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Food Stamp Challenge
KU salaries come from state funds, other sources By Ben Unglesbee bunglesbee@ljworld.com
You might think that a university CEO, given the responsibilities, would be the highest paid person in the institution. At $492,650 for the 2014 fiscal year, Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little is the third-highest paid employee at the university, which is probably nothing to complain about. Yet in terms of how much Gray-Little is paid from state coffers, as opposed to funds from endowments or other sources, she ranks seventh at $221,692, according to figures released by the uni-
John Young/Journal-World Photo
REPORTER CHAD LAWHORN AND HIS FAMILY share dinner at home during the Food Stamp Challenge.
Limitations shed light on what is missing It was a simple sign that advertised one of the world’s simpler delights: pie. I’m always in the mood for pie, and on this day it sounded like a particularly good idea because I had plenty of room for it in my stomach. One problem: I didn’t have room for it in my wallet. You see, I was participating in this stupid Food Stamp Challenge put on by Just Food, the food bank in Lawrence. Yeah, I said stupid. You stop me from getting pie, and I get nasty. Indeed, this program stopped me from getting pie. When I saw the little handwritten sign hanging from the door of Great Harvest Bread Company, I was only on Day 1 of this four-day challenge. The organizers of the challenge told me that I had $63.36 — the average food stamp payment for a Kansas family of four — to meet all of my family’s food needs for the
Lawhorn’s Lawrence
Chad Lawhorn four-day period. Just the night before, I had spent over 80 percent of my entire allowance on a single trip to the grocery store. So, I passed on pie. (I write that sentence with gritted teeth.) But as I continued my walk downtown, I realized I did gain something. It was my first lesson from this challenge: We want what we can’t have. That’s nothing new. I want a 120-foot yacht, but I’m not going to get one, and I’ve pretty much gotten over that
CHAD LAWHORN SHOPS AT CHECKERS on Monday with a budget of $63.36, the average amount for a Kansas family of four for four days. fact. (I still do wear a skipper’s hat from time to time.) But when it comes to something small, like a simple piece of pie, telling me that I can’t have that is a little hard to swallow. Swallow. Mmm, pie. Stupid, stupid Food Stamp Challenge. ••• I looked like a man preparing for an IRS audit. In the middle of a grocery aisle at Checkers, I have papers spread out everywhere and a
Please see SALARIES, page 7A
Experts say tax plan ‘experiment’ will be difficult to measure
Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
clawhorn@ljworld.com
versity. Many administrators and faculty members throughout the university are paid from sources in addition to state funds — generally KANSAS UNIVERSITY endowment funds. Those at KU who draw more from staff coffers than Gray-Little are: Doug Girod, executive vice chancellor of the KU Medical Center, $687,000; Garold Minns, dean of the Wichita medical school, $372,783; KU Provost Jeffrey Vitter, $368,480;
By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
calculator in one hand. My wife has sent me to the grocery store with coupons sticking out of places I didn’t even know I had. She also gave me a list, and a pretty stern warning that I had better stick to it. If you are a family of four — my wife and I have a 10-year old son and a 7-year old daughter — here is one way you can spend your four-day food stamp allotment of $63.36: 1 bag
Gov. Sam Brownback has said his tax changes will be like an adrenaline shot to the Kansas economy. But tax experts who have studied the Brownback plan say there will be no sudden surges from Brownback’s tax policy, and it will be difficult to tell what effect the changes will have. “We’ll never know for sure whether Kansas specifically experienced significant gains as a result of this policy,” said Justin Ross, assistant professor
Please see LAWHORN, page 8A
in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. R o s s and Carolyn Bourdeaux, an associate professor of public management and policy at Brownback the And r e w Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, analyzed Brownback’s tax changes for a recent conference at Please see TAXES, page 2A
Kansas, Missouri officials use fraud cases to pitch corruption hotline By Bill Draper
“
Everybody’s aware public corruption has always been a constant problem. What we’re CITY, MO. — A trying to do is call attention to it.” Associated Press
KANSAS former Jackson County Circuit Court administrator’s guilty plea to mail fraud served as a springboard last week for an announcement by federal officials of a new telephone hotline people can call to report public corruption. If Teresa York’s guilty plea Thursday in federal court wasn’t enough to illustrate how public officials are using their positions for personal gain, the guilty plea a day earlier by a former treasurer for a
— Special Agent Michael Kaste, FBI Missouri fire protection district who embezzled more than $1.5 million would have served the same purpose. As would a federal charge against the former treasurer of a Kansas rural fire district accused in October of stealing more than $427,000 from his employer over five years and leaving the district
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unable to pay its bills. “Everybody’s aware public corruption has always been a constant problem,” Michael Kaste, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Kansas City office, said at a joint news conference on Thursday. “What we’re trying to do is call attention to it.” Kaste, U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson of Mis-
souri and U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom of Kansas met with members of the media on Thursday in Kansas City, Mo., to encourage people to assist in uncovering misdeeds by public officials. The hotline number is 1-855-KCPCTIP, or 1-855527-2847. Kaste said the hotline is answered by a real person, instead of a recording, and callers can either provide their names or remain anonymous. Every call won’t necessarily result in an investigation, he said, because sometimes people make reports simply because
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they don’t like someone or inaccurately suspect wrongdoing. “Public corruption is the FBI’s number one criminal priority,” Kaste said. “We’re very good at it. We’re also very good at ferreting out frivolous complaints.” In the Jackson County court administrator’s case, a routine audit found that York, 58, of Blue Springs, used credit cards issued by the court for nearly $78,000 in unauthorized purchases. Prosecutors said she also entered into a fraudulent contract worth nearly $70,000 with a fake
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Bishop Seabury students fast, sleep outside to raise awareness, money to aid homeless. Page 3A
CORRUPTION HOTLINE A new telephone hotline allows callers to report public corruption. The number: 1-855-KCPCTIP (1-855-527-2847) company that was a front for a person with whom York had a personal relationship. “All of this was happening at the time Jackson County court was having Please see HOTLINE, page 2A
Vol.155/No.328 40 pages