For readers living in Kansas or otherwise interested in Kansas politics, I would like to announce the formation of a PAC called Kansans for Reform of State and Local Government.  It is a state-wide PAC, and I do intend on endorsing candidates across the entire state.

Though, because of time limitations, I will first focus most of my energies on Johnson County, where 50% of voters are registered Republican, which has about 20% of the state’s voters, and which has about 30 local government bodies that receive billions in tax dollars.  Our Web site for now will be found at JohnsonCountyReform.com.

According to the Kansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity:

• State and local taxes in Kansas are at an all-time high, and they consume 11.2 percent of our incomes.
• Kansans in all income brackets are fed up with tax increases and government waste.

We will focus heavily on “good-government issues.”  Most of these issues are ones that voters enthusiastically support, but which, unfortunately, most government bodies passionately oppose.  These issues include:

• Income, sales, and property tax reform, including a super-majority requirement (and/or voter approval) in order to increase or create new taxes.
• Property rights.
• Mandatory, detailed spending transparency.
• Compliance with open records laws and open meetings laws.
• Competitive bidding for major contracts.
• Parent-driven school choice, particularly for the poor, for students who have learning disabilities, and for students who are being bullied.
• Opposition to taxpayer-funded lobbying.  At minimum, city councils that refuse to pick up the phone to contact state legislators and, instead, hire taxpayer-funded lobbyists should forfeit all salaries, and the city managers’ salaries should be decreased.
• First-amendment rights for government employees.  In particular, for faculty.  I can give you two cases in the last two years where, in Kansas, the KNEA refuses to represent teachers in cut-and-dry First Amendment-related cases (and where the punishment was overturned after a minimal amount of sunshine and pressure were applied).

One of our first projects will be establishing a fair and consistent rating system for state and local officials.  Before being elected to the Sedgwick County Commission in 2008, the well-respected Karl Peterjohn used to do this with the Kansas legislature through his Kansas Taxpayers Network (later absorbed by Americans for Prosperity).  And there’s never been a voter guide like this for most local offices.

It will likely be non-partisan, for a few reasons:

• All of our local offices are non-partisan.
• Some county offices are non-partisan.
• There do remain a significant number of conservative Democrats in the state, including just north of me in Kansas City, Kansas.
• For various reasons, there are large numbers of conservative voters (some fiscal, some social, some both) who have little patience for either major party, and who are uninterested in participating in our closed primary process.  I would like  to be able to effectively reach these voters.

I welcome your participation and input.  Thank you for your time.

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Benjamin Hodge publishes the Web site KansasProgress.com, based in Johnson County, KS, in the Greater Kansas City area.  Hodge is a delegate to the Kansas GOP, a former state representative, and a former board member at Johnson County Community College.  You can join Hodge’s efforts on Facebook, through his personal Web site, on Twitter, and through his PAC.