quote, and no, I'm not making this up.

"I want to be a person of integrity -- often I miss the mark -- but that's what I strive to be," she said.

By the way, that's smilin' Connie in the photo.