Posted by caleb on Feb 20, 2011 in
Local and State Politics Democratic State Representatives from Southeast Kansas have been trying for years to get a destination casino to come to the area, even though several highly advertised casinos are located only a few miles over the state line in Oklahoma’s Northeast – Green Country gaming region. With so many Oklahoma casinos located so close to the Kansas border, and with the failure of the Camptown Greyhound Park in Frontenac, KS, the sensibility of building a state-sponsored gaming center in the southeast corner of the state has been doubted.
In fact, one of the Camptown developers even mentioned this in 2008: “We would not be able to compete in that region of Kansas effectively with the tax rate and competing against a $300 million casino just a few miles away.”
After all of these setbacks, one might imagine our state representatives might realize a destination gaming center is simply not going to be successful due to the region’s relative geography.
Junction City, KS Rep. James Fawcett filed a bill late last week that put another nail in the Southeast Gaming Zone’s coffin. His bill creates an “either/or” option – meaning a state-sponsored destination gaming center could be built in either the proposed Northwest Gaming Zone, or the Southeast Gaming Zone surrounding Pittsburg, KS. Obviously, the point is to shift the focus from the dead-in-the-water SE Zone to anything else.
One SE Representative expressed his surprise in a rather surprising and uncouth way:
“I’ll tell you what, you want to talk about surprised,” said Rep. Bob Grant, a Cherokee Democrat. “I know what the Americans who were left a Pearl Harbor felt like.” (Pittsburg Morning Sun, “New gaming bill could ace out SEK” – 19 Feb 2011)
Is Kansas State Representative Bob Grant really comparing the impending loss of a gaming center to the devastation the nation felt on December 7, 1941 when a hostile enemy ruthlessly bombed our soil and killed thousands of Americans? Bob Grant has represented Kansas House District 2 since 1991. Perhaps the time has come for him to retire while he still has an ounce of dignity remaining.
Tags: Bob Grant, Camptown Greyhound Park, Grant, Kansas House District 2, KS House, KS House Dist 2, KSLeg, Oklahoma, Pearl Harbor, sek, southeast kansas
On Thursday, July 8, Congressman Todd Tiahrt (R-KS04) completed his tour of Southeast Kansas with multiple stops in Parsons, Oswego, and Pittsburg.
I caught up with the Congressman as he was touring downtown Oswego, KS, my hometown. Michelle Hucke, Tiahrt SEK Coordinator, and I (the lowly Labette County coordinator), along with Brie Bringle and Tom Bringle, Mayor of Oswego, introduced Todd to all of the local merchants and business owners in the community.
Mr. Tiahrt also toured one of the largest and fastest-growing industries in Oswego, the Boss Tank division of Tank Connections.
Later that afternoon, he held a town hall in Oswego – most likely the first event of this nature held in Oswego in at least a few decades. Even in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday, he still had almost 1.5% of the entire population of the city attend – that’s the same attendance, per capita, as the Karl Rove event in Wichita!
Voters in Oswego are very excited about Todd. In fact, as you drive through the community of roughly 2,000 inhabitants, you’ll see Tiahrt yard signs all over the place; there’s even a giant 4×8 sign downtown. As for Todd’s opponent, he’s never heard the term “SEK” and his travel (or lack thereof) to the area shows it.
That evening, the Congressman hosted a “meet and greet” and town hall in Pittsburg, KS with the Southeast Kansas Conservatives group. With only hours notice, people packed into the meeting room the organization had reserved on Broadway in Pittsburg.
The photograph above (I apologize for the poor quality) was taken at the very beginning of the Congressman’s speech and from the front of the crowd. If you could only see how every seat surrounding Todd was filled! In fact, as people continued to come in throughout the evening, they had to sit behind just to have a place to sit. That’s how excited we are in Southeast Kansas about Todd Tiahrt.
You could feel the electricity and excitement in the air as Todd spoke about our need to rid ourselves of unnecessary government involvement. He said, “If the cost of a regulation outweighs its benefit, let’s get rid of it!” He also talked about the urgency with which he fought against Obama’s health care plan, and how we must repeal the atrocity called Obamacare as soon as is humanly possible. Truly, the Congressman was on-fire last night.
One woman raised her hand and talked about how, as “embarrassed” as she was to admit it, she was a registered Democrat. She said that she was ashamed of what her party was doing to the nation, and that she had been planning on re-registering as a Republican. The woman said after hearing Todd speak, and seeing the integrity with which he conducted himself, she was convinced and that she’d be voting for him on August 3. Talk about awesomeness!
The excitement on the ground was palpable. Basically everywhere we went, if you mentioned the name “Tiahrt,” eyes lit up, and people were anxious to speak with Todd. If you have ever had any doubt about the winner of August’s primary, cast it out. Todd Tiahrt will be our next U.S. Senator from Kansas.
Tags: boss tank, brie bringle, columbus, kansas, Michelle Hucke, obamacare, Oswego, Pittsburg, sek, sek conservatives, Senate, southeast kansas, Southeast Kansas Conservatives, tank connections, Tiahrt, Todd Tiahrt, Tom Bringle, U.S. Senate
