KCI Komedy Part II

About one year ago I posted a short item about the possible changes at KCI airport. Please see http://shawneeray.blogspot.com/search?q=KCI+Komedy

More stories have been appearing lately about the possibility of changing the configuration of KCI.

The airport comes under the authority of the City of KCMO through its Aviation Department.

Having flown in and out of KCI I can personally say it is a pleasure compared to other airports with the single or central terminal design. Friends, relatives and business associates who have come through KCI also marvel at its positive uniqueness.

KCI is a true regional airport.

The questions I'd like to see answered are:

1. How many Kansas residents (numbers and percentages) utilize KCI? Possibly even broken down by county.

2. How many tourists (numbers and percentages) visiting, have a Kansas location as their destination?

3. How many business travelers (numbers and percentages) have a Kansas location as their destination?

4. How many of those above would like to see the configuration of the airport remain the way it is. (Supposedly it was designed with the possibility of a 4th circular terminal being built if necessary)

5. How much input will Kansas residents and businesses be permitted regarding any changes?

A Video Worth Watching

This was on You Tube and is currently being passed around the net.

Definitely worth the two minutes to view..........especially the ending............

Food for Thought

Received this in an email from a friend of mine. Seems to hit the nail on the haed.


FOOD FOR THOUGHT
You couldn't get a job at McDonalds and become district manager after 143 days of experience.
You couldn't become chief of surgery after 143 days of experience of being a surgeon.
You couldn't get a job as a teacher and be the superintendent after 143 days of experience.
You couldn't join the military and become a colonel after a 143 days of experience.
You couldn't get a job as a reporter and become the nightly news anchor after 143 days of experience.

BUT....From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United State Senator, to the time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory committee, he logged 143 days of experience in the Senate.That's how many days the Senate was actually in session and working.After 143 days of work experience, Obama believed he was ready to be Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World, and fill the shoes of Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK and Ronald Reagan. .......................143 days?

We all have to start somewhere. The senate is a good start, but after 143 days, that's all it is, a start.

AND, strangely, a large sector of the American public seems to feel comfortable with this and campaigning for him.We wouldn't accept this in our own line of work, yet some are OK with this, for the President of the United States of America ?

Come on folks, we are not voting for the next American Idol.

Election 2008 Survey Results from 8/30/08

Our survey questions posted 8/30 are ready. Remember, these are not necessarily scientific in nature.

Guess we might have to do one closer to the election:

1. Who is your choice for President/VP?
McCain/Palin 62.2%
Obama/Biden 29.7%
Not sure 8.1%

2. Was Palin a good choice by McCain?
Yes 55.6%
No 33.3%
Not sure 11.1%

3. Was Biden a good choice by Obama?
Yes 51.4%
No 27.0%
Not sure 21.6%

4. Who is your choice for Congressman, 3d Dist?
Dennis Moore 54.1%
Nick Jordan 32.4%
Not sure 13.5%

5. Who is your choice for Johnson County District Attorney?
Steve Howe 43.2%
Rick Guinn 32.4%
Not sure 24.3%

Results From Survey of 8/28

On 8/28/08 we posted:

Do you think Pflumm and/or Straub should resign considering the manner in which they responded to inquiries about the Wash. DC dinner?

Or maybe a recall?


Here are the results, not necessarily scientific, but most on-line polls aren't. Interesting at least.

1. Should Council Member Pflumm resign?

Yes 94.7%
No 5.6%

2. Should Council Member Straub resign?

Yes 97.4%
No 2.6%

3. Should Council Member Pflumm be subject to recall?

Yes 78.9%
No 21.1%

4. Should Council Member Straub be subject to recall?

Yes 81.6%
No 18.4%

KC Chiefs

Actually, the purpose of this post is to test a third polling format.

We have already tried two different poll formats and want to see which one we will use going forward.

Take the poll about the Chiefs. Will they make it to the playoffs?

Online Surveys & Market Research

Election 2008 8/30/08

OK, we are going to try another survey. This time using a different survey

Click Here to take survey

What do you think?

Do you think Pflumm and/or Straub should resign considering the manner in which they responded to inquiries about the Wash. DC dinner?

Or maybe a recall?


Click here to take our Online Survey



Results will be published shortly after the 10 day period.

Council Members Should not Mislead the Community

How sweet it is.

Now the citizens of Shawnee will know what kind of arrogance is shown by certain council members.

Dan Pflumm's little Tijuana Two Step is shown for what it is, as the blog entry goes in as a letter.

http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2008/aug/26/letter_pflumm_statement_full_holes/

Presidential Campaigns That go On, and On and On

When Sen Obama announced Saturday that Sen Joe Biden was going to be his running mate, he made the statement from the same spot where he had begun his campagin "nineteen months earlier".

Nineteen months we have been subjected to Presidential campaigning, from both parties. And the campaign still has another 2 1/2 months to go. This is way too much.

When JFK announced his candidacy, it was right after New Years, 1960, about 10 months before the election.

Does the length of the Presidential campaign this year have anything to do with candidates needing to raise hundreds of millions of dollars? Is this a trend?

Will the next Presidential campaign begin the day after the next President is sworn in?

Don't laugh. That's a possibility. The presumptive democratic nominee, Sen. Obama has spent almost his entire senate career running for President. This is not the time for on the job training.

Anyway, just to get one thing out of the way, I'll be voting for McCain, as the lesser of two evils.

The Holes in Pflumm's Statement

To understand my comments here one really needs to read councilmember Pflumm’s statement from the 8/11 council meeting and published in the Shawnee Dispatch at: http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2008/aug/12/letter_dc_dinner_explained/

Mr. Pflumm’s statement is so full of holes, as to make a piece of Swiss cheese look like solid steel. Anything I am about to say can be verified by reviewing the minutes of Shawnee council meetings on 6/23, 7/14 & 7/28.

First Mr. Pflumm states that informal meetings can enlist support for City’s needs and goals. This is true, if you know who you are meeting with.

Over the course of the three council meetings neither Mr. Pflumm nor Councilmember Straub were sure whether they met with 2 or 3 senate staffers. Names were used based on business cards in Mr. Pflumm’s possession (which leads me to believe that neither of them made any contemporaneous notes for use as follow up). One of those names proved to be of a person who never attended the dinner.

His statement at the 8/11 council meeting finally gave the correct names. He also says that these individuals can verify that. What Mr. Pflumm fails to mention is that it wasn’t until the 7/28 council meeting that he finally found out who he really had dinner with. And how did he find that out? Because I provided an email from Sen. Robert’s office denying that any member of that office was there, and then summarized a phone call with a member of Sen. Brownback’s office who supplied the correct names.

He would like folks to think that these were simple mistakes. I do not consider these simple mistakes. I consider them negligence and a complete lack of due diligence. If a councilmember does not know who they had dinner with, how important can that dinner be? In view of the fact that our council members do not dine every day with senate staffers this event should have stood out in their minds. If one does not know who they had dinner with, how can they follow up to see if their discussions have produced any results? This now makes me wonder what was discussed at that dinner.

KC Star's Take on the Situation

Their reporting of the situation

http://www.kansascity.com/318/story/734825.html

What's for Dinner?

Well, this week’s council meeting was covered by the Shawnee Dispatch in two areas. One area was the story of the meeting and the other area was an editorial.

These can be viewed at:

The article: http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2008/jul/30/dinner_guests_answer_elusive/

The editorial:
http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2008/jul/29/editorial_unwanted_leftovers/

What a mess. What we have is a situation where two members of the city council, over a period of three council meetings cannot get their stories correct as to what happened.

What they don’t realize (or don’t want to realize) is that it is not necessarily the money, but it’s the constant giving forth of misinformation. It is also their cavalier attitude. .

This can be evidenced by Pflumm’s comment that the whole thing was “no big deal”. No big deal when between him and Straub we can’t get straight answers as to how many people were there? No big deal when between him and Straub we can’t get straight answers as to the names of these people? No big deal when between the two of them we can’t get straight answers about alcohol being served?

Let’s look at it from another perspective. The big, “what if?”. What if a department head had gone to a meeting of their professional organization? And what if that department head had submitted an expense report with questionable information? And then, what if the city manager questioned that department head, and got multiple misleading answers?
What would happen? The department head would be subject to severe disciplinary action to include dismissal. And, based on previous performance at city council, these two would be screaming for that department head’s head…………on a platter.

Now, let’s look at something else. At the first meeting that this came up Straub indicated that the legislative staffers would remember Shawnee down the road. Would they? Gee, why should they when the two council members can’t even remember which staffers were there? And, the total number (4 or 5) can be counted on one hand. Also, let’s talk about follow-up. If these staffers were taken to dinner to possibly be able to help Shawnee in the future how can these council members perform follow up? What’s follow up? That’s contacting these staffers 3, 6, 9, 12 months down the road to see what is happening that could be beneficial to Shawnee? If you don’t know who they were, how can you follow up? Is that “due diligence”? I am sure, based on their non-government work background these gentlemen are familiar with “follow up”.

And last but not least: indicating the name of a US Senator’s staffer, that was not there just because one had their business card. Read the confirmation statement on these expense reports. Was that confirmation statement adhered to?

But then, Pflumm says “it’s no big deal”.

City council members need to be held to a higher standard, and I don’t think these two have been open enough on this situation. Again, misinformation on top of misinformation on top of misinformation.

Maybe the next time someone presents something to the council and Pflumm says “show me” maybe that person should give Pflumm his own response back of “because I said so”.

We can’t forget Straub’s accusation that this was a witch hunt. Witch hunt? You open the door when you Texas Two Step around the truth.

Anybody in wards 1 or 3 want to check out KSA 25-4301?

Apathy Can be Expensive

Yes, apathy can be very expensive, especially when it refers to folks not getting out and voting in elections.

We cannot afford to do anything that would jeopordize our right to vote. And for those who think and say that their vote doesn't count, I could present a list, ad nauseum, of close elections with low voter turn outs.

Please, exercise your rights............vote.........let your voice be heard at the polls.

For the record, yesterday, I sent in my mail ballot for next Tuesday's primary.

Responses to Questionnaire

Well, the responses are in. Actually only two of them. One from Senate Dist 10 and one from House Dist 23. That means that 5 candidates in total did NOT respond. Wild. These questionnaires were sent to the House and Senate Districts that I reside in. Now a real big question comes up: If these five people won't respond to questions from someone whose vote they want, would they act that way if elected? Or are the 5 who did not respond trying to "duck and cover" (old 50's term) from this particular topic? First the Senate candidates, followed by the House candidates. Remember, excise tax revenue drops as the number of packs sold declines, and we are talking millions of packs over the past 5-6 years.You might have to scroll down a bit:

Candidate's Replies 10th Senate

	BOLTON (D)	ROMAN (D)	PILCHER COOK (R)	GAMBLE (R)
Do you feel that we would or should have to raise the cigarette excise tax?	Objectively, I would have to say no to an increase in the states cigarette tax. The current excise tax is $0.79 a 28.3% tax rate. Missouri is $.17 a 6.9% tax rate while Oklahoma is $.23 a 9.3% tax rate per pack. th eimpact to Johnson and Wyandotte countis is apparent as a spread of $.62 cents a pack or $12.20 a carton must drive some revenues across the state line. As a regressive tax raising the excise tax will disporportionately impact lower income citizens and will simply drive more revenues across the state line; and may be one reason why the measure to raise Missouri's excise tax failed (rank 19th in the Union) to pass their legislature. In the time given to respond I was unable to confirm wheter revenue's in Missouri from the sale of tobacco products is on the rise but in a quick search I did not find an article suggesting a revenue shortfall in this category.	Non-responsive	Non-responsive	Non-responsive
Do you feel we would or should have to raise other taxes to make up for the shortfall created by the loss of cigarette excise taxes? If yes, which ones.	I am on record in support of raising the tax on all tobacco products not jsut cigarettes. Currently the state has a 10% wholesale tax on all tobacco products. I would be in favor of raising the wholesale tax on cigars, cigarettes, chewing tobacco and snuff to 15% or 18% while lowering the excise tax to $.50. This will shift the tax burden from the individual to the free market as cigarette purveyors adjust their margins to maintain their sales. At the same time the individual smoker can shop for a better price and the excise tax spread between Missouri and Kansas will be somewhat marginalized.	Non-responsive	Non-responsive	Non-responsive
Do you feel we would or should have to create new taxes to make up for the shortfall created by the loss of cigarette excise taxes? If yes, what are you proposing we tax?	No	Non-responsive	Non-responsive	Non-responsive
Do you feel we would or should have to reduce government services to make up for the shortfall created by the loss of cigarette taxes? If yes, which services should be reduced.	None that I can speak to authoritatively but the legislature is spending the people's money and should always look at ways to effectively deliver services in the most efficient manner possible.	Non-responsive	Non-responsive	Non-responsive
Any additional comments:	If the original intent of this measure was to help improve the general health of our citizenry and deter our youth from picking up the habit then a forward thinking legislature should have anticipated, forecasted and budgeted for a decrease in revenues; touting revenue erosion as a positive not a negative. This is yet another example of how our legislature is failing to lead. We must govern in the present with the future in mind; not govern for today with the special interest in mind!	Non-responsive	Non-responsive	Non-responsive

Candidate's Replies 23rd House

	BOGINA (R)	CRABTREE (R)	TALIA (D)
Do you feel that we would or should have to raise the cigarette excise tax?	No	Non-responsive	Non-responsive
Do you feel we would or should have to raise other taxes to make up for the shortfall created by the loss of cigarette excise taxes? If yes, which ones.	No	Non-responsive	Non-responsive
Do you feel we would or should have to create new taxes to make up for the shortfall created by the loss of cigarette excise taxes? If yes, what are you proposing we tax?	No	Non-responsive	Non-responsive
Do you feel we would or should have to reduce government services to make up for the shortfall created by the loss of cigarette taxes? If yes, which services should be reduced.	No	Non-responsive	Non-responsive
Any additional comments:	"I believe the legislature will shift to gaming revenues for new sources of general fund receipts ($125M +/- in license fees in 2009) to balance the budget. Depending upon the next session's testimony by the Kansas Health Policy Authority, there will be some movement to increase excise taxes per pack. I would not be favorable to this.	Non-responsive	Non-responsive

The Dispatch Reports on the Event

See the info at

http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2008/jul/15/reimbursement_council_member_included_cost_alcohol/

Dance Routine

Somehow, somebody changed the characters in the cartoon from what they were originally.

Gotta figure out how that happened

DC Dinner Part II

Last night's city council meeting was almost non-eventful until near the end.

Mr Straub again brought up his concept regarding council travel and how many meetings a year they could go to and what approval was needed.

That was when I said to myself, "enough is enough". Prior to the meeting I had received a copy of the itemized $392 dinner that he and Pflumm were the hosts for (it was on Pflumm's tab).

Refer back to my blog entry of 6/25/08. I had asked Mr Pflumm if there was alcohol included on that tab. He said no, and that I had to rely on his word. Horse nonsense. Open records requests are beautiful.

Now with the full receipt available I informed him (and Straub) that there was $78 worth of alcohol on that receipt ($10 beer and $68 wine). Mr Pflumm then apologized for his original misleading response, saying he was not prepared at that meeting to answer it (huh????). Simple question Mr Engineer. He said that there was alcohol served prior to dinner, but on a separate tab. Guess what? You charged the city for booze for dinner, eventhough you claim you didn't drink any of it. More than one somebody at the table did, and you didn't notice?

Now the kicker. Pflumm indicated on his expense report that there were four people at that dinner. He claimed himself, Straub and one aide each from Sen Brownback's & Sen Roberts' offices. I asked him to explain how come the receipt showed 5 persons and there were 5 entrées served. Whooops, now he and Straub suddenly remembered that there was another senate staffer at that dinner. Who? Hmmm, don't remember, gotta go home and look at the business cards. Amazing eh? Couldn't remember to add that 5th person "another senate staffer" to the list on the expense report? Didn't even think to volunteer the info when the matter of the dinner came up at the 6/23 meeting.

Yes, I am still curious who the 5th person was. Was it really a senate staffer or was it an individual not authorized to have their dinner paid for by the city? Will be looking forward to seeing if a name is provided. For the record: Open records requests apply to federal offices as well as local. I believe there are logs in Senate & Congressional offices that would indicate when staffers were taken to events (dinner, ball games etc) by individuals having an interest in something that the Congressman and/or Senator can provide.

Oh yes, Straub thought I was carrying on a vendetta against him and Pflumm on this blog.

No Kevin, not a vendetta. Just tired of BS, and sanctimonious holier than thou attitudes. I'm still ticked off by Pflumm's "because I said so" comment on 6/23, apology notwithstanding. And Kevin, you want to control council trips but boy, you and Pflumm sure took advantage on the last one. And anyway, there are many other topics on here that don't include the two of you.

After all of the above (and there was quite a lengthy discussion by the council on Straub's suggested "controls") Dawn Kuhn came up with a motion.

Dawn proposed that the council decline their scheduled pay increase. The motion carried.

Senate District 10, House District 23

The letters and questionnaires are in the mail.

Now what am I talking about? Well, what I am talking about is what will the candidates for these two offices say about the cigarette excise taxes. I sent them copies of the tax work up that was done in conjunction with the Shawnee Smoking Task Force.

Since the number of packs being purchased have substantially (we're talking tens of millions of packs) declined the question that needs to be asked is what will make up for the lost tax revenue? Remember, the excise tax does not necessarily go towards smoking related issues or healthcare. Everytime the state needed money it was an easy target.

Some of the options are to increase the existing excise tax, increase another tax, create a new tax or cut back on services.

It will be interesting to see what these candidates have to say since their predecessors (State Sen Nick Jordan and State Rep Judy Morrison) did a Tijuana Two Step and avoided direct answers. You can view previous blog posts of mine on this subject and those two individuals. Jordan is now running for Congress and Morrison is retiring.

The candidates who got the letters, back-up info and questionnaires are:

10th SENATE DISTRICT

Michael Bolton
Pete Roman
Mary Pilcher Cook
Sue Gamble

23rd REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT

Mark Talia
August Bogina III
John Crabtree

The candidates were requested to return the questionnaires by 7/25. That way we can post them prior to the primary election. Any questionnaires received after that date will not be posted, as we don't want candidate's to have an unfair advantage and feed off of other candidate's responses.

Rev Jesse Jackson, Medicine Man?

Need a legal opinion from someone.

The Rev Jesse Jackson was recently overheard to express a desire to perform a surgical procedure on Barack Obama. Specifically he was referring to testicular removal.

Would this be considered battery or practicing medicine without a license?