By Tim Carpenter, Topeka Capital-Journal, May 10, 2010
Gov. Mark Parkinson decried Tuesday [sic] lack of resolution in the Legislature on budget and tax issues, and blamed the Kansas Chamber for stoking the fire of partisan conflict.
He said in a statement he disliked partisan bickering common in Washington, D.C., and regretted that approach had surfaced in Topeka as lawmakers worked on a plan to balance the budget.
Legislators are in the 88th day of a session scheduled to run 90 days. A solution to the state government's budget $500 million deficit continues to be elusive. As the clock ticks in the Statehouse, political cooperation necessary to reach a compromise appears to be waning.
"I am disappointed to see that civility slipping away," Parkinson said. "The political games, divisive debates and entrenched gridlock of Washington have found their way to Topeka.
The Democratic governor blamed the Kansas Chamber, a large business lobbying organization, for "fanning the flames of partisanship" by pressuring legislators to reject any form of tax increase.
On the table is a $315 million increase in the statewide sales tax. The rate would rise from 5.3 percent to 6.3 percent on July 1, and remain at that level for three years.
On Saturday, Kansas Chamber President Kent Beisner said advocates of the tax hike were serving interests of people at the "government trough."
"It is heartbreaking to think that somebody would equate the disabled, the elderly, school children, veterans, law enforcement and the poor to pigs at a trough," Parkinson said.
In January, the governor proposed sales or tobacco tax increases rather than deeper cuts in K-12 schools, services to disabled and elderly Kansans and public safety agencies.
For more on the budget stalemate read Budget plan in works and "Winds of Discontent".