Brett Parker

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Voter’s Rights

Last week, I introduced the Free State Elections Act (House Bill 2538, and Senate Bill 326) that would lift the burdensome birth certificate requirement, allow for voting day registration and end the Crosscheck program. The right of every person, no matter where in Kansas they live, to have equal access to the voting booth on election day is a right that should in no way be infringed.

This law helped many people to defend their rights in case of lost documents, which people voted for. There is an article about this in the economics essay writing service at https://mid-terms.com/informative-economics-essay-writing/

Voter fraud, which the Kobach GOP claims is a rampant problem, is actually nothing of the sort. In the entirety of the 2022 elections, there were approximately 135 million votes cast, and only four confirmed cases of voter fraud. So why has the GOP, and in particular Kris Kobach, been lying to you? Because they seek to disenfranchise large blocks of voters – particularly African-Americans – in order to ensure fewer people can vote, which is how many Republicans win elections.

The aforementioned Crosscheck – which shares voter data between the 28 states that participate in the program – succumbed to a security breach last week, releasing the private information of thousands of voters (including my own). This predictable and horrendous breach of privacy must no longer be allowed. This system gets it wrong 99 percent of the time (literally) and too often removes lawfully registered voters from its rolls because it confuses two people with identical names and birthdates.

The Illinois State Legislature is on its way to revoking the state’s membership in Crosscheck. Kansas should do the same. Supporting fair and equal elections are truly the minimum requirement of our government entities. I am dedicated to forwarding these rights and to restore the trust in our election process through The Free State Elections Act.

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New Years Resolution: Transparency

As the first month of the new year draws to a close, it has been an excellent time to reflect on the previous year. What did we do wrong? What did we do right? What lessons did we learn that we can put toward 2022 and beyond? Indeed these are numerous. The reports made last year by the Kansas City Star in regards to the functions of the Kansas Government were troubling to say the least, and the past mistakes detailed in the reports are tragic; but the worst thing we can do about them is nothing.

I have been a proponent of increased transparency since I was elected last year. It’s incredibly important for Kansans to be well-informed, and for the state government to keep nothing hidden from its citizens. Which is why I’ve touted legislation that will prohibit anonymous votes. Trust is something that has been missing from Kansas politics for some time now, and it’s up to us, your elected officials, to restore that trust. Making it easy for our constituents to know how we voted on a bill is just one way we can do that.

The legislative session has been productive so far, and I’m excited by the possibilities of what we might be able to accomplish this year for the state of Kansas. The welfare of children, fair pay for teachers and equal protection under the law for all Kansas residents are just some of the things worth fighting for.

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Taking Politics out of Redistricting


I have introduced a constitutional amendment (HCR 5011) which was created to help give a greater voice to all voters in Kansas. It does so by taking the currently very politicized act of redistricting and establishes an independent commission to make the process for the people, not for the party.

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Our House District 29

 House District 29

 

A lot of people don’t really get to know their state districts so we wanted to give a breakdown of 29.

For the top three-fourths of the district, the northern border is 95th St, the western border is mostly highway 69, and the eastern border is mostly Metcalf Ave. The bottom fourth of the district gets a little trickier with the western border shifting over to Antioch Rd and the southern border ending in different places (the furthest south it gets is 132nd St).

Alongside all the residential areas, we have Corporate Woods, Rosana Square Shopping Center, and Brookridge Golf & Fitness. We have schools from both the Blue Valley and Shawnee Mission districts. We also have 12 city parks including Indian Creek Recreation Center, Indian Valley Park, and the Tomahawk Ridge Aquatic Center.

We think our district is pretty nice and we want to work to keep it that way.

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Kansas’s Reputation

“Kansas will be this hole in the ground. There will be yellow tape around it and you will drive up and stop and say, ‘Woah, I better not go into that hole’.” Kansas House Representative Valdenia Winn made this comment during a discussion about the direction Kansas is headed and how the rest of the country will feel about us.

And she is not the only one who worries about such a future for the Sunflower State. The increasing instability caused by the policies of Brownback and other extreme conservatives has led to many people avoiding our state all together.

Earlier this year, a teacher decided to leave Kansas for another state specifically due to the “uncertain situation” here. (http://shawneemissionpost.com/2022 /07/01/sm-east-gifted-teacher-cites-uncertain-situation-in-kansas-a-reason-for-move-from-district-51962) What’s sad is that she was actually working at the Shawnee Mission school district – one of the better districts – and she still did not feel comfortable enough to stay.

Recently, the business Pathfinder Health Innovations actually moved across the state line into Missouri because of what “Sam Brownback and his cronies” have done to the economy, education, and medical field – all areas which Pathfinder is concerned with. (http://www.startlandnews.com/2022 /06/ceo-kansas-politics-pushed-pathfinder-innovations-missouri/)

These two aren’t the only ones leaving either. United Van Lines is a moving company which recently shared its data showing that more people are leaving Kansas than coming in. (http://kmuw.org/post/study-more-people-are-leaving-kansas-moving) People can see that we are becoming that hole in the ground that Rep. Winn fears.

The nation has taken notice of Kansas’s ailments, especially since we were featured on a segment of Late Night with Seth Meyers where he focused on Brownback’s tax cuts and what that has done to the state budget. (http://shawneemissionpost.com/2022 /03/23/pulse-of-northeast-johnson-county-do-national-comedians-jabs-do-serious-damage-to-kansass-reputation-48604) Surely, no one saw that video and was eager to give Kansas a try.

But it’s not Seth’s fault; he was just pointing out the obvious. The fault lies with Brownback and the legislators who continue to support him. Legislators like House Representative James Todd who seems to put Brownback’s wants over Kansas’s needs. This election is our opportunity to turn things around for Kansas. To give our beautiful state a fighting chance for a future.