MainStream and Friends Jump into KS House Leadership Race

It's pretty ironic that groups who spent the election season screaming about lawmakers being beholden to groups like the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Americans for Prosperity-Kansas are demanding that lawmakers be beholden, instead, to them. 

The MainStream Coalition and friends like StandUp Blue Valley are attempting to influence the race for Speaker of the Kansas House by encouraging people to contact their Representatives and request that they vote for Rep. Russ Jennings for Speaker. House members will vote on leadership on Monday, Dec. 5, and it looks like it's going to be a tight race between Jennings and Rep. Ron Ryckman. 

"When you contact your Representative, keep the message positive. Many of them already plan to support Jennings. Some are on the fence. The others just need to be shown that moderate supporters are active, engaged, and plan to stay that way," the Mainstream alert reads.

Only Republicans will vote for Speaker. Ryckman is the more conservative candidate. Rep. Jene Vickrey is also contending for the top gig. 

The silly thing about the Mainstream push is that votes for Speaker are secret. Legislators can easily say they voted for Jennings and privately cast a ballot for Ryckman. There's virtually no way to hold any legislator accountable for that vote, because there's no way to really know how any individual votes.

Johnson County legislators would be wise to consider the implications of a western Speaker. Local control of school districts is likely at stake.

The Speaker does have a lot of power to determine what potential legislation gets a shot at becoming law. I could definitely be on board with making Speaker (and other leadership votes) public. So, recently elected legislators, please know that no matter how much pressure you receive from so-called Mainstreamers and their friends, no one ever has to know how you actually voted.