If Marci Francisco will decline to vote in favor of giving struggling Kansans a break on their taxes, what then will she vote to do with those taxes? Give herself a 93% raise, of course. In this final installment, I examine the under-the-table deal that gave Kansas legislators a massive pay increase in the midst of a recession and an inflation crisis, and how Senator Francisco approved of it every step of the way.
Finally, I ask you to judge for yourself: Is this the kind of leadership we need in the Senate? Does Marci Francisco represent your interests, or is she just representing herself?
Transcript
Hello, I’m David Miller. Thank you for listening to this final episode of what we call, “Marci’s Money.”
In the first episodes, we reviewed the Senator’s campaign finance reports for the last three years,
And also discussed her vote on the big tax cut bill which passed at the very end of the 2024 session.
As you may recall, she did not vote in favor of the tax cut bill. Rather, she voted “Present.”
And the effect of that is a “No” vote because only “Yes” votes count under the Kansas Constitution.
She’s a 20-year incumbent, she understands how the process works, and I’m sure she knew exactly what she was doing.
Today in this last episode, I want to discuss an issue that almost no one in Kansas seems to know anything about,
And that is the massive legislative pay increase that was enacted in the last session.
It was really handled in a very clever way, you might say, politically.
We’re all aware of what’s happened at the federal level, where rather than the Congress taking responsibility and dealing with issues,
They create a commission or an agency or a committee or something, and they hand off the decision making to that body.
Then they turn around and say, “Well, we didn’t do it – the XYZ agency did it!”
Well, that same kind of thing now has happened in the Kansas Legislature.
In 2023, the Legislature enacted Senate Bill 229,
And Senate Bill 229 created what was called a “Legislative Compensation Commission.”
Let me read to you a section from the Legislature’s research department regarding this proposal, this compensation commission.
“The bill requires the compensation rate and salary established by the commission to become the rate of compensation and salary for legislators…”
“Unless the Legislature reject the rates through adoption of a concurrent resolution…”
“No later than thirty days immediately following the submission of the commission.”
So this bill was enacted in 2023, and in the record- 2023, passed with 25 votes.
And among the twenty-five who voted for that bill, Senator Francisco is included.
This is really extraordinary.
The Legislature is elected to make public policy, to make decisions and always to make appropriation decisions.
But in this instance, they created this commission.
I’m sure everyone in the chamber knew exactly what was gonna happen.
The commission was going to recommend a huge pay increase for the Legislature,
And then all they would have to do in the next session is let it become law without the Legislature taking any action.
Well that’s what happened, and at the end of 2023, this commission…
…And everyone knew what they were going to do before they were even appointed!
This commission recommended a 93% pay increase for the Legislature.
So at the beginning of the 2024 session, after this massive increase is put on the table,
A resolution, 1615, was introduced, and it would require the Legislature to actually review this decision,
Rather than just stand by and let it happen.
That was introduced at the end of January, and in the Senate, there was a motion made to pull that resolution from committee.
It was referred to committee where it was going to die,
And the only way it would come up for a vote on the Senate Floor or the House Floor was to pull that resolution out of committee.
Under the Senate rules, it required 24 votes to pull it out of committee.
Interestingly, according to the Senate Journal on Senate Concurrent Resolution 1615:
There were 21 votes to pull it out of committee, only 3 votes not to pull it out of committee,
But most interestingly, 12 who voted “Present.”
In other words, those twelve decided they didn’t want to vote “No,”
But they effectively voted “No” because they didn’t vote to pull the resolution to the floor so the matter could be reviewed by the Senate.
And among the twelve who voted “Present” was the 20-year incumbent, Marci Francisco.
I think this raises a very serious question in everyone’s mind about what kind of representation we’re having.
Is it really appropriate for the legislature to create through some political sleight of hand a commission to give them a big pay increase,
And then when it comes time to vote on it they sit on their hands by voting “Present?”
I don’t think that’s leadership.
I don’t think that’s what the people of Kansas want or deserve.
I’m David Miller, thank you for listening to this series on Marci’s Money.
This program is brought you, of course, by my campaign committee, Kansans for David G. Miller,
And my website is davidgmiller.com.
Thank you.