Now they're attacking people who live here

Latest mail hit piece paints people in need of assistance as "leeches"

Normally, I don’t get too upset about the political mail that comes out against me. I have fairly thick skin, and I’ve grown somewhat used to people calling me names. 

But I will not ignore a hit piece that attacks people in my district - my friends and neighbors I’ve known and cared about for years. 

This mailer, from a Washington, D.C. political group that is supporting my opponent angers me on a number of fronts. And in typical obnoxious political fashion, it hasn’t told even a part of the whole story. 

But you can bet that I will. 

First off, let’s address the fact that this mailer has called people in our community leeches. 

Just let that sit in for a minute. 

In an effort to win an election, these people have decided it’s OK to completely dehumanize a group of people, by illustrating people in poverty as blood-sucking leeches. 

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anything more disgusting. Or less Christian.

Being poor is not a crime, nor is it a sin. 

And even if one has strong views on the matter, it is completely unacceptable to put labels on people with the intent of separating them from our community or making them feel less than human. 

That’s precisely what’s been done with this mailing. 

We aren’t all that rich here in the 102nd District. Our median income is about $24,000 less than the median income in Kansas. Roughly 61 percent of the 102nd district households earn less than $45,000 per year. Nearly 40 percent make less than $30,000 per year, and 11 percent make less than $10,000. We rank near the bottom of Kansas House districts with six-figure income households, and near the top of House districts with households that rely on food assistance (roughly 21 percent).

There are a lot of reasons for that, much of it structural. We have seen flight from the urban core of our community for more than a generation. Our community is aging, and a lot of people live on meager retirement income. We have a prison in our community. We have been hit particularly hard by global changes in manufacturing. We have a significant population with physical and mental disabilities. And we have a lot of people who have experienced generational poverty, without adequate resources or experience to migrate into the middle class. 

Despite those long-standing concerns, there is reason to be hopeful. Our local Chamber has worked hard to bring investment and jobs into the community. There has been investment in downtown and in housing throughout Hutchinson. To me, this community feels much more vibrant, active, and engaged, than it did when I was younger. 

Whatever the causes of poverty, each case is a person deserving of dignity, respect, and compassion. Our responsibility and our charge is to help people become more stable, more healthy, and more fulfilled - not to kick them when they are down. 

This mailer is an attempt to sow division and contempt. It aims to paint one group of people as the “other” and to make another group feel better, or more worthwhile. 

❗Being poor doesn’t make you less of a person. 

❗Being poor doesn’t mean you aren’t a part of our community. 

❗Being poor doesn’t give anyone the right to treat you poorly, or call you a leech. 

❗You matter regardless of your income. And don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. 

But let’s take a deeper look at that legislation

The bill is HB2448, but the hearing on the contents of the bill came from SB501 - which was inserted into the house version. 

This legislation added a layer of bureaucracy that forces food assistance applicants to enter a mandatory training and education program if they’re not already working at least 30 hours per week. 

I was able to witness the first-hand effects of this legislation in a conversation with a constituent. Ironically, I encountered her while she was WORKING. She mentioned to a co-worker that she had received a letter from DCF stating that she’d no longer get food assistance if she didn’t work at least 30 hours per week. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to work more than 30 hours per week - but she had a job that commonly scheduled her for less than 30 hours a week. The conversation wrapped up with her saying that she’d have to talk with her employer and hope they’d schedule her for more hours. But it was something she had absolutely no control over.  

There was one supporter of the measure - some outfit from Florida called Opportunity Solutions Project, which is yet another Koch-funded lobby group. It was opposed by 40 individuals and groups, including several religious organizations and groups that work to ensure food stability for children, seniors, and families. 

Here’s a snippet of the testimony from the Wallace County Ministerial Alliance, similar to what many others said:

“This bill only adds to the burdens of these families. It will bury struggling food insecure Kansans in paperwork. and also overwhelm state workers with unnecessary bureaucratic red tape. The additional red tape will cause Kansans to lose their food assistance benefits, meaning they will have less money to spend in Kansas’ nearly 2,000 SNAP-approved stores, harming local grocers.  SB 501 does nothing to solve food insecurity. In fact, it will increase food insecurity and put additional pressure on Kansas’ emergency food pantries in churches and community centers in rural and urban communities throughout the state.”

The bottom line is that there was zero evidence it would save money - but overwhelming evidence it would create additional red tape and bloat state government. 

Remember that SNAP - or food assistance - is money already allocated to Kansas from the federal government. It’s a form of return on our federal tax dollars. In this case, the money was available for use without restriction. But the creation of a restriction - such as what was included in SB501 and HB2448 - falls squarely on the taxpayers of Kansas. 

Projections indicated that passage of this bill would require hiring of 30 new state employees, and cost upwards of $3 million per year. 

If we boil this down to its simplest terms - the Kansas Legislature voted to grow the government and obligate more of your state tax dollars, just to be mean to people already struggling. 

When this bill came up, I said as much - and my argument was that policy such as this isn’t at all conservative, or fiscally responsible. And 10 Republicans agreed with me to join in voting against this costly and unnecessary legislation. 

And while we’re on the topic….

I can’t allow someone to label members of my community as leeches and freeloaders without talking about all those corporate giveaways, tax credits, subsidies, and free money we hand out every year. 

Any time we talk about helping poor or working families, there is a group of people who use divisive and demeaning language like “able-bodied adult.” This is designed to create an image of someone who could work, but doesn’t. The truth is that a lot of people work in non-traditional jobs, have inconsistent hours, struggle with health issues, disabilities, etc., that create challenges in their lives. And sometimes that leads to poverty, without a good springboard from which to escape it. 

But when we talk about business, it’s as if we can hardly throw enough money at them. We are quite creative in finding ways to route taxpayer money to corporations, and in effect, our hard-earned money subsidizes corporate profits and CEO salaries and bonuses - all while we write tax policy that shields these companies from throwing money in the community pot.

We always have a choice in how we approach our shared concerns, challenges, and problems.

I always work to treat people with respect, hear their concerns, and work toward meaningful and pragmatic solutions. 

It seems my opponent and his henchmen have once again decided to sow division and disparage people in our community who need help - all while praising the righteousness of corporate handouts.

If this sort of vile rhetoric about members of our community makes you as angry as it makes me, I have a suggestion on what you can do about it….

Vote.

Thanks for subscribing to That Guy in Hutch . This post is public, so feel free to share it. In some cases this publication is paid for by Probst for Kansas, Erin Swearer, treasurer.