Personal Responsibility

Sam Brownback Destroyed Kansas, Now He’s Getting a Bailout

Written by SK Ashby

For the residents of Kansas, this may be welcome news, but for Governor Sam Brownback it's definitely great news.

The Kansas City Star and Kansas Public Radio report that Brownback will soon be named the ambassador to the U.N. for agriculture.

No offer has been extended yet, according to The Star’s sources, but the governor has discussed the possibility of taking a position as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for food and agriculture, a position that would move the Midwestern governor to Rome. [...]

Kansas Public Radio reported Wednesday afternoon that Brownback was poised to be named ambassador, citing an unnamed source who called it a “done deal.”

If you're Sam Brownback, this would be exceedingly convenient because, if he's shipped off to Rome, he'll no longer be responsible for cleaning up the mess he made.

Everyone knows Brownback's tax cut regime emptied the state's coffers, but there's so much more to it than that.

Brownback has fought a years-long battle against several public school districts because his administration could not be bothered to fund education at a level that is constitutional. Brownback has also fought a years-long battle against the state judiciary after the state Supreme Court ordered his administration to properly fund education. Brownback threatened to defund the judiciary and also signed a law stripping the judiciary of its authority to appoint district judges. That law was struck down by the state Supreme Court.

Brownback's tax cut regime also inspired a wave of average people to declare themselves businesses so they could avoid pay taxes, leaving the state in a permanent fiscal hole that's still wide open today following years of budget cuts and fiscal stunts. More recently, the Brownback administration decided it would stop publishing quarterly fiscal results so that no one would know how bad things are.

Brownback also refused to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, depriving the state of billions of federal dollars and healthcare for hundreds of thousands of people.

If Brownback is named ambassador to the U.N., he won't have to worry about any of this anymore. It'll be someone else's problem.

I imagine residents of Kansas would have mixed feelings about his departure. On one hand, he should be held responsible for the mess he's made but, on the other hand, everything he touches turns to shit and you're glad to see him go.