At one point in the Groesbeck Room of the Manhattan Public Library late Saturday morning, a woman in the audience just said it.
“What the hell is going on over there?”
That was more or less the sentiment about Topeka during the panel discussion with area legislators hosted by the Manhattan chapter of the bipartisan Women for Kansas group.
State representatives Tom Phillips and Sydney Carlin of Manhattan were present, along with Sen. Tom Hawk, also of Manhattan. Rep. Susie Swanson of Clay Center also joined.
Rep. Ron Highland of Wamego — chair of the House Education Committee — was invited, but did not attend.
Discussion was moderated by Manhattan Republican Lana Oleen, who was the former Senate Majority Leader in Topeka. Oleen served as a state senator from 1989 to 2004.
Adrienne Olejnick, the director of the Rossville Community Library and a member of the Rossville City Council, is Highland’s Democratic challenger and was present as an audience member.
Nearly 40 supporters of the chapter were in attendance and asked lawmakers questions ranging from tax policy and education to the state supreme court.
There was an obvious air of dissatisfaction in the room concerning these issues, especially when it came to the state’s handling of its budget, which has failed to meet revenue expectations and is facing massive debt, and the state’s attempts to more easily impeach state supreme court justices.
Many in the audience expressed worry about the state of schools and roads in the future.
While the lawmakers present Saturday have largely voted against many of the measures that have put the state in such shape, Phillips felt the frustration — even though many women in the audience went out of their way to say the frustration wasn’t directed at them individually.
“My sense is that they have some frustration about the direction things are going in the state and they want to get involved in the political area and try to have a positive impact on the direction of the state,” Phillips said. “I’m impressed with this group. It seems to be growing in numbers in terms of their interest level and their participation.”
Swanson agreed.
“The more citizens we have that are well-informed, know the consequences of the legislation that is being proposed and passed, the better off we are,” she said. “We need to know what’s going on and put people in Topeka that will represent the future we want to see.”
Hawk, the lone Democrat on the panel, said he disagreed with Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s past declarations that the “sun is shining in Kansas.”
“It’s not shining in Kansas, because of those tax policies and the attacks on public education that have occurred, because of they haven’t had the money and they haven’t supported teachers or the children or the schools,” he said. “This group is all about getting back to that reasonable path.”
Phillips and Swanson told the audience they have not seen much evidence of fiscal conservatism in the Topeka, especially citing the way the state borrowed $1 billion in bonds to stabilize KPERS, otherwise known as the Kansas Retirement System for Public Employees.
