Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) “choked up” during a private meeting with Kansas House Republicans over discussions on closing the state’s $400 million budget deficit.
“He got emotional,” an unnamed legislator who attended the private meeting said, according to the Topeka Capitol-Journal reported on Wednesday. “He was eager for us to come together as a party.”
Another lawmaker said Brownback described making budget cuts “really difficult to do before.”
Brownback’s office didn’t respond to requests for comments by the Kansas newspaper.
In the Tuesday meeting, according to the Capitol-Journal, Brownback expressed concern that if House and Senate lawmakers didn’t come to a deal he would have to order sweeping 6 percent cuts across the state’s budget.
Brownback, according to legislators at the meeting, also recalled all the public criticism he’s received over the dim state of Kansas’s budget, including being booed at a NCAA game in Omaha between two Kansas universities —Wichita State and The University of Kansas.
Very early Friday morning, the Kansas House was able to pass a compromise bill that aims to fill the $400 million budget deficit. The bill did not pass until 4 a.m., according to The Wichita Eagle.
The state’s budget has been an ongoing problem for Brownback thanks to the deep tax cuts he’s put in place. The resulting shortfall has forced the very conservative Kansas governor to look at any possible option to improve the state’s finances, even expanding Medicaid through Obamacare, a cardinal sin for Republicans.
I know it reflects poorly on me, but I would prefer that the headline read “Sam Brownback choked” during budget negotiations. He hasn’t cared about the working man, or education, or medical assistance or anything that would improve the plight of Kansans, so there is certainly no empathy for his situation.
It is going to take a long time for the state of Kansas to recover from Brownback but they reelected him so the public has no one to blame but themselves.
You would choke too if you had a big KOCH rammed down your throat like Brownback.
What an idiot. His extremism has destroyed his state’s infrastructure and its economy, and now he’s feeling emotional because he has to cut EVERYTHING. On the other hand, he could wake up and realize that his economic theory is wrong and take corrective action. Are we supposed to feel for him in some way because he had a feeling? He could have had a feeling when he was ruining the schools or cutting welfare or …you name it. He’s a classic narcissistic opportunist and a wannabe one per center. Can’t believe Kansas reelected him.
I still wonder if Obama did the country any favors when he plucked the popular Dem govs of Arizona and Kansas for his administration. Total nut jobs took over. Maybe he should have gone after some talent from some safer states for Dems.
I swear, when I read the headline the first time I thought it read. “Sam Brownback ‘Coked Up’ During Kansas Budget Negotiations.”
Yeah, me too. It was a big letdown when I read it a second time. For an instant I thought it just might be the thing to get him out of office and into prison.