“KPI henchman Trabert does more than ponder issues at the think tank. KPI is active in lobbying and campaigning against tax and spending increases. It financed television ads to oppose the proposed tax increase in Johnson County.
“When Trabert speaks in Topeka, legislators bow and scrape. Who wants to be on the wrong side of the Kochs — who also control Americans for Prosperity and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce? (Trabert claims the Koch connection to KPI is ‘hooey,’ but he refuses to identify the institute’s funding sources.)
“Trabert tried the same tactics in Johnson County he has used in Topeka so successfully. He twisted the math into pretzels, convoluting the facts…
“What Trabert and his followers don’t realize is that the citizens of Johnson County love their schools, their parks, their libraries, and even public transit, which begs for expansion. And they are willing to pay for them.
“Trabert and the other naysayers have already done great damage to Johnson County schools by encouraging cuts at the state level, all in the name of lower income taxes. Now, they want to bring that same anti-tax, to-hell-with-quality-of-life fanaticism to Johnson County.”
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/steve-rose/article30447357.html