The Patriots

by Allen Williams

If you have ever lived in Kansas then you know that the state's judiciary gains bench positions by appointment NOT election.  "These efforts succeeded in 1958, when Kansas voters approved a constitutional amendment authorizing merit selection of supreme court justices. The amendment's success can be attributed to the intensive lobbying efforts of the Kansas Bar Association and the political scandal aptly titled the "triple play of 1956," in which the governor and chief justice resigned their positions with the understanding that the lieutenant governor--who would become the governor--would appoint the former governor as chief justice. "

"The current procedure for filling a Supreme Court judgeship is very simple. A panel of lawyers [and non-lawyers] creates a list of fellow lawyers as candidates. That list is submitted to the governor and who appoints someone from that list. There is no vote. There is no confirmation process. There is no investigation or approval of any kind. The result of the current process is a judiciary run amuck.  A prime example is the Kansas Supreme Court. In the last session of the legislature, judges were caught discussing legislation with senate members and ethics complaints were lodged (they are still pending).  That same court has, in direct violation of the Kansas Constitution, ordered increases in school spending, a function reserved to the legislature. By its illegal actions, the court has effected increases that will force each man, woman, and child in the State of Kansas to pay an extra $400 per year in taxes by the year 2009."   It's a nice little monopoly  where, as KU law professor Stephen Ware, has noted some 10,000 people control 2.8 million.

In 2005 a petition was circulated by Wayne Flaherty and Judicial Watch for a constitutional amendment to change the judicial selection system to popular election. The state legislature failed to pass the amendment. The same year Topeka judge Terry Bullock ordered an increase of One Billion dollars for K-12 education in schools. This ruling violated the separation of powers via legislating from the bench. However, it was Kansas Supreme Court Justice Lawton Nuss who dictated the monetary amount in the Montoy decision to the state legislature that forever transferred spending authority from the Kansas Legislature to the Kansas Supreme Court.

In past years a number of attempts have been made to return judicial selection to popular election but the proposals were always beaten back by the public education system and its many supporters who obviously profit from the corruption of the current system.  Finally in 2013, then Governor Sam Brownback replaced merit selection for appeals court judges with gubenatorial appointment and Senate confirmation as in the case of federal judges.  A Kansas constitutional amendment to move the state judiciary to the federal model failed during Brownbacks tenure as governor. And in 2015, incredibly the Kansas Supreme Court, found that the state legislature's attempt to defund the court was unconstitutional. This decision has denied the people of Kansas the right of self government and established the Kansas Supreme Court as a ruling olighargy

The Kansas Court system is a corruption cesspoll and it hasn't disappointed.

Alan Rupe and his legal team have carved out a sweet niche suing the state legislature through the years to force higher taxes for education. Due to the obscure wording in the Kansas Constitution requiring a 'suitable education'. Many attempts have been made in the past to formulate a 'funding formula' for 309 Kansas school districts.

That's an awfully large number of school districts for such a small state you might think. Well, yes but absolutely essential to keep the for profit school indoctrination system rolling.  And public money makes the Kansas education system the largest PAC-lobby in the state. 

Here's how the school funding merri-go-round works:

(1) The state legislature develops a school funding formula which is always 'unfair' to some particular school district and in some cases nearly all by agreement. Greed dictates the relative 'degree of unfairness', etc.  (2) Rupe and his team go to court, finding a synpathetic judge isn't difficult because the lawyers control the judicial selection process. (3) The lawyers argue that the funding formula distributions aren't equitable or isn't weighted properly or the current formula simply fails to provide a 'suitable education' (Doesn't spend enough money) (4) The court agrees. Legal appeals are made and eventually the Kansas Supreme Court affirms the lower court ruling for a fixed sum of money to finance education.(5) Go immediately back to (1) and begin the process anew.

by John D' Aloia

Attacked by a "friend": What happens when Ben Hodge doesn't get his w ay ...

I'd say Johnson County has more fundamental problems than what the Watchdog chooses to report. The same criticism that you levied against Trabert, et al could be said of you, Ben. Perhaps, Red County might better concern itself with the lackluster JoCo DA's performance, i.e his failure to uphold the 'rule of law.'  It may provide a clue as to why they aren't interested in open meetings enforcement either.

Our intrepid moderate, Steve Howe, hasn't been able to agree on a Table of Contents for the Planned Parenthood trial for a year now. Did he learn his trade from the Kansas legislature? Know any other defendant that can hang up a legal proceeding over a TOC. Just a matter of time before theKansas Supreme Court ( KSC) makes it all 'go away'..hmmm?

Perhaps, Red County might better concern itself with a corrupt state legislature (which isn't part of Johnson County, either) that doesn't represent anything more than special interests. If they did, there would be oversight of the judiciary and the people wouldn't be hostage to a bevy of vulture lawyers, like Alan Rupe and his NEA Nazis, plundering state coffers. I readily concede, the possibility, that the state legislature is actually stupid enough to allow itself to continue to be sued over the same issue. But then, what can one expect with a Gage & Lathrop lawyer in the Republican leadership? (And, I use the term loosely.)

by Blog Administrator

It seems that the people of Kansas are paying for something they’re not getting these days, and that’s representation, even though there’s more than enough taxation. So the question that needs to be posed is, what are we paying the state legislature to do, besides obey illegal court orders? Couldn’t the Kansas Supreme Court do the same job of the legislature better and more efficiently?

Why should the public pay 125 state representatives and 40 senators to rubber stamp the KSC’s illegal mandates? Since the Kansas Supreme Court already has the power to appoint other judges under the state constitution, why not let the court run the whole show, including the governor’s office? Kansas would become less of a laughing stock because its new autocracy would be like most of the rest of the world. This is a plan that the news media should whole heartedly embrace, given their oft repeated cries for laws allowing the governor to appoint state school board members, instead of electing them, as is done now. I suggest that most Kansans would scarcely recognize a different pair of hands in their back pocket and the state would have another 7 million dollars in salary savings, to pump into the white elephant of public education, one that already consumes 67 cents of every tax dollar collected.

John Vratil, 7^th district Leawood moderate republican and leader of the Senate, has stated that failing to take action on an illegal Kansas Supreme Court mandate to increase taxes for K-12 education is counter productive, "Whether or not one agrees with the Court mandate to increase funding for education, the mandate exists. If two independent branches of government decide to fight rather than move independently toward a solution, the citizens of Kansas will lose. Currently, the majority of the Legislature does not have the will to raise new sources of revenue, whether through increased taxes or expanded gaming. Many prefer to "dig in" and blame the Court for the current crises."

Why how unfair to blame the court’s usurpation of power The senate leadership believes it selfish when Kansans keep more of the money they worked for, rather than allowing the royal monarchy of the court, to spend it for us.

Missouri was also told how ‘gaming’ would provide the necessary money for their schools but gambling never enriches anyone except the gamblers and the few politicians that sell out the public trust to get it legalized. Some of the ‘will’ not to raise taxes in the legislature is being driven by the necessity of these same individuals, having to return to their own districts and face constituents for re-election, the only thing that matters to most of them. I’m surprised that no one in the state legislature has had the gumption yet to appoint a committee to do their job for them, that way, only the committee gets dumped when things go wrong.

The citizens of Kansas lose whenever the constitution is put aside, the separation of powers ignored, and the courts allowed to act outside of Article VI limits in the US Constitution. Kansans also lose when ever politicians, elected to institute meaningful change, cower, look the other way, or like Matt Blunt of Missouri, ‘flip flop’ from the position they used to get elected. The one inviolate commandment to the social left and their moderate allies is to maintain control over and distribution of the public’s money.

In the meantime, our system of self government is violated in order for the sectarians of autocratic control, to forcibly implement public education’s ‘teaching for change’ social engineering agenda.

The mullahs, who currently grace the Kansas Supreme Court, have called for an extra billion dollars for public education. There are pressing needs everywhere we are told, with an Olathe principal on ‘administrative’ leave (that means paid), while he answers charges for the sexual assault of a 10 year old kid. Then, there are legal fees for a Kansas teacher fired for ‘sexual’ activity with one of their students. And, then there’s the costs associated with an investigation of yet another teacher, secretly meeting an adolescent at some nondescript activity outside school. The public needs to understand that ‘sex education’ is very important to the overall learning process and after all, lawyers do cost money.

Isn’t this just what is expected from teaching children about how to have safe sex, while calling it ‘education’? But I ask, why should the teaching professionals alone, be fired? Shouldn’t your state representative and senator get the ’boot’ right along with the teachers for funding this morass of nonsense and failing to properly assert their legislative role under the Kansas constitution? And, I advocate this in a purely bi-partisan manner.

The republican moderates and liberals have a ‘bi-partisan’ plan for spending your money differently than you would choose, for the furtherance of their lack luster political careers, courtesy of taxpayer ‘bought and paid for’ public education votes.