Greetings from the campaign trail!
I believe momentum is building on our side, and it’s a sweet thing to see and feel.
Wherever I go, people tell me they think the proposed half-cent sales tax for “translational medical research” is not a county government priority or responsibility and that taxpayers should not have to pick up the tab for the proponents’ extravagant, $1 billion program.
One of the things that galls me about this tax is that it did not originate with county government. Our civic leaders hurled it at the Jackson County Legislature, and it crashed down on the courthouse steps like a meteor, hissing and smoking.
Almost invariably, proposed tax proposals start within governments. For example, let’s say that city officials are facing a backlog of road, bridge and curb repairs. The bureaucrats might take their case to the City Council and ask the council to put a quarter-cent sales tax on the ballot (or some other tax or fee) to finance the project.
Another example: The Parks Department needs more money for the zoo and for other park district improvements, and it asks the City Council to put a half-cent sales tax on the ballot.
By the way, that’s exactly what happened last year, and voters approved the new tax. Moreover, it passed with no help from the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City (the group that is behind the medical-research tax), which refused to endorse it.
The point is, the civic bigwigs foisted the latest tax proposal on the County Legislature in August, just three weeks before the deadline for putting a measure on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Pressured by wealthy people, the Cowardly Legislature voted to put the measure on the ballot, even though nobody seemed to like it except County Executive Mike Sanders.
Sanders is sucking up to the Civic Council in hopes that its members will shower him with large contributions when he runs for statewide office.
The whole thing stinks.
**
…Anyway, I wanted to tell you how the endorsement battle is shaping up and show you a couple of photos.
As you know, we — the opponents — have had a very successful two weeks, with Freedom Inc. recommending a “no” vote last week and the Citizens Association putting its “bullshit” stamp on the measure this week.
Earlier, the local branches of the League of Women Voters and the NAACP came out against the measure, which will be Question 1 on the Nov. 5 ballot. (It will be the only question on the ballot in all but one municipality.)
On the other side, here are the groups and organizations that have endorsed the proposal:
The Committee for County Progress, Firefighters Local 42, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, the Mattie Rhodes Center and the Latino Civic Engagement Collaborative.
Of those, the firefighter union is the most significant because the firefighters and their families go to the polls and vote. In their spare time, the firefighters should be teaching civics classes in our local high schools.
I have no idea why the firefighters have endorsed the issue, other than that, like Sanders, I’m sure they want to be in good stead with civic leadership when it comes time to battle with the city over salaries and departmental manpower.
Certainly they aren’t for it because they’ve got hearts of gold and want to see cancer, diabetes and multiple sclerosis stamped out right here in Jackson County.
**
Now on to those photos.
Here’s a photo of one of four billboards the Committee to Stop a Bad Cure has up around town. This one — and the board directly behind it — is at 80th Terrace and Wornall, on the east side of the street.
And here’s a new photo of me, which I have put on the committee’s stopabadcure.org website.
Be sure to check out that website periodically. New posts go up every other day or so. A new one — delving into what “translational research” is all about — went up today.
Pax vobiscum (Peace be with you.) But let’s continue fighting like hell!
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Your picture should be a thumbs down.
Vote “no,” yes? (You know I’m Mr. Positive, John.)
It sends mixed signals.
I don’t think there’s cause for alarm…You’re paranoid. What have you got to be paranoid about, John?
I’m a purist. You can’t have a button that says no to the tax and then give it a thumbs up. Some where down the road some academician will try and analyze the mixed signals in that photo and conclude you really were for the tax sort of like some lefties have analyzed National Velvet and decided that the blond girl with the black horse is a metaphor for racial oppression. But why the discussion all of a sudden about paranoia? Are you projecting your own paranoia now that you’ve taken on 100 of the most powerful CEOs in the city and many of their high powered law firms – all of whom are planning on monitizing this in myriad ways beyond our imaginations.
John, I was joking!
Don’t fixate on the damn photo; everybody knows where I stand.
Remember, it’s me, your buddy…No rekindling of those long-ago differences.
Fitz,
Another way of getting a measure on a ballot is “citizen committees”. In Independence during the late 90s, for instance, the City Council and other city leaders and movers and shakers wanted to address its decaying streets and parks which were sorely underfunded. Each council member appointed a non-elected person to the committee, which studied the city’s budget and then came to the council with a request to put a sales tax measure on the ballot. Some might dismiss “citizens committees” as political cronies who will easily come to the same conclusion as the politicians who appointed them to the committee. But it beats having a group of wealthy elites _ many of whom don’t live in the county that would be paying the tax_ promoting it.