Gov. Sam Brownback offered two divergent views of the Kansas economy Friday, at once giving his tax cuts credit for an improved business and labor climate in the state, while at the same time blaming the states sagging revenues on poor economic conditions throughout the region.
Brownback made those comments during a rare and wide-ranging discussion with reporters in his inner office, during which he also talked about the recent primary elections, his views about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, and the prospects of establishing a dental school at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.
His views about the state of the economy, and the relative success of his tax policies, will be the focus of debate in 2017, when a new, and likely more moderate-leaning Legislature comes into office.
Meanwhile, Brownback repeatedly shrugged off suggestions made by many other observers that the defeat of so many conservative Republicans in the Aug. 2 primary was a repudiation of him or his administration. Instead, he suggested voters were frustrated about the budget and school finance.
Generally its school funding, is the issue thats cited, he said. Thats the frustrating piece. Are they frustrated that weve improved the pension system in the state? Generally its K-12 funding, and that overall during my administration has gone up, and still is higher than when I started.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2016/aug/12/brownback-tax-cuts-are-working-economy-still-needs/
As a reminder, Kansas voters reelected Brownback in 2014.