Johnson County organizers decided if their elected wouldn’t come and meet with them, they’d hold a town hall of their own. “In case they don’t show up..” contended local activist and Move On leader Al Frisby in a Facebook reply, “We’ll have good speakers.”
Of course, the people who planned the event knew that the local elected officials would not step foot in the town hall, one organized to discuss the implications of ACA and Medicaid Expansion. Their event, however, couldn’t have come at a better time.
cjonline.com/…
Democrats and moderate Republicans succeeded on a vote of 83-40 in inserting provisions expanding Medicaid into House Bill 2044. An identical Medicaid expansion bill had been tabled by a House committee Monday on a 9-8 vote, a development that threatened to derail the reform movement. More than 160 people testified before the House Health and Human Services committee in support of expansion, while five testified against it.
160 individuals testified in favor of Medicaid expansion for Kansas, and only 5 individuals offered testimony against. In case you wondered, of those five? Only one was a Kansan.
Well attended, the event encouraged people to become more involved and look forward to their November local elections, as Indivisible membership continues to grow. The meeting drew out op-eds, and then, one particular individual took particular interest.
While Indivisible didn’t get the members to show up:
They did manage to get a crowd. “This is growing really fast, and it’s pretty incredible,” said an attendee.
Heather Ousley, attorney and public school advocate has repeatedly made the walk between her home in Merriam, Kansas to the state house to draw attention to schools. Now, she's working to draw attention to the issues that face our country — and some reaffirmation from Hillary Clinton? Certainly doesn’t hurt.
That moment when the woman you voted for for president retweets an event you were a part of creating.
Ousley isn’t alone in her efforts. Her husband, Jarrod Ousley, was among the votes YES earlier in the day to expand Medicaid. A house painter by trade, Representative Ousley serves the state of Kansas in his second term. Rep. Adam Lusker, D-Pittsburg, had described Representative Ousley as: “A Democrat’s Democrat. Hard working, thoughtful, and an all around good dude,” in a town hall last year.
It seems as though, in his spouse, Hillary Clinton may have found her own version of the same.
And while Kevin Yoder was sitting in the stands watching KU Basketball play TCU, his home district? They were organizing for whatever comes next.
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