Chanute, KS isn't one of the first names you'd think of as an area of the state with a progressive, populist attitude. Ensconced in small Neosho County, Kansas, Chanute is more famous for the Blue Comets High School football team, a pretty downtown, and being a community that stood up to the state in their goal to provide
rural broadband internet recently.
Like many rural communities, though, Chanute Kansas has suffered the Kansas economy and worried about their longterm growth. With deals offered to cement corporations in Neosho, as well as slower growth in industries that had hoped to see booms - Chanute is looking for a way to grow again.
When Governor Brownback visited town, he likely expected a contentious meeting given how his rough his last meeting in an area that became - despite it being deep red Republican territory.
But Governor Brownback wasn't prepared for people to come and speak point blank about their struggles with poverty - and how his administration's rhetoric wasn't helping.
http://www.chanute.com/...
While the governor was taking questions from the audience, Sara Maike stood up and described herself as both a “nobody” and the “poster child for poverty.” She said she survives on $1,000 per month, living in what she labeled the “crap shack,” and subsisting on basic necessities.
She stated that she can see a doctor if she gets sick during the day. However, any nighttime complications require a costly trip to the hospital emergency room. She added that some local clinics require a minimum $88 up-front payment, which is difficult for someone in her situation.
“Nobody chooses my life,” Maike said. “I don’t wake up saying that I am going to be poor or I am going to be mentally ill. I am going to skip breakfast because I need to pay my doctor bill. I make it work, because I make sacrifices.”
For many, it is this component that plagues Republicans. A year ago, Paul Ryan made his comment about
free school lunch being a sign of an empty soul. In Kansas, Brownback is asserting that those who need more than $25 a day in cash at any point are abusing the system.
When a citizen stood up and pointed out that it was another way to harm their ability to live - with copays often higher than the $25 in case of emergency need - Brownback was left with no immediate response.
http://www.gctelegram.com/...
He wrung his hands at the strait of rural hospitals if legislators don’t expand Medicaid.
“We need to get people off welfare,” he posited as the answer.
It rankled the governor to think an “able-bodied” individual could qualify for assistance.
The concerns among the audience mounted:
Dennis Franks, Neosho Memorial Regional Hospital CEO: “We’re losing $2.5 million a year by the state not expanding Medicaid. As a region, southeast Kansas is losing $20 million a year because of this. Is there anything we can do to get it moving forward?”
James Hardy, superintendent of Chanute schools: “Our budget was cut by $250,000 this year. We’re anxious about how you plan to increase revenue. How will you fund the budget?”
… Phil Jarred, certified public accountant: “I have millionaire clients who are paying next to nothing in state income taxes. I’m all for no income taxes, but only if it applies to everyone. How fair is it for only corporations to get the tax break? Is that smart?”
As the toll on these communities mounts, more confusion occurs. The Brownback plan of blaming those who are "able bodied" but receiving "welfare" as the apparent victims of their own doing becomes a much more difficult sell, if only because those same individuals, now confronted with the reality of losing any safety net they have feel as though they must fight back in order to survive.