“Along the way, conservatives pushed new policies seen by some as stifling political dissent.

“Public employee unions are now barred from deducting money from members’ paychecks to help bankroll political activities, which tend to be directed against conservatives. State money can no longer be used to lobby for gun control. And lawmakers have pushed repeatedly to overhaul the makeup of a state Supreme Court that’s ordered the Legislature to spend millions more on schools and that the legislative majority sees as hostile to the death penalty…Republican state Rep. Don Hineman of western Kansas said attempts to muffle dissent are ‘very, very real.’

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article11115413.html