New Committee Chairpersons

Well, it's that time of the year. This is when the standing committees of the Shawnee City Council get new chairpersons.

Finance and Administration - Michelle Distler
Public Works & Safety - Mickey Sandifer

Is Talia MIA?

Well, it's been over 2 months since I emailed State Rep Talia with a question about cigarette taxes.

He has still failed to respond. Wonder how many pieces of mail he will send me when he runs for reelection. Good job kid...........ignoring your constituents.

Ste Rep Quigley has also ignored the question, but she doesn't represent the district I live in...but she does represent part of Shawnee.

Bits, Pieces and Oddball Items

Hmmmmmmm, I've been quiet this week, and, forgot to comment on a few items.

Monday's (4/13/09) Council meeting: The recycling task force recommendations took up most of the time of the meeting. A copy of their full report is available on the city's web site http://www.cityofshawnee.org/cityclerk/pdf/recycling_report_040709.pdf . It is quite lengthy and at the meeting a synopsis was presented. The city staff still needs to do more work on a final proposal for the council to consider, and the council is going to have some tough questions to answer (continue with multiple trash haulers, go with a city wide contract for only one, and various other items).

What I found a little strange was the manner in which some council members made inquiries of the task force members. Some of the questioning seemed to be almost brutal and bordered, IMHO on "third degree" old fashioned interrogations.

Was really laughing when the subject of political contributions came up regarding those made by Deffenbaugh. One council member (Straub) stated something to the effect that he didn't want folks to feel that his vote was influenced by that. Another council member (Kuhn) said she thought it was a positive that Deffenbaugh thought she could best represent her ward. Then a representative from Deffenbaugh made a comment that his company donated to any candidate that asked. A little chuckling on my part. Only one council member has never received any donations from anybody (individual or company) and that is Michelle Distler.

State Legislature: I blew this one. The state has been considering many items. Two of which I'd like to make brief comments on.

A possible change to the state constitution to be more specific about all persons having the right to keep and bear arms. That would change the expression from the "people" which some have interpreted as meaning a militia. That change is definitely needed.

A requirement that before a city can annex land that the property owners of the proposed annexed area be allowed to vote on that. Definitely a needed item. The recent debacle in southern Johnson County near Stilwell by Overland Park is a classic example of why that is needed. Many folks buy land in the country because they don't want to be part of a city. They deserve the right to choose.

Blog Counter Changes

Was having some problems with the previous stat report feature.

Changed service providers.

The current counter reflects a total of all visitors since 6/17/07, of which 4,512 were before today.

Condolences to the Goode family

Condolences to council member Frank Goode and his family on the recent passing of his wife Mary Rose.

Dancing in the Streets

When things work out the way you want them to, what else is there to do, but, .............. to go Dancing in the Streets.

If you can't see the embedded video here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdvITn5cAVc

Straub Strikes Out

Kevin Straub lost his bid to be elected to the De Soto US 232 board, for the second time. That makes it two in a row for him in his attempt to get elected to that board.

Actually, he got stomped 1321 to 983 (57.29% to 42.63%). Maybe he should have handed out those t-shirts to voting adults........ :-) :-) :-) :-)

On another issue, he has repaid the city the funds advanced/reimbursed for the NLC trip to DC that he didn't take.

First Amendment Rights - Or Exploitation

The First Amendment is a very important right. Heck, just look at this blog. One thing, and I am not a legal scholar, eventhough the First Amendment guarantees free speech, it is my understanding it does not require any entity to provide the soapbox for that speech.

That is why I find this article in the Shawnee Dispatch to be very interesting:
http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2009/apr/01/connections-course-stirs-campaign-pot/

Apparently Kevin Straub went to a school with a bunch of his T-Shirts about saving the Museum Class. But, the T-Shirts also had his campaign web site URL on them. Now, is it right to hand these out to children, on schoool property? Knowing kids will take them because they are free?
Is this situational awareness?

If you'd like to see what the shirt looks like go to his campaign web site:
http://www.kevinstraub.com/tshirts.html
Then click on the "T-Shirt" link

Not sure if even the US Supreme Court could come up with a majority opinion on this one.
I have mine though. Would have preferred to see him go to a strip mall or a busy intersection and hand them out to voting adults.

Read the article, visit his site, look at the shirts, and decide for yourselves.

Candidate's Forum - Real Or A Set Up?

Interesting article in the Shawnee Dispatch

http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2009/apr/01/usd-232-candidates-share-views-through-forums/

Since when does a candidate (Straub) set up a forum for himself and other candidates? Different to say the least. And then one of his political contributors is the moderator?

For video clips (which another candidate tried to stop) check these out.
Also, info at the end of each clip tells you how to get copies of the full video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak_sHQLDEQU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ph9j910URw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV5WSYrKc1Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM5Rx982REU

Read the article, view the video clips, and the full video if you want, and then decide.