OPINION
LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD LJWorld.com Saturday, June 16, 2012 WHERE TO WRITE
Federal President Barack Obama White House, Washington, D.C. 20500; (202) 456-1111 Online comments: www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R) Russell Senate Office Building, Courtyard 4 Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-6521; Website: www.moran.senate.gov U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts (R) 109 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-4774; Website: www.roberts.senate.gov U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-1st District) 126 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-2715; Website: www.huelskamp.house.gov U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-2nd District) 1122 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-6601; Website: www.lynnjenkins.house.gov U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-3rd District) 214 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-2865; Website: www.yoder.house.gov U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-4th District) 107 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-6216; Website: www.pompeo.house.gov
State Gov. Sam Brownback (R) Suite 212-S, State Capitol, Topeka 66612 (785) 296-3232 or (877) 579-6757 governor@state.ks.us Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) 1st Floor, 120 S.W. 10th Ave., Topeka 66612 (785) 296-4564; sos@sos. ks.gov Attorney General Derek Schmidt (R) 2nd Floor, 120 S.W. 10th Ave., Topeka 66612 (785) 296-2215; general @ksag.org Treasurer Ron Estes (R) 900 S.W. Jackson St., Suite 201, Topeka 66612 (785) 296-3171; ron@treasurer.ks.gov Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger (R) 420 S.W. Ninth St., Topeka 66612 (785) 296-3071 or (800) 432-2484 commissioner@ksinsurance.org
State Board of Education Janet Waugh, (D-District 1) 916 S. 57th Terrace, Kansas City, KS 66106 (913) 287-5165; JWaugh1052@aol.com Carolyn Wims-Campbell, (D-District 4) 3824 SE Illinois Ave., Topeka 66609 (785) 266-3798; campbell4kansasboe@verizon.net
Kansas Board of Regents 1000 S.W. Jackson St., Suite 520, Topeka, KS 66612; (785) 296-3421 www.kansasregents.org Ed McKechnie, Arcadia, chairman Christine Downey-Schmidt, Inman Mildred Edwards, Wichita Tim Emert, Independence Fred Logan Jr., Leawood Dan Lykins, Topeka Robba Moran, Hays Janie Perkins, Garden City Kenny Wilk, Lansing Andy Tompkins, president and CEO
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Presidential race draws lackluster pair WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama is not exactly Jefferson-Adams or Lincoln-Douglas. No Harry Truman or Bill Clinton here, let alone FDR or Reagan. Indeed, it’s arguable that neither party is fielding its strongest candidate. Hillary Clinton would run far better than Obama. True, her secretaryship of state may not remotely qualify as Kissingerian or Achesonian, but she’s not Obama. She car-
Charles Krauthammer letters@charleskrauthammer.com
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Indeed, one measure of the weakness of the two finalists is this: The more each disappears from view, the better he fares.” ries none of his economic baggage. She’s unsullied by the last three and a half years. Similarly, the Republican bench had several candidates stronger than Romney, but they chose not to run. Indeed, one measure of the weakness of the two finalists is this: The more each disappears from view, the better he fares. Obama prospered when he was below radar during the Republican primaries. Now that they’re over and he’s back out front, his fortunes have receded. He is constantly on the campaign trail. His frantic fundraising — 160 events to date — alternates with swing-state rallies where the long-gone charisma of 2008 has been replaced by systematic special-interest pandering, from cutrate loans for indentured students to free contraceptives for women (the denial of which constitutes a “war” on same). Then came the rush of bad news: terrible May unemployment numbers, a crushing Democratic defeat in Wisconsin, and that curious re-
volt of the surrogates, as Bill Clinton, Deval Patrick and Cory Booker — all dispatched to promote Obama — ended up contradicting, undermining or deploring Obama’s anti-business attacks on Romney. Obama’s instinctive response? Get back out on the air. Call an impromptu Friday news conference. And proceed to commit the gaffe of the year: “The private sector is doing fine.” This didn’t just expose Obama to precisely the out-of-touchness charge he is trying to hang on Romney. It betrayed his core political philosophy. Obama was trying to attribute high unemployment to a paucity of government workers and to suggest that the solution was to pad the public rolls. In doing so, though, he fatally undid his many previous protestations of being a fiscally prudent government cutter. He thus positioned himself as, once again, the big-government liberal of 2009, convinced that what the ailing economy needs is yet another bout of government expansion. A serious political misstep, considering the fate of the last stimulus: the weakest recovery since the Great Depression with private sector growth a minuscule 1.2 percent.
But that’s not the end of the tribulations that provoked a front-page Washington Post story beginning: “Is it time for Democrats to panic”? The sleeper issue is the cascade of White House leaks that have exposed significant details of the cyberattacks on Iran, the drone war against al-Qaida, the doubleagent in Yemen and the Osama bin Laden raid and its aftermath. This is not leak-business as usual. “I have never seen it worse,” said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 11 years on the Intelligence Committee. These revelations, clearly meant to make Obama look the heroic warrior, could prove highly toxic if current investigations bear out Sen. John McCain’s charges of leaks tolerated, if not encouraged, by a campaigning president placing his own image above the nation’s security. Quite an indictment. Where it goes, no one knows. Much will hinge on whether Eric Holder’s Justice Department will stifle the investigation he has now handed over to two in-house prosecutors. And whether Republicans and principled Democrats will insist on a genuinely independent inquiry.
Nonetheless, there is nothing inexorable about the current Obama slide. The race remains 50-50. Republican demoralization after a primary campaign that blew the political equivalent of a seven-run lead has now given way to Democratic demoralization at the squandering of their subsequent post-primary advantage. What remains is a solid, stolid, gaffe-prone challenger for whom conservatism is a second language versus an incumbent with a record he cannot run on and signature policies — Obamacare, the stimulus, cap-andtrade — he dare hardly mention. A quite dispiriting spectacle. And more than a bit confusing. Why, just this week the estimable Jeb Bush averred that the Republican Party had become so rigidly right-wing that today it couldn’t even nominate Ronald Reagan. Huh? It just nominated Mitt Romney who lives a good 14 nautical miles to the left of Ronald Reagan. Goodness. Four more months of this campaign and we will all be unhinged. — Charles Krauthammer is a columnist for The Washington Post Writers Group.
PUBLIC FORUM
Vital funds To the editor: This would seem to be a very poor time to cut the funding for food stamps (SNAP) and WIC (Women, Infants and Children). Food prices are going up, and so are the costs for necessities that are purchased at the grocery but are not food, such as soap. Requests for help from the food banks are going up. Just Food in Lawrence saw a 145 percent increase between the first four months of 2011 and those of 2012. Food stamps have been very effective for many years in helping people who are in a temporary bind avoid slipping into poverty. They have helped others pull themselves out of the poverty status, which is around $22,000 yearly income for a family of four. Then too, they have softened the sharpest edge of poverty, hunger, for many others. Nearly half of the 46 million food stamp recipients are children. We can imagine how much it must hurt to know that your children are hungry and that you have no food to give them. We were all children once; surely we can find a better time to cut these important funds. Sarah Casad, Lawrence
ID irony To the editor: I watched with pure amazement as lines of candidates filed for office with Kris Kobach, protector of Kansas election integrity. Candidates who last week
lived in one county, filed in another county Monday using an address they could only remember by referring to the still-drying copy of their new rental agreement. Dozens of these candidates could no more produce a photo ID with their “current” address than they could name their neighbors on either side! No birth certificate, no photo ID needed; you are now a legally certified candidate for an office that determines the fate of the state budget, tax code, and statutes. Just don’t try to register to vote this way for any of these candidates once the Kobach anti-fraud unit is up and running. Saying you’re a Kansan and live in the district won’t cut it for mere voters. Have your affidavits in order and your notary public on speed dial! Can’t wait for the secretary of state’s new billboards: “Stamping Out Voter Fraud Wherever We Can’t Find It.” Steve Hitchcock, Baldwin City
standing support received proves that the people of Douglas County are truly committed to the fight against cancer. We applaud the more than 300 survivors and their caregivers who participated in the opening lap and the survivor recognition. They are the reason we continue the fight — because each year there can be more and more people living wonderful lives following a diagnosis of cancer and celebrating more birthdays. A special thanks goes to the many Relay For Life volunteers who worked to make this event a success. The Relay For Life committee did an outstanding job of putting the event together. We also appreciate the generosity of this year’s corporate sponsors. Relay For Life would not be possible without them. Again, thank you for supporting the American Cancer Society, and remember it’s not too early to become involved in Relay For Life for next year. Together we will save lives and create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. To the editor: Shelle Arnold and Barb Gorman, As co-chairs of this year’s co-chairs, Relay For Life of American Cancer Society Relay Douglas County For Life committee, we would like to thank residents of Douglas County for their generosity and support. Seventy-four teams participated in this year’s event, rais- To the editor: Gov. Koch–Brownback veing more than $185,000 to further the American Cancer Society’s toed mentor-teacher bonuses. mission of eliminating cancer by There is, arguably, no other sinhelping people stay well, helping gle model that results in greater people get well, by finding cures teacher improvement and develand by fighting back. The out- opment than teacher mentoring.
Fight for life
Mentor benefits
LAWRENCE
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When successful, experienced teachers spend hours each week coaching, modeling techniques, assisting, demonstrating, observing and recoaching new or struggling teachers, student learning improves. Teachers who benefit from this model are much less likely to leave the profession within their first five years of teaching. When new student-learning models are introduced buildingor districtwide, teacher mentoring is by far the most effective way to make sure the model is implemented effectively. The broad body of research is solidly positive on this intervention for school improvement. Successful teacher-mentors still must manage, prepare for, teach and evaluate each of the students in their own classrooms. These professionals deserve increased pay. When scales do not provide for such pay, bonuses are an effective option. The business community insists that schools must implement merit pay. This is a form of professional growth pay that works. School districts where effective teacher-mentoring programs are in place have teacher, administrator, board of education and parental approval. No single intervention solves all problems, and that is no excuse for ending those that work best. Fund teacher mentoring, unless your objective is to ensure that public education fails. Barbara Palmer, Lawrence
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