Governor Brownback and Senator Susan Wagle

Governor Brownback and Senator Susan Wagle

Imagine that you are a structural engineer. You’ve just been handed the architect’s plan for a new high-rise building in your city. As you look at the plans, you notice some serious flaws. The plans before you reveal some serious structural issues. If this building goes up, the chances are great that it will collapse. The upper floors cannot be sustained by the design below.

The same plans were made public and other engineers have put out warnings. That building will collapse, they keep saying.

But the architect is a friend of yours. You have tied your career to his. You don’t want to make him angry so instead of pointing out the problems, instead of urging him to rethink the plans, you just go along. And you smile while you’re doing it. And you hold a press conference where you tell people that those other engineers are wrong – this building will stand forever. This building will be the model for all other buildings in the future.

You build it. And before you know it, the building comes crashing down. The folks in your city are angry about it. They want to drive the architect out of town and you along with him.

What do you do?

Well, if you are Susan Wagle, the structural engineer behind Sam Brownback’s designs, you hold a press conference promising that in the future you’ll think more. And while you don’t sever your relationship with Brownback, you promise you’ll try to do something. Of course, you don’t really say what you’ll do. You don’t say it was a mistake to build that high-rise. You don’t admit that the predictions of other engineers came true.

You sign a paper promising the people that if they just give you another chance, you’ll clean up the site of that collapsed building. You don’t know how. You don’t have any ideas. You just want everyone to trust you.

In 2012, the Brownback/Wagle team, with the support of the Koch brothers and the Kansas Chamber, drove nearly all rational Republicans out of the Kansas Senate. Wagle took control of the Senate as its new president and Wagle has served as the engineer behind every disastrous policy proposed by Governor Brownback.

Brownback and Wagle colluded to collapse the state’s revenue stream through their extreme trickle down economic plan. Today the Brownback/Wagle building lies in ruins. Wagle and the last remaining members of her team want you to trust them to fix it.

Don’t be fooled.

The budget has been in collapse for four years and shows no sign of recovery. Month after month as revenue figures continue to fall, Wagle has offered excuses and tried to pin the blame elsewhere. The blame lies squarely with Wagle and those desperate legislators who signed her promissory note.

November 8th is the day Kansans can select a new engineering team.

This November you can tell Senator Wagle and her co-conspirators that their promise is too little too late.

Want to help elect a new engineer team in Kansas? Checkout the KNEA / KPAC Voting Guide as well as these resources from other organizations: