“But, Chris Suellentrop, nephew of Rep. Gene Suellentrop, R-Wichita, may not know his uncle Gene is associated with a nonprofit group disguised as a lobbying organization called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which meets in secret with nonelected lobbyists, who write the bills that have created the mess we are in. Uncle Gene helps to get them passed in the Kansas Legislature.

“Other tidbits about Chris’ uncle Gene should be shared as well. Rep. Suellentrop registered for the ALEC national meeting conducted last month in San Diego using taxpayer dollars. He made a pledge not to increase taxes and then voted for the largest and most regressive tax increase in Kansas history.

“I appreciated Chris’ insight. I can assure him the grassroots organizations throughout the state won’t wait until January 2016 to debate ‘whether the march can keep moving.’ The march to oppose legislation put in place by ‘Uncle Gene’ has already begun and is starting to spread like a raging prairie fire.”

Read more here: http://cjonline.com/opinion/2015-08-08/letter-march-oppose-uncle-gene-legislation-already-spreading

Here is the piece referenced in this letter: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/magazine/the-kansas-experiment.html. We found it interesting but disagree with the conclusion in the end. We suspect they increased the sales tax to avoid catastrophic cuts because those would be too noticeable to the public and would bring an end to their game in 2016. We believe their pragmatism is more linked to protecting their re-election than to their true desire to protect public education. We’ve become painfully aware that some of them would truly like to do away with public education entirely.