So a Public Superintendent Tells His Staff How to Vote

The superintendent of the Peabody-Burns School District is used his official letterhead and email address to send an email to all staff at the elementary school and at the high school imploring them to vote to retain members of the Kansas Supreme Court.

In an email with the subject line "Retain Justices," Superintendent Ron Traxson forwarded a release penned by Jim Porter, a member of the state board of education to school district staff. The email reads that one of the most important issues on the Nov. 8 ballot is the retention of the Justices of the Kansas Supreme Court.

Here's the full text of the email Traxon sent to all of his staff. The italicized words belong to Traxson. The rest is the release from Porter:

One of the most consequential issues that will be decided in the November elections will be the retention of the Justices of the Kansas Supreme Court. Those who want to remove the Justices are using deceptive scare tactics, such as the Carr Brothers and abortion to mask the real reason they are trying to replace them. Both the Executive and Legislative branches have not fulfilled their constitutional obligations to provide suitable funding for the education of the children of Kansas. The Kansas Supreme Court is the only branch of Kansas's government that is actually fulfilling their responsibility to the children of Kansas. Kansas is bankrupt because of the failed tax policies that benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle class.
On the issue of the Carr Brothers the Supreme Court never questioned the conviction only the issue of whether they should be sentenced separately when the death penalty was considered. There was never the possibility that they would be released on whether the death penalty should be reconsidered individually.
On the issue of abortion, Federal law takes precedence over State Law. Regardless of the individual Justices personal beliefs their job is to interpret the law and the Federal Law is clear. opponents of the Justices refer to them as "Activist Judges." The fact that they did not defy Federal Law does not meet the definition of being "Activist." If the current Justices were replaced by those who would defy Federal law, those replacement Justices would meet the definition of "Activist Judges," and they would certainly be overturned by the Federal Court system.
Back to the real issue--The Kansas State Board of Education's vision is that "Kansas Leads the World in the Success of Each Student." That vision is being thwarted by an executive and legislative branch of government refusing to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities to provide suitable funding for education. Do we want the one who controls both the executive and legislative branch to appoint like-minded Justices and therefore control all three branches of government? I would hope not.
I would suggest that the solution would be for our elected officials to perform their obligations to the people of Kansas instead of attempting to avoid their responsibilities by blaming the only branch of government actually fulfilling their responsibilities.

Although Jim represents Southeast Kansas on the State Board of Education, the article was submitted as an individual and not for the SBOE.

There are 9 kinds of mistruths and misinformation in the email. (And a few grammatical errors, but glass houses and all that.) The intellectual dishonesty about the motivations behind a victims' group and many sincere people is infuriating, but Porter is entitled to his opinion. What he shouldn't be entitled to is having his scribblings sent to the staff of a public school district by that district's top official. 

I'm considering sending my own rebuttal of Porter's release to Traxson. Do you think he'll forward it on to the district staff? 

It's not a perfect analogy, but if a pastor sent a release to his own church members explaining the motivations behind an opposition group's political efforts, the Left would lose its collective minds. There would be investigations, calls to revoke tax-exempt status, and probably protests.

It's abhorrent the way tax-paid professionals use their positions to advance leftists causes. Traxson should be ashamed. Porter should be experiencing mild embarrassment. The people who pay Traxson's salary deserve better, and the children in that district deserve a leader who sets aside politics when wearing the Superintendent hat. The children of that district are hostages, and any right-leaning teachers are probably huddled in dark corners afraid to appear for even an instance that they might vote for a Republican.