The Kansas City Star provided a detailed look inside the Kansas State House, addressing issues of transparency within the state house. The articles alleged that Kansas Citizenry have a difficulty finding out what is going on, and where their legislators stand. The Kansas City Star referred to it as a “secrecy problem”.
www.kansascity.com/...
Kansas runs one of the most secretive state governments in the nation, and its secrecy permeates nearly every aspect of service, The Star found in a months-long investigation.
From the governor’s office to state agencies, from police departments to business relationships to health care, on the floors of the House and Senate, a veil has descended over the years and through administrations on both sides of the political aisle.
Some would say it is just coincidental, but the State of Kansas may have just put up another veil over the right of residents to know what is going on and make an impact — by pricing them out of the right to assemble in the state house.
www.kansascity.com/…
Activist groups planning to hold protests at the Kansas Capitol next year could be required to pay hundreds of dollars, while in Missouri similar events can be hosted at the state Capitol for free.
Davis Hammet, a Topeka activist, discovered that Kansas had increased the cost of holding a rally in the Capitol while trying Thursday to finalize a booking of the Capitol rotunda for a protest in January. He was told it would cost $500.
The Kansas People’s Agenda, a coalition of progressive groups that Hammet is part of, booked the same space last January for $20.
Changes announced in State Policy have turned the right to assemble in the State House — the People’s House — exorbitant for many, cutting away their opportunity to participate in their own state government.
Hammet, speaking to an ActLocal gathering in Hutchinson, Kansas this week, pointed out: “Pricing people out of participation is not Democratic. It also isn’t fair to the people who want to participate.”
Hammet, one of the planners for the Kansas People’s Agenda, points out that the pricing changes are just another way to shut people out of participating in their state government.
After calling around to multiple state houses, charges nearby seem to range from free in Missouri, to $20/$30 in many other nearby locations.
Who gets harmed in the struggle? Mostly smaller organizations or community activists who are unlikely to generate a fee in the hundreds to reserve the state house.
Over the past several years, corporate interests have who have staged days at the statehouse have had great success talking to Kansans and representing their constituencies. It is unlikely that these larger entities would be easily deterred by the price increase.
How do you keep things secret and allow those with power to operate unseen? Create rules and price structures that shut the public out at every opportunity you have.