By: Benjamin Hodge (Diary)  |  February 22nd at 11:00 PM  | 

KU professor Stephen Ware:  ”This violates basic equality among citizens, the principle of one-person, one-vote. The current system elevates one small group and treats everyone else like second-class citizens.” Kansas is the only state in the union that grants lawyers a majority control of the judicial selection process.  I can’t imagine how it’s constitutional.  10,000 lawyers control 2.8 million Kansans.  In short, it doesn’t matter | Read More »

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)  |  January 12th at 11:20 PM  | 

PART 3 OF 4.  You can read part 1 here, and part 2 here. Paul Ibbetson interviews Benjamin Hodge on KRMR 105.7 FM about poll in Gardner, Kansas from Benjamin Hodge on Vimeo. Related links: – http://www.redstate.com/benjaminhodge/2012/12/29/gardner-news-runs-article-on-poll-about-property-taxes-and-mayors-election-in-fast-growing-kansas-city-suburb/ – http://libertylinked.com/posts/10138/full-poll-results—gardner/View.aspx “The Conscience of Kansas” runs daily at 5-6 p.m. in central Kansas on 105.7 FM “The Patriot,” the station that carries Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, and | Read More »

By: Benjamin Hodge (Diary)  |  January 2nd at 03:28 PM  | 

PART 2 OF 4.  You can read Part 1 here. Important note: this poll was done in early December 2012, long before Kansas Senator Pat Roberts voted to increase taxes on 77% of households, to increase taxes on “more than 80 percent of households with incomes between $50,000 and $200,000,” to increase the death tax, to increase taxes by $41 for every $1 in spending cuts, when | 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 17th at 01:15 AM  | 

KU professor Stephen Ware:  ”This violates basic equality among citizens, the principle of one-person, one-vote. The current system elevates one small group and treats everyone else like second-class citizens.”   Earlier this month, I posted an op-ed written by Stephen Ware in the Lawrence Journal-World.  Ware is a professor of law at the University of Kansas.  I encourage you to read that article.  In part, | Read More »

By: Benjamin Hodge (Diary)  |  December 13th at 06:00 AM  | 

Background: “John Toplikar’s encouraging victory in the election for Johnson County Commission, part 1 of 2″ at Redstate. Interview: “The Conscience of Kansas” runs daily at 5-6 p.m. in central Kansas on 105.7 FM “The Patriot,” the station that carries Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity. Listen live to 105.7 FM by clicking here.  Here is the link to the station’s Facebook page, and to its Web | 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)  |  December 4th at 10:58 PM  | 

KU professor Stephen Ware:  ”This violates basic equality among citizens, the principle of one-person, one-vote. The current system elevates one small group and treats everyone else like second-class citizens.” The Kansas judicial selection model is unlike any other state.  Like many states, Kansas uses the elitist, undemocratic ”Missouri system,” where law-degree-holders (not necessarily the same thing as those who know more about the law) have far more | 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 »