Economy, Kansas Open Meetings Act, and 2017 Kansas and Missouri elections.

This show will cover three distinct topics:  economics, the Kansas Open Meetings Act, and elections to be held this new year, 2017, in Kansas and Missouri.  Your host for this episode is Spencer Graves.

ECONOMICS

First you’ll hear comments from Stephanie Kelton, recorded on December 29.  She’s a Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.  She served as the Chief Economist for the Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee in 2015 and then as an economic advisor to the Sanders’ campaign in 2016.  Kelton has been a leading contributor to the development of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT).  She says that fiscal and monetary policy in the US has focused too much on inflation, and the US could have faster, more broadly shared economic growth by managing the economy for full employment.  Inflation occurs when too much money is chasing too few goods.  If that happens, we can manage that problem in a variety of ways, including by raising taxes.  Inflation has not been a problem in the US since the 1970s, and that was a product of oil shocks.  For a very long time now, the primary limit to economic growth in the US has been insufficiency of demand, because the poor and middle class have not had enough money to buy the goods and services that the economy could produce.   Graves met Prof. Kelton in September 2016 at the Thirteenth International Post Keynesian Conference hosted by her department at UMKC.  (Kelton’s specialty, Modern Monetary Theory, is a branch of Post Keynesian economics.)

Graves asked Kelton about consulting her department has done with local governments.  She said she had not personally, but others in her department may have.  The options available to local and state governmental bodies are more limited than for the federal government, because the federal government has its own currency, which means that it does not have to balance a budget.

KANSAS OPEN MEETINGS ACT

Regarding the Kansas Open Meetings Act, you will hear comments Lawrence Physician Alan Cowles, recorded December 28.  A couple of years ago, Dr. Cowles learned privately of a $750,000 lawsuit against governing bodies in Douglas County.  It was big enough, he thought that some discussion of it should appear in the published minutes of the relevant governing bodies.  When he couldn’t find it there, he suspected violations of the Kansas Open Meetings Act.  This encouraged him to review roughly 10,000 pages of minutes of public meetings of the 10 most populous counties and cities in Kasas.  He found documentation of questionable secrecy in all but one jurisdiction.  He then collaborated with his local League of Women Voters and his State Senator Marci Francisco to introduce legislation to remove ambiguities in the Kansas Open Meeting Act to support greater transparency in government.  This legislation died in 2016 but will likely be reintroduced in 2017.

Cowles and Graves mentioned two ways in which concerned citizens could help support open meetings in Kansas.  One was to read the Kansas Open Meetings Report and ask their State Senator to support it.  The other is to go to public meetings and observe.  Chapters of the League of Women Voters are looking for volunteers to do that and share their observations with the group.  Also, anyone can describe what they saw in a blog in the Daily Kos, as described in a Dec. 17, 2016, post by Chris Reeves entitled, “Nuts & Bolts—A renewed commitment to crowdsourcing.”  Spencer Graves noted that KKFI is trying to broadcast more local news and might be able to use some of these first-hand reports.

2017 ELECTIONS IN KANSAS AND MISSOURI 

Both Kansas and Missouri will have local elections in 2017. People will be selected to fill posts in municipal, school and water boards. Kansas will have a primary on August 1 and a general on November 7.  For details, check the web site of your County Election Office, e.g., “https://jocoelection.org” for Johnson County.

Missouri is more complicated.  They have elections tentatively scheduled for February 7, March 7, April 4, August 8, and November 8, depending on where you live.  The optional February, August and November elections are for bond issues and other initiatives.  March 7 is for charter cities and counties.

The Jackson County Election Board is currently planning for elections on one of those dates namely, April 4.  Officials for many but not all local governmental bodies in Jackson County will have elections on that date.  In particular, Lee’s Summit would not normally have an election on that date, because their city council elections are on even-numbered years.  However, in 2017, they may have a recall election to remove City Councilman Chris Moreno.  A recall petition with the requisite signatures has been filed. The Jackson County Election Board will announce by January 24 whether they have certified enough of the signatures to require the recall.

If you live in Missouri, check your county election board five weeks before the above dates.


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