By: Benjamin Hodge (Diary)  |  February 22nd at 10:20 PM  | 

PART 4 OF 4 about poll in Gardner, Kansas.  You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, and part 3 here. In August 2011, I polled Kansas’ second-largest city of Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City, MO.  We learned, in part: 67% of voters wanted to balance the city budget through cuts in spending, and only 23% wanted higher taxes. Asked a different | Read More »

By: Benjamin Hodge (Diary)  |  December 29th at 03:36 AM  | 

PART 1 OF 4. Click here for the full results and methodology to our 22-question poll of likely April 2013 voters in Gardner, Kansas. The city of Gardner, Kansas, is a suburb of Greater Kansas City and one of the fastest growing cities in the state.  In 2010 to 2011, the entire state grew at a 0.6% rate, while Gardner experienced almost three times the | Read More »

By: Benjamin Hodge (Diary)  |  December 11th at 02:19 AM  | 

Congratulations to Commissioner-elect John Toplikar.  Out-raised 15 to 1 and out-endorsed, Toplikar beat the incumbent 67% to 33%. The political action committee I chair in Kansas got involved in one race this cycle: the 6th district county commission race in Johnson County, Kansas.  The race involved two functional incumbents, both Republican:  a conservative former Commissioner John Toplikar, and liberal Commissioner Calvin Hayden, who beat Toplikar by | Read More »

By: Benjamin Hodge (Diary)  |  November 1st at 10:18 PM  | 

 The Topeka Capital-Journal joined Democratic Senate leader Anthony Hensley in: Promoting tax and spend policies that damage businesses Insulting a major business after it leaves town Stating clearly that they expect businesses to ask their approval and permission before making decisions Proposing anti-business “solutions” — picking winners and losers by taking money from most businesses, and giving “incentives” to a small number of businesses Sending | Read More »

By: Benjamin Hodge (Diary)  |  October 17th at 09:53 PM  | 

Above is the audio for a phone call about John Toplikar, the Republican choice and fiscal conservative choice for Johnson County Commission. It’s in southwest Johnson County, a suburb of Greater Kansas City. The district has about 50,000 voters, which is larger than a state senate district in Kansas. The call was paid for by Kansans for State & Local Reform, which I chair. Audio: | Read More »

By: Benjamin Hodge (Diary)  |  October 12th at 09:20 PM  | 

Brief update:  At the end of the article, I’m going to pre-emptively write a rebuttal to unfair and misleading attacks about John Toplikar, the kind that appeared at the original location to the video below (at mrcTV.org), and which were written by anonymous commenters who won’t go on the record.   Above is the audio for a phone call about John Toplikar, the Republican choice | Read More »

By: Benjamin Hodge (Diary)  |  August 15th at 06:09 PM  | 

Read my recent Email as a Web page, here. The vote is expected tonight at Overland Park City Hall.  It impacts everyone in Kansas City. Benjamin B. Hodge – Chair, State & Local Reform Educational Group of Kansas – State Representative (Overland Park and Olathe), 2007-’08 – Johnson County Community College Trustee, 2005-’09 Monday, August 15, 2011 TONIGHT, OVERLAND PARK LIKELY TO INCREASE PROPERTY TAXES | Read More »

By: Benjamin Hodge (Diary)  |  August 1st at 02:46 PM  | 

Connect on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend Benjamin B. Hodge – Chair, State & Local Reform Group of Kansas – State Representative (Overland Park and Olathe), 2007-’08 – Johnson County Community College Trustee, 2005-’09 – Chair, Special Committee on Eminent Domain and Property Rights, County Government, 2006 – Kansas Republican Party Delegate, 2009-’10 Monday, August 1, 2011 Tonight: Your one and only public | Read More »

By: Benjamin Hodge (Diary)  |  March 9th at 01:25 AM  | 

The following article is published in Kansas City’s new monthly print newspaper, The Citizen, during this month of March 2011.  If you’re in Kansas City, please contact The Citizen’s owners to ask how you might help make the paper as successful as possible (for example, if you know of coffee shops or bars where the paper can be dropped off for free to readers. This article is about how | Read More »

By: Benjamin Hodge (Diary)  |  April 19th at 08:34 PM  | 

On KCUR/NPR 89.3 FM. This aired on Tax/Tea Day, on Thursday, April 15, 2010. The reporter was Laura Ziegler. Click here to “watch” the audio of NPR’s Tea Party interview at YouTube’s site, along with a slideshow of pictures from the 2009 and 2010 Tea Parties. To clarify two things from the interview: I’m described as a libertarian.  That’s not incorrect, but “conservative” is probably more | Read More »