Redstate.com:

Lone Star Times reports that U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s website has posted a copy of a Texarkana Gazette editorial mocking Gov. Rick Perry for having received Sarah Palin’s endorsement:

Palin has a certain cachet among conservatives. … But Lord, have mercy, she is an outsider with an opinion about Texas politics and government. And she sounds like the Yankee she is, if we use the definition that Yankees come from north of the Red River.

If Perry relies too heavily on Palin, he may find himself with a lot of time to watch Russians from her front porch come January 2011.

The Hutchison people erred in putting such a poorly-conceived and ill-informed hit piece on their site. Calling Palin an “outsider” and a “yankee” is just myopic provincialism at best, and the digs at Palin, who is governor of a state which, like Texas, has a strong libertarian streak is risky. Texans and Alaskans both pride themselves on their spirit of rugged individualism, and slamming Palin in a state where conservatives admire and respect her isn’t the smartest of moves for KBH’s proto-campaign for governor to take.

Jeff Emanuel at Redstate.com:

In 2006, Governor Mitt Romney (R), working with a Democratic state legislature, passed and signed the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act, a groundbreaking piece of legislation aimed at ensuring that every citizen of the Bay State possessed health insurance, while simultaneously lowering the cost of health coverage and improving access to quality care.

Unfortunately, the program in practice has been a colossal failure, expanding state bureaucracy and government control over the health care market and provider-patient dealings, while simultaneously driving up health insurance premia, increasing health care costs, and creating a chronic shortage of providers - all at an annual price tag of over twice the originally-estimated $600 million.

The Star:

Fourteen-year-olds can still get a learner’s permit, but they’ll have to wait until their 16 and a half to get a full, unrestricted license. Currently, 16-year-olds can get a full license.

“Driving is a privilege and one that must be taken seriously,” Sebelius said. “Our roads will be safer, our children will be safer and other drivers will be safer.”

Under the new law, teens can get a license at 16, but they face six months of restrictions that include:

* A prohibition on driving with more than one non-sibling passenger under the age of 18.

* A ban on driving past 9 p.m. unless they’re heading home from school or work.

* No use of wireless devices like cell phones.

* New penalties for driving violations.

The Fix:

The last several weeks have not been kind to two senators — one Democrat, one Republican — who came to Congress together nearly three decades ago.

The Democrat is Sen. Chris Dodd (Conn.) who found himself caught up in the furor over bonuses granted to AIG executives, the latest in a string of negative stories for Dodd — Countrywide, the Irish cottage — that have badly imperiled his chances at reelection. And, Republicans have recruited a top-tier candidate to challenge Dodd in former Connecticut Rep. Rob Simmons.

The Republican is Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) who, as recently as a month ago, appeared to be headed to his easiest reelection race in recent memory. But, that was before his vote for the $787 billion economic stimulus bill drove former Rep. Pat Toomey (R) into a near-certain primary challenge. Specter, who narrowly defeated Toomey six years ago, quickly moved to shore up his ideological right flank — flip flopping to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act. Should Specter win the primary — and that is very much up in the air — his change of position on EFCA could hurt his general election appeal in a state as labor-heavy as Pennsylvania.

Both races crack the top five in our latest Senate Line. The number one ranked race is the most likely to switch parties in 2010.

Daily Mail:

A hedge fund manager who predicted the global credit crunch has said the financial crisis has been ’stimulating’ and the culmination of his life’s work.

George Soros, who predicted the global financial crisis twice before, was one of the few people to anticipate and prepare for the current economic collapse.

Mr Soros said his prediction meant he was better able to brace his Quantum investment fund against the gloabal storm.

But other investors failed to take notice of his prediction and his decision to come out of retirement in 2007 to manage the fund made him $US2.9 billion.

HT RCP:

Ken Blackwell:

The politics of division is at play within the conservative movement. Some predominately economic conservatives are at odds with some predominately social conservatives. This internecine spat is the result of conservatives forgetting they share a common opponent.

What these conservatives should firmly fix on is that they share a basic philosophy regarding the relationship of the individual to the state. Many believe the individual possesses various rights that define what it means to be an individual at a fundamental level. More than that, all conservatives believe the source of these rights is not government.

Most conservatives believe that these inalienable rights-such as life, liberty and property, “are endowed by our Creator.” To some, this is a personal and eternal God expressed in a formal faith tradition. To others, this is a less-defined but faithfully acknowledged God. Some acknowledge no “god” but still believe that there is something greater than the individual or the state. While those in the second or third categories might not attend the houses of worship of those in the first category, all accept the idea that our human worth is not derived from government.

The place of the individual vis-à-vis the state is the root of commonality for all conservatives, and the basic disconnect between conservatives and collectivists. Government exists not to confer rights, but instead to secure rights.

Former US Senator Rick Santorum:

The playing field looks promising for Toomey. Polls have Specter’s reelect number among Republicans at 25 percent - stunningly low.

That’s not the worst of it. Specter beat Toomey by 17,000 votes in 2004 largely by winning Southeastern Pennsylvania by 42,000. But since then, more than 83,000 Specter-supporting Republicans in the region have left the party.

Pennsylvania’s political Houdini has escaped similar predicaments in the past by burnishing his conservative credentials in the run-up to the primary - hence the announcement on card check this week. So, too, his potentially crucial vote against Solicitor General Ellen Kagan, which conservatives are touting as a death knell for her chances of being named to the Supreme Court.

Specter is also fighting President Obama’s bid for more government-run health care. The senator’s conference room still features his famous Rube Goldberg chart, which contributed to the collapse of Clinton-care in 1994.

The argument that Specter has the best chances in a general election will become more persuasive next year, when the GOP faithful face the harsh reality that they are more than a million registered voters behind the Democrats. However, thanks to the prospect of facing Specter, whoever wins the primary will not face an A-list Democratic opponent.

In 2004, President Bush and a Senate colleague from Western Pennsylvania made the difference for Specter. Those dogs don’t hunt anymore. This year, his help may come from Peg Luksic, Larry Murphy, and anyone else who helps split up the vote next spring - anyone other than Pat Toomey, that is.

It will be fun to watch. And watch I will.

Computerworld:

March 23, 2009 (Computerworld) Apple Inc. is still selling an $899 iMac desktop it discontinued in 2007, according to a recent newsletter released by the company. But that 17-in. model is only available to schools and colleges directly from Apple.

The March issue of Apple’s “eNews for Education” newsletter touts the recently-refreshed 20- and 24-in. iMacs but also notes that it still has a supply of 17-in. iMacs. “The new 20-in. and 24-in. iMacs deliver a 30% larger display, twice the memory and twice the storage,” the newsletter reads. “The iMac line also includes a 17-in. model starting at $899.”

Apple discontinued the 17-in. iMac — which featured a white plastic casing — when it revamped the desktop line in August 2007 by tweaking the design for a sleeker aluminum look.

From Olathe gov’t:

Olathe News - 3/30/2009

March 30, 2009
This Edition of E-News
• New Historic Marker in Place Downtown
• Special Event Planned at Mahaffie
• State of the City Friday
• Downtown Artwork on Display
• Police Department Fundraiser Planned
• Olathe Serve Day Correction No Council Meeting This Week
Released 3/30/2009
There will be no Olathe City Council Meeting on March 31, 2009 as it is the fifth Tuesday of the month. (more…)

K-State media:

In today’s news from K-State for Sunday March 29, 2009:

To view an online photo gallery, please visit http://www.k-state.edu/media/webzine/wefald/gallery.html

1) Leaving a legacy: K-State President Jon Wefald’s Imprint on the University to be Evident for Years to Come

2) K-State’s First Lady Ruth Ann Wefald Leaves Lasting Legacy to University Arts, Community Service and More

3) The Jon Wefald Legacy: K-State’s Research Enterprise Grows to Substantial New Heights (more…)

Computerworld:

March 26, 2009 (Computerworld) Dell Inc. announced on Tuesday a new PC that, among its other impressive specs, can be upgraded to sport as much as 192GB of ultrafast DDR3 RAM.

The Precision T7500 sports 12 memory slots, each of which can take a PC10600 stick (1333 MHz) of up to 16GB.

Most new desktop PCs have two to four RAM slots that can take up to 4GB modules of DDR2 memory that runs between 400 MHz and 1066 MHz in speed.

Not a high-end gamer PC, the Precision T7500 workstation (which starts at $1,800) is aimed at video game designers, engineers and digital animators.

KMBC:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Police arrested a woman on suspicion of leaving her baby alone for more than an hour. At about noon, a maintenance man at a south Kansas City apartment complex heard a baby crying. The man knocked on the door, but no one answered.The apartment manager got a key and found a 5-month-old girl alone inside the apartment, police said.The manager waited 30 minutes before calling police.

National Journal:

In 2002, Bush and his party seemed right for their moment. The other party appeared to be not just out of power but out of touch. September 11 had changed everything, and the Democrats didn’t “get it.”

Amid today’s economic crisis, the roles are reversed. Obama and his party seem right for their moment. It is the Republicans who seem beached by history, trapped by an irrelevant ideology in a new era.

But new eras don’t always last as long as expected. When the 9/11 tide subsided, Bush found himself far out at sea. He spent the last few years of his presidency forlornly paddling back to shore. He never did re-establish his shattered credibility with the broad American center. In the end, ironically, he inspired unity in only one regard: Most of the country disliked him.

Another accidental polarizer, another crisis-exploiting presidency, another well-intentioned overreach — all, perhaps, to be followed by another public backlash as the promise of consensus is broken and the center once again proves elusive: These are the last things the country needs. The hardest part of being an ambitious president at a moment of crisis and opportunity is contriving not to overshoot. After 2002, Bush never rose to the challenge of moderation. Can Obama?

LifeNews:

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A federal court on Monday ordered the Food and Drug Administration to reconsider its decision preventing minors from purchasing the morning after pill without a prescription. When the FDA made the Plan B drug available over the counter, it prohibited such sales to people under the age of 18.

While pro-life groups were upset the drug was made available without consulting a doctor, they said the limits in selling it to teenagers were necessary.

Today, U.S. District Judge Edward R. Korman order the FDA to make the drug available to women as young as 17 within the next 30 days and to consider reversing its entire decision on selling the morning after pill to minors.

Korman sided with abortion advocates who claimed the FDA didn’t follow its normal protocols when making the decision.

Computerworld:

March 26, 2009 (Computerworld) It’s unclear whether a report being prepared for President Barack Obama on federal information security preparedness will support recent calls for the creation of a new cybersecurity office within the White House, two lawmakers said today.

Instead, the report may recommend a more collaborative and cooperative strategy among federal agencies on the issue of cybersecurity without a single agency or department in charge, they said.

Members of the U.S. House Cybersecurity Caucus today met with Melissa Hathaway, acting senior director for cyberspace for the National Security Council and Homeland Security Council.

Hathaway, who is conducting a 60-day review of federal cybersecurity preparedness on behalf of the president, today presented a status report to members of the caucus.

Press release from The Wizards:

Kansas City trains the next four days in advance of their second home match of the 2009 season Sunday at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. The Wizards enter Sunday’s match against the San Jose Earthquakes 0-2-0 after one-goal losses to Toronto FC and the Colorado Rapids. Kansas City will train at CAB on Wednesday and Thursday before hosting the week’s press conference featuring Head Coach Curt Onalfo Friday at the team’s Swope Park Training (more…)

Reason:

Congress is outraged. Really, really outraged. Unbelievably, incredibly outraged. And there are certainly grounds for anger. Not at the insurance company AIG, which paid bonuses that are seen as intolerable, but at Congress, which blithely declined to prohibit them but is now shocked to find AIG doing what it was allowed to do. The Democrats who control Capitol Hill want revenge, as do many Republicans. So the House voted by a 328-93 margin to impose a 90 percent tax on the payments. In doing so, members resolutely avoided a couple of inconvenient realities. The first is that the fault, if any, lies with the same people who are now angry. The second is that the tax conflicts with the clear intent of the Constitution.

Capital-Journal:

After pitching Kansas State to its first victory at Baylor since 1966, Wildcat junior right-hander A.J. Morris was named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week on Monday.

Morris, who improved to 7-0 with the victory, struck out 10 Bears in a complete-game six-hitter. The Big 12 leader in ERA (0.39), Morris shared the award with Texas A&M relief pitcher Nick Fleece.

From K-State media dept.:

TO VIEW AND PRINT INDIVIDUAL NEWS ARTICLES, please go to http://www.k-state.edu/media
———————————————–
In today’s news from K-State for Monday, March 30, 2009:

1) MANHATTAN interest/ TIMELY: How Students Take Part in a Diverse Democracy Will Be Focus of K-State’s Chester E. Peters Lecture April 10

2) MANHATTAN interest/ TIMELY: Affirmative Action’s History and Future to be Topic of K-State’s Dorothy L. Thompson Civil Rights Lecture April
2

3) MANHATTAN interest/ TIMELY:  Three to Interview for Dean of K-State’s College of Architecture, Planning and Design

4) TIMELY: K-State Distance Education Summer and Fall Enrollment Under Way
(more…)

AEI:

KIPP KEY Academy in Washington, D.C. North Star Academy in Newark. Roxbury Prep in Boston. Amistad Academy in New Haven. These, and perhaps two hundred other high-performing schools nationwide, are the bright lights of the charter school movement. Despite social and economic disadvantages, their students not only trounce their district peers on state tests but also top statewide averages and, in some cases, surpass students from surrounding affluent suburban districts. Among these “gap-closing” schools, one broad approach, frequently called “no excuses” schooling, appears to dominate. The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) network of schools is the exemplar, but this approach is proliferating in other networks, including Achievement First and Uncommon Schools, and in stand-alone schools, many of which aspire to replicate themselves in coming years. But to narrow America’s shameful achievement gaps, we would need thousands more such schools. Is the “no excuses” approach sustainable, and can it be widely reproduced?

Reason:

“Most men die of their remedies, not of their diseases,” a smart-alecky Frenchman once observed. At this point, many Americans might be pondering a similar thought: What’s worse, the recession or the prescription?

It began with the federal government rescuing financial institutions because they were, allegedly, too big to fail. Somewhere along the line, treating this ailment included cajoling perfectly healthy financial institutions into accepting taxpayer medicine (some of those have returned the TARP funds) for the common good.

The AP:

Kansas Speedway is back in the casino business.

Kansas Entertainment, the partnership of the speedway and Baltimore-based Cordish Co., filed its application Monday with the Kansas Lottery to develop and operate a state-owned casino in Wyandotte County at the track’s No. 2 turn.

Townhall:

The bloodshed of the thousands of late-term abortions that Dr. George R. Tiller of Wichita, Kansas, performs each year vastly eclipses the death toll from the struggle over the slavery contest in Kansas in the years immediately prior to the Civil War. The slaughter in Tiller’s abortion clinic - by his own account he has performed over 60,000 abortions, with a “special interest” and focus on “late-term” abortions - should justly revive the label of “Bleeding Kansas.”

From State Senator Tim Huelskamp:

Dear Friend,

More than twelve years ago, I took a solemn Oath…

I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Kansas, and faithfully discharge the duties of the office of the Senate of the state of Kansas, so help me God.

The words are serious and weighty - and I take them seriously. They guide every action I take as a State Senator. And they should - for I gave my word.

However, when we look at Washington today, we wonder — how many take their Oath of Office seriously? How many have actually read the Constitution they claim to uphold? Not many it seems…

Taxes increase. Debt expands. Federal government gets bigger. Liberty decreases. Constitution has been forgotten. And then the pattern repeats. (more…)

The UK Independent:

Two hundred schoolchildren in Britain, some as young as 13, have been identified as potential terrorists by a police scheme that aims to spot youngsters who are “vulnerable” to Islamic radicalisation.

The number was revealed to The Independent by Sir Norman Bettison, the chief constable of West Yorkshire Police and Britain’s most senior officer in charge of terror prevention.

He said the “Channel project” had intervened in the cases of at least 200 children who were thought to be at risk of extremism, since it began 18 months ago. The number has leapt from 10 children identified by June 2008.

The programme, run by the Association of Chief Police Officers, asks teachers, parents and other community figures to be vigilant for signs that may indicate an attraction to extreme views or susceptibility to being “groomed” by radicalisers. Sir Norman, whose force covers the area in which all four 7 July 2005 bombers grew up, said: “What will often manifest itself is what might be regarded as racism and the adoption of bad attitudes towards ‘the West’.

AFP-KS:

Contact: Jen Rezac (785) 354-4237

Passage of budget stabilization bills indicates broad support for state savings account

TOPEKA - The free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity-Kansas released the following statement in response to Senate passage of a budget stabilization fund.

“AFP has been advocating for the passage of a budget stabilization fund since its inception,” said AFP-Kansas state director Derrick Sontag. “It’s encouraging that our legislators see the importance of establishing a rainy day fund to help our state weather economic downturns.

“The House and Senate have approved different versions of the budget stabilization fund, with the Senate including a constitutional amendment in its bill. Both measures passed by wide margins, which indicates broad support for this legislation.

“We look forward to ongoing discussions in both chambers to reach a compromise, and encourage the Legislature to approve a final bill prior to adjournment.

“The concept of creating a savings account is not one that is new to Kansans. As individuals we plan and prepare for times of hardship, and it’s not unreasonable to expect our state government to do the same.”

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is the nation’s premier grassroots organization committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org.

# # #

Jennifer Rezac
Kansas Communications Director
Americans for Prosperity
office: 785.354.4237
cell: 785.213.6338

Learn more about Kansas’ voice for economic freedom and growth at www.afpks.org

Investor’s Business Daily:

But the House Republicans’ “Road to Recovery” budget is not fantasy; it applies the clear lessons of economic history to our current economic woes.

After the economically debilitating 9/11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush cut income and investment tax rates across the board. The result was well over 8 million new jobs generated and about 4.5% unemployment for a long time.

Similarly, Ronald Reagan’s response to the deep recession early in his presidency was to cut income tax rates by 25% and lower the capital gains tax rate to 20% from 25%. A massive expansion ensued, extending well beyond his two terms. Today, House Minority Leader John Boehner, GOP Conference chairman Mike Pence and their colleagues want to prescribe the same medicine for what ails us.

With Democrats trying to sneak a sweeping overhaul of the country’s medical system into law, including a government-run health plan that would unfairly compete against private insurers, the GOP is offering “tax incentives for millions more working families and small-business owners to obtain access to coverage.” The GOP plan would also let people “shop across state lines to purchase affordable policies that best meet their needs.”

Most important, however, the Republican alternative replaces the biggest spending spree in history with deep tax cuts - a proven economic jump-starter. It would establish “a simple and fair tax code with a marginal tax rate for income up to $100,000 of 10%, and 25% for any income thereafter, with a generous standard deduction and personal exemption.”

TheNextRight.com:

After some 8 weeks of work and countless hours of meetings, research, analysis and discussions…the RNC Transition Team presented their findings and 100-Day Plans to Chairman Steele.  The last reports were presented this last Thursday.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele asked 10 RNC members from around the country and recruited a number of “politicos” and “consultants” to help analyze exactly what the RNC did…what it should do…and propose a 100-Day Plan to implement a new, fresh approach for the RNC.

I was most impressed with Michael’s initial meeting with the team where he challenged us to leave no stone unturned and not to be afraid to “think outside the box”.  He wanted us to challenge the status quo and just because things were done one way, it didn’t mean it had to be done that way going forward.

MRC:

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, in a taped interview from Mexico with Hillary Clinton on Thursday’s Today show, partially blamed the Bush administration for Mexico’s current drug cartel violence as she charged that “90 percent of the guns used by gangs” were available because the Bush White House and Congress let the assault weapons ban lapse. Mitchell even went as far to push the Secretary of State to “challenge the gun lobby” and “reinstitute” the ban.

ANDREA MITCHELL: And 90 percent of the guns used by the gangs come from the U.S., including the powerful assault weapons that were banned until Congress and the Bush White House let the ban expire.
MITCHELL TO HILLARY CLINTON: Why not take that on? It would be tough but why doesn’t the administration challenge the gun lobby and take on the assault weapons ban and reinstitute it?

Redstate:

Governor Update

Colorado: Former Rep. Scott McInnis (R-CO-3), after several times turning down the opportunity to run statewide, is now publicly saying he will challenge Gov. Bill Ritter (D). McInnis is said to be the CO Republican establishment’s first choice. Ritter is weak, so this is a legitimate race.

Georgia: The reported comeback of defeated Gov. Roy Barnes (D) looks rather anemic according to an Insider Advantage poll (3/17; 550 registered GA voters). Barnes fails to break 40% against three potential GOP candidates: Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, state Insurance Commissioner Mark Oxendine, and Secretary of State Karen Handel. He actually trails Cagle 39-35%. Barnes is a one-term Governor who lost his seat in 2002 to current incumbent Sonny Perdue (R). Perdue is term-limited in 2010.

Massachusetts: Add Deval Patrick (D) to the growing list of vulnerable Governors. A new Suffolk University survey (3/17-20; 400 MA voters) reveals that state Treasurer Tim Cahill would lead Patrick 35-30% in a Democratic primary match-up. Cahill says he’s not running. Patrick’s job approval is an upside down 40:49, meaning the Governor can expect a tough re-election campaign next year. Don’t forget, until Patrick’s victory in 2006, Republicans won the Massachusetts Governor’s chair four consecutive times.

New York: The Siena College poll referred to in our Senate column above, again confirms that Gov. David Paterson (D) is hemorrhaging politically. He loses 67-17% to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in a proposed Democratic primary, and 56-33% to Rudy Giuliani in the general election. The Cuomo-Giuliani match-up is a surprisingly close 51-41%, in favor of the Democrat.

From Mayor Funkhouser:

Funk’s Front Porch
27 March 2009

Dear Folks,

This Week’s City Business

The City Council passed the budget yesterday on a 12-1 vote. Although the budget included a majority of the Mayor’s recommendations, the Mayor was the only dissenting vote. The Mayor could not in good conscience vote for a budget that cut our police force by 12 million dollars. The Mayor said that this is a harmful cut that completely disregards his residents’ highest priority of having a strong police force protecting them. According to Police Chief Jim Corwin, cutting his department by 12 million dollars will cut 220 people from his department and will take dozens and dozens of police officers off the streets. Worse is that this move undoes a promise that was made to the citizens of Kansas City to add 20 officers per year to the department, which the Chief has been doing for 10 years now.

The Mayor was especially distressed by this action, because cutting the Police seemed to have more to do with personality clashes than about good government. And making decisions that affect an entire city based on personality clashes is no way to run a government. The Mayor fought hard to mediate the differences between the Chief of Police and the City Council. He brought proposals to the Council that offered to meet them halfway, and when they wouldn’t budge on that, he offered to meet them more than halfway. Every good government professional in City Hall said that the Mayor needed to put at least $3 million back into the Police Department’s budget in order to keep his citizens safe. And that was all the Mayor asked for yesterday. Not $12 million, but $3 million dollars to restore order to the Police Chief’s budget. When that fell on deaf ears, the Mayor then offered an amendment from the Legislative floor that would have added more money for our Police. But instead of voting on this ordinance, the Council passed a resolution directing the City Manager to somehow try to find the money for Police, if he can. The Mayor gave the Council a choice with his amendment: to put the priorities of Kansas City families into the budget ordinance or put them into a resolution that has no force of law. The Council chose the latter. The problem with the Council’s choice is that a resolution is just a hope and a wish to do something; it is not a law that forces the Council to add more money for our Police Department.

This is a sad day for our City as the real losers in this conflict are our Kansas City families. At every public hearing the message from Kansas City families was that the Council shouldn’t cut Police. But the Council ignored their constituents’ number one request to not cut cops. And ultimately, this is why the Mayor had to vote no on the budget. Good government should never be about personalities; it should always be about priorities.

The Mayor wants you to know that he heard your voices loud and clear when you said that your highest priority is to feel safe in your homes and when going out and about in your City. You told the Mayor not to cut cops when you saw him at town hall meetings. You told him not to cut cops when you happened to meet him out on the street. You sent him emails that pleaded with him not to cut police. And you called his office to pass him the message that he should not cut your police force. Of all the things that you asked for out of this budget, the budget that is paid for with your tax dollars, it was that your Mayor should not cut police protection. He listened to you, and that is why he voted no on the budget, even when the majority of his other recommendations were well heeded by the Council.

Please be assured that in the coming months the Mayor will do everything in his power to make sure that money is found to restore the Police Department’s budget to a level that ensures the safety of Kansas City’s families. Even if he has stand alone again, he will not stop fighting for your right to be safe.

On a More Personal Note

The Mayor has spent the past five years creating the first International Center For Performance Auditing. This weekend he will host a two-day conference that kicks off the creation of this Center. Over 60 people from all over the world will be in attendance. While this is a personal project, Kansas City will reap economic rewards from the contacts that your Mayor has internationally.

The Mayor’s Public Appearances - Beginning March 28, 2009

Saturday
7 p.m. Greater Kansas City Golden Gloves 2009 Regional Finals
Ararat Shrine Auditorium

Sunday
4 p.m. International Center for Performance Auditing Founding Conference
Baker University, 7301 College Blvd., Overland Park, Kansas

Monday
8 a.m. International Center for Performance Auditing Founding Conference
Baker University, 7301 College Blvd., Overland Park, Kansas

Tuesday
8 a.m. International Center for Performance Auditing Founding Conference
Baker University, 7301 College Blvd., Overland Park, Kansas

Wednesday
6:30 p.m. Town Hall Meeting
Chapel Woods Homes Association, 6972 NW Chapel Woods Lane

Thursday
1:30 p.m. Council Business Session, 414 E. 12th St. 10th Floor

3:00 p.m. Council Legislative Session, 414 E.
12th St. 26th Floor

Friday
7:40 a.m. Friday’s with Funk 710 KCMO

For more up-to-date scheduling information, please see his website at,www.funksfrontporch.com.

The Next Town Hall Meetings

When: April 1, 6:30 p.m.
Where: 6972 NW Chapel Woods Lane
Host: Chapel Woods Homes Association

When: April 8, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Avondale United Methodist Church, 3101 NE Winn
Host: Cooley Highlands Neighborhood Association

When: April 22, 6:30 p.m.
Where: TBA
Host: Crossroads Business Owners and Residents

In faith,
Gloria & Mark

You can respond by email to this newsletter at funksfrontporch@gmail.com.

If you’d like daily news updates, please check the Mayor’s blog site at www.funksfrontporch.com.

The Mayor’s top ten priorities:

1. Establishing a good working relationship with the Council
2. Getting the City’s finances in order
3. Making downtown work
4. Tending to our neighborhoods
5. Implementing the Housing Policy task force recommendations
6. Improving the perception and the reality of public education in Kansas City
7. Reducing Crime
8. Repairing our sewer systems
9. Establishing an excellent regional transit system, which includes light rail
10. Improving citizen satisfaction with City services
To Unsubscribe Click Herewww.kcmo.org

From Benjamin Hodge:

This week, Kansas House Majority Leader Ray Merrick (R-Stilwell) recognized Benjamin Hodge’s pro-growth, pro-taxpayer voting record by endorsing Hodge for re-election to the Johnson County Community College Board of Trustees.

Hodge served in the Kansas House from 2006 to 2008 and is running for his second four-year term as JCCC Trustee.

• View Hodge’s campaign page.
• View Hodge’s JCCC page.

Merrick has represented Kansas House District 27 since 2000 and was first elected Majority Leader in 2006.

View Merrick’s campaign page.

View Merrick’s legislative page

You can click here to read the entire Email from Hodge.

From Olathe Rep. Lance Kinzer:

Kinzer Endorses Jim Churchman for Olathe School Board

Rep. Kinzer has endorsed Jim Churchman for re-election to Olathe School Board Position 5. In particular, Rep. Kinzer has released the following statement:

“I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to join me on April 7 and support Jim Churchman for re-election to the Olathe School Board. (more…)

HT Andy Roth.  Sen. Specter on March 18, 2009, during an interview with The Hill: