By Richard D. Fry
House Speaker Mike O’Neal (R-Hutchinson) has proven himself to be a consummate politician and “party boy” rather than a public servant and representative of the citizens. He has twice, since the 2011 session started, taken action to unilaterally silence elected representatives who committed no sin but to try to educate and represent the constituents who elected them.
The first of these abuses was O’Neal’s removal of Representative Kasha Kelly from a budget reconciliation committee because she stated she did not support and would not vote for another year of increased spending by the cash-strapped state, an opinion shared by many citizens. In this regard Representative O’Neal negated the democratic process by silencing the voices of 20,927 citizens’ in House District 79 from speaking through their Representative Kelly.
Most recently the self-appointed arbitrator of which citizens of Kansas should have representation, and which should not, Speaker O’Neal removed Representative Charlotte O’Hara from the interim committee studying Obama Care Exchanges in Kansas, apparently a pet project of Governor Brownback.
Representative O’Hara’s sin, like that of Representative Kelly, was daring to uphold her oath of office by actually representing the opinions of the citizens whose voice Representative O’Hara was to “represent” in the Kansas House. Another 21,856 voices of our fellow citizens where unilaterally silenced by the action of Speaker O’Neal when he removed O’Hara from this committee July 20, 2011, only 13 short days after he initially appointed her.
Like Representative Kelly, Representative O’Hara’s sin was to have a different position than O’Neal’s self-chosen boss, Sam Brownback. O’Hara was educating not only her constituents, but other citizens around the state and other legislators about exactly what it was the Brownback administration was up to in voluntarily bringing to Kansas the very Obama Care Exchange that the state of Kansas is suing to defeat in the federal courts.
Even worse O’Hara is working with 14 grass roots groups (referred to as the “weeds” by a state KGOP official) who have come together to get the word out on the efforts by the administration to bring “Brownback Care” to Kansas.
If Speaker O’Neal and “Sam”, as Mike likes to refer to the Governor, really believe that only their opinions should be represented or expressed in Kansas, they need to be honest about it and propose a change to the Kansas Constitution which would give them and only them that ultimate authority. Of course they realize that to even suggest such a totalitarian and un-American form of government would get them run out of the state on a rail. Instead Mike and Sam intend to impose their will on the citizens by abusing their authority of office to eliminate or exercise control by intimidation, over the people’s “Representatives”. Is that really the way we want our officials to act in Kansas?
Well, to Mike & Sam I have only one word: “Nyet!”
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