It’s clear that Senator Marci Francisco does not represent the people of Lawrence through the money she earns from campaign contributions. But does she represent the people in the way she votes? In this part, I examine her voting record on the Senate floor, especially regarding one crucial tax cut bill from this year’s legislative session, and why it matters.
Stay tuned for the fourth and final part where we will look at another piece of Senator Francisco’s record and finally resolve the question, does she govern in the interest of you, the people, or someone else?
Transcript
Hello, I’m David Miller. This is our third installment in a series that we’re calling “Marci’s Money,”
Where we’re reviewing the S enator’s record, her campaign contributions,
And in this episode, I’m going to talk about one vote that I think was very important.
As anyone who pays attention to the legislature during this 2024 session, you know that the overriding issue was a tax cut.
The state of Kansas has been sitting on billions of dollars, and the people of Kansas badly need tax relief.
Well, they could not get a compromise bill passed during the regular session.
So after the end of the regular session this year, the governor called a special session.
And they finally got a bill that could be passed.
The most interesting thing to me about that entire episode,
…is that Senator Francisco voted “Present” and “Passing.”
In other words, for the record she said, “I’m here, but I’m not voting for it.”
Kind of raises a question in people’s minds, what’s going on?
And as you may recall when you looked at the campaign brochure I passed out as I went home-to-home all over Lawrence,
I noted that she had voted “Present.”
What i think is important to remember is the Constitution requires a specified number of “Yes” votes in order to pass a bill.
So when you vote “Present” or “Passing,” it is the equivalent of a “No” vote.
Because unless the bill has enough “Yes” votes, it’s not gonna pass.
To me, that really raises an important question,
Who’s the Senator representing?
In the first two episodes, we outlined tens of thousands of dollars she’s received from PACs and special interests from her 20 years in the Senate.
But when it finally came time to vote for something that would help taxpayers in the 2024 session,
The Senator voted “Pass,” or “Present.”
I’ll be talking a little bit more about voting “Pass” in the last episode of this series on Marci’s Money,
But I think her vote, or her failure to vote for the tax cut bill tells us a lot about the Senator’s record.
I’m David Miller, your candidate for the Kansas Senate here in Lawrence.
My website is davidgmiller.com.
And this is, of course, sponsored by Kansans for David G. Miller, Michelle Eagleman Treasurer.
Thank you.