I hate to betray the sisterhood, but yes, when two women in
power are bickering, there’s a serious rift. Hell hath no fury like a woman
scorned, and I suspect there’s about to be some burnt earth in the Kansas
Senate.
I won’t bore you with the sketchy details, but here’s the
short and dirty: Sen. Susan Wagle, Republican, removed Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook,
Republican, from her chairmanship of the Senate Public Health and Welfare
Committee.
Pilcher-Cook scorned Wagle by insisting on debating a
proposal to expand Medicaid in committee.
For what it’s worth, Wagle appears to
want to dress up her support of Medicaid expansion as some sort of grand
opportunity to show charity to the poor. (Heaven, save us from people who want
to rob others to show their own goodness. Or as C.S. Lewis once put it: a
tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.)
Basically, the public committee debate would have forced
Wagle to admit her support for expanding Medicaid, or basically for Obamacare.
And Wagle, had a list of ultimatums for P-C. The list of demands was
essentially – don’t make Wagle look bad – which a Kansas Republican supporting
Obamacare looks bad (because it is bad, but I digress).
I’ve got to think Wagle is regretting her decision to remove
Pilcher-Cook now. Half of the Senate
Republicans penned a letter requesting Wagle reconsider her decision. Twenty-six House Republicans signed a similar letter.
As political watchers know, there’s more to this story than the
few bits and pieces we’re being fed. First, I suspect at least one of the Senate
signatories to the letter to Wagle is angling to replace Wagle as the Senate leader. Hence, the bitter battle and the slow leak of
information that will stick a dagger in Wagle.
Second, I personally believe Wagle had plans to run for
Governor. Surely those plans are
circling the drain right about now, and I can’t say I’m sorry about that.
By the way, here’s the other piece of this about to get
super ugly skirmish that I find really, really interesting – Wagle hails from
Wichita and Pilcher-Cook from Shawnee. It will be interesting to see how the
Senate fault lines divide. It appears to be a division along ideological lines
as of now, but I won’t be surprised if the fault lines become more geographic
if this isn’t resolved soon. The Wichita folks have a way of supporting their
own. At least, that’s how it appears from this end of the state.
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