Kansas Senate leaps at opportunity to follow in Elon Musk’s footsteps with ‘COGE’ committee

Hey, Kansans! Are you excited and delighted by the work of Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency lackeys in rooting through government records in search of waste?

Do we have a deal for you!

The Kansas Legislature has formed its very own Senate Committee on Government Efficiency (COGE instead of DOGE) and has asked residents to submit their ideas on making government leaner, meaner and more attuned to the needs of South African-born billionaires! Ha, ha. Just joking a bit there, folks. I’m sure that the bigwigs behind the Kansas committee have your best interests at heart, just like those teens and twentysomethings poking around in D.C. buildings.

You can see more about the committee at its official legislative website here. Wichita Republican Sen. Renee Erickson has stepped up to serve as chair. Overland Park Democratic Sen. Cindy Holscher has taken the ranking minority member spot. We await their findings with bated breath.

Kelly speaks out

You had to read deep into the articles for her name, but Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly popped up in national news coverage last week.

She serves as chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association and joined a call with other state chief executives from her party with U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. During the call, Kelly pressed Schumer on the party’s online strategy, saying it needed to be “down and dirty,” according to New York Times reporting.

That might be one of the few times I’ve ever considered Kelly in connection to that phrase. On the other hand, given her party’s mostly ineffectual response to the early days of Donald Trump’s second term, who can argue?

Speak that truth to power, governor.

Those pesky staffers

You know how I hate to be a pest about news media access in the Kansas House.

But after House Speaker Dan Hawkins barred reporters from their longtime press box on the floor, relegating them to reporting from the balcony, I’ve been documenting his shifting justifications and overall animosity toward the Fourth Estate. What can I say? It’s my job.

Hawkins finally claimed that he banished news media because House staffers needed the space for their work. The day he said that, a handful of staff members sat behind the desk to prove his point. But according to accounts from Kansas Reflector reporters, the onetime press box has remained mostly empty since then. Surely Hawkins wouldn’t have been misleading his members and the public to justify animus toward reporters?

Surely not, right?

Voices of opposition

On Monday, I wrote about the Legislature’s shameful bullying of transgender children. I want to share a couple of additional perspectives on the legislation (Senate Bill 63).

First, the Kansas ACLU issued a release urging Kelly to reject the bill when it comes to her desk: “ACLU condemns Kansas lawmakers’ repeat attack on Kansans’ personal healthcare decisions; urges governor veto.”

“We remain unconvinced that this legislature understands the real concerns and constitutional protections afforded to everyday Kansans, and their rush to push this government intrusion through demonstrates it all the more,” said executive director Micah Kubic.

Second, Loud Light director of advocacy Melissa Stiehler sent along testimony her group submitted opposing the bill. It hasn’t been posted online as part of the public record.

“It’s deeply troubling to me that both the House and Senate moved forward with debating and voting on this bill before the written testimony submitted by Kansas voters — your constituents — was made available to legislators, and that even after the vote, the record of testimony is inaccessible,” she wrote.

You can take a look here, if you’d like.

In these times

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve received numerous email messages from folks expressing distress about the political situation in Washington, D.C. Many ask what can be done to spread the word about the latest Trump- or Musk-related outrage or how they can make their perspectives heard.

Yes, the news alarms. Yes, we’ve seen norms tossed aside and checks and balances ignored. Yes the administration has taken Steve Bannon’s advice to flood the zone with waste to heart. I will not deny or diminish these truths or the challenges they pose.

Yet I plan to stay the course with what we do here in the opinion section.

We will continue to focus on state government and politics, and the way in which those intersect with everyday Kansans’ lives. Numerous reporters and opinion writers can and will tackle the national situation. They have the access and the knowledge about those issues. We have the access and the knowledge about Kansas. That’s where our work can inform the most people.

We will also restrain ourselves from overheated speculation or hyperbole. You could write countless pieces about bad things that might happen. I don’t think those serve readers especially well. Again, such content can be found elsewhere.

Demagogues in Washington, D.C., want nothing more than to panic and overwhelm those who disagree with them politically. I believe they want to either provoke extreme reactions — which they can then exploit — or shut down opponents altogether. The only way to deal with such an approach is to not accept its premises. I don’t, and you shouldn’t either.

Remain vigilant. Stay calm. Never silence yourself.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.