The Kansas Republican Party is once again misleading you.  Their claim in a recent mail piece is that I voted to cut $700 billion in Medicare. The entire budget for the State of Kansas is only $5.9 billion. With the Republican numbers, it would take us 119 years to pay off. Even a fourth grader knows this doesn’t add up.

The real cuts to Medicare will come if the Republicans have their way, privatize the system, and sell it to their friends in the insurance industry.  I will continue to oppose a Kansas takeover of Medicare.

Election Day is November 4, which means in just a few short days, I receive my first report card from you. I hope I have done a good job for you in Topeka. I work hard as your legislator, listen to your input, and do my very best to be informed on the issues. It is never possible to please every voter on every vote, but my goal is, on balance, to fairly represent all of you.

Since taking office as your State Representative, I have tried to let you know my thoughts concerning the issues facing our state and community. My newsletters sent have prompted many of you to write, email or phone me with your thoughts. As I have visited with you on your doorsteps this summer, I’ve learned that many of you have used them as a starting place to discuss the issues of concern to you. Your feedback is very helpful to me in representing you, and I hope these newsletters continue to be useful.

No matter who you support in the 92nd District race, or any other campaign, the most important thing you can personally do is vote. The right to vote is just that: a right, not a privilege. Thousand of Kansans have fought and died to preserve that right for all of us.

Sadly, there are folks doing their best to suppress the right to vote in Kansas. As of September 10, over 25,000 Kansans and over 5,000 voters in Sedgwick have had their voting rights “suspended” by the Kansas Secretary of State. These voters are on his voter suppression list not because they are not citizens entitled to vote, but because the Secretary of State claims he cannot verify their citizenship.

Don’t let the people trying to keep you home on election Day win. GO VOTE! IF necessary, demand your right to cast a provisional ballot, and VOTE! Your vote honors the sacrifice made by so many to preserve that right.

I hope I have earned your vote in the November election.

Stay in touch.

About a year ago, Kansas enacted the Governor’s program to contract Medicaid payments to private insurance companies through a program called KanCare.  Since that time, hospitals are going broke, doctors aren’t being paid and care is being denied to disabled Kansans. Despite these facts, the governor insists his KanCare program has been a success.

Meanwhile, the governor refused federal funds to insure over 80,000 Kansans who make too much money to be eligible for Medicaid but don’t make enough to afford private insurance.  To date, Kansas has turned down over 300 million dollars that would have gone to expand Medicaid and provide insurance coverage to working Kansans.

The losses to our state’s economy continue daily.  Not only are working Kansans without health insurance, but many nonprofit Kansas hospitals and other nonprofit care providers are on the brink of bankruptcy.

Most troubling, this year the legislature also passed HB 2553 which, if approved by Congress, will turn control of Medicare over to the governor.  Our governor has already shown his inability to manage KanCare and has refused over 300 million dollars to expand Medicaid.  I voted no on this bill, and will continue to oppose efforts to force our seniors into a health care system run by the governor.  There has already been enough damage done to the Kansas health care.

I will continue to vote to protect Medicare.  Medicare must not be a slush fund to balance the state budget and sold off to insurance companies.

Public schools and universities have made Kansas great. I owe much of my professional success to the outstanding education I received in our public schools and universities. We owe an obligation to provide the same opportunities to our children and future generations.

In recent mailings, the Kansas Republican Party has been deceiving voters and misrepresenting news reports. My position has always been the idea of removing dollars from higher education to support elementary education is absurd. The wealthiest Kansans should not be getting tax exemptions at the expense of our public schools, nor should the burden of paying for them be shifted to property and sales taxes.

In our own city and community, we build the finest airplanes in the world. WSU’s National Institute for Aviation Research produces the finest aeronautical engineers in the world and conducts cutting-edge research allowing our aircraft manufacturing technology to lead the worldwide industry.

Employers know that good schools are vital to providing quality employees. As we seek to turn around our state economy we must not forget the importance of investing in education.

– State Representative John Carmichael

STATE REPRESENTATIVE CARMICHAEL ENDORSED BY THE WICHITA EAGLE

Wichita, Kans.-

On Thursday, October 23, State Representative John Carmichael was endorsed by The Wichita Eagle to continue representing the 92nd State House District.

“I am pleased to have the backing of The Wichita Eagle.” Carmichael said. “The people in our community deserve representation that is engaged, informed on the issues and working for the people of Wichita and Kansas”

Pointing out that Rep. Carmichael is “remarkably informed” and able to understand the issues that Kansans face, the Eagle dubbed him a “valuable watchdog” on the state’s privatization of Medicaid.

The Eagle concluded by noting challenger Jeremy Alessi “… describes himself as a problem solver but can’t match Carmichael’s grasp of the issues facing the state.”

Last April, the Kansas House of Representatives turned back repeated attempts to repeal Kansas’ Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards, or RPS. RPS simply requires commercial power companies to generate 20% of their electricity by wind, solar or hydroelectric by 2020. I am proud to have voted to preserve renewable energy in Kansas.

There have recently been disappointing development in this area. First, the governor succumbed to pressure from special interest groups and abandoned his prior support for wind energy. Second, some local legislators have vowed to purge representatives who support renewable energy with candidates pledged to roll back progress. You may have met some of these candidates.

Nearly 20% of Kansas electrical power needs are already met by renewable energy. Kansas ranks third in the nation in wind power generation. We generate enough wind energy to power 870,000 American homes. Fifty-five percent of our wind energy stays here in Kansas. The remaining 45% flows into our country’s eastern power grid, helping reduce overall dependence on foreign oil.

Renewable energy drives a continuing investment of over $8 billion in Kansas industry and jobs. Twelve-thousand new Kansas jobs have been created, and payments to land owners total over $16 million per year. Renewable energy production generates over $10 million in taxes paid to Kansas counties, lessening the property tax burden on all of us.

There are vested interests in Topeka who, for their own personal gain, want to stop Kansas wind energy dead in its tracks. I am proud to support a diversified energy portfolio for Kansas, including wind energy, natural gas, and oil. Kansas is ideally suited to centrally meet the energy needs of our country. Wind, natural gas and oil must all be part of Kansas energy portfolio.

According to the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT), construction of a new interchange at Kellogg and I-235 is now slated to begin in 2015. Originally constructed over 50 years ago, most agree this dangerously out-of-date cloverleaf should have been rebuilt 20 years ago.

Five years ago, the Wichita City Council voted to build a bridge over the Big Ditch at 13th Street. The 13th Street Bridge was designed to reduce traffic on Zoo Boulevard and 13th Street by taking it over the Big Ditch at 13th, and directing it to a new Kellogg and I-235 interchange. The bridge, nearly complete, will open within the next few months. Construction of the new interchange has not yet started, and until it’s complete, we can look forward to more heavy traffic on 13th Street and continued dangerous conditions until the Kellogg and I-235 interchange is completed. Around the Capitol folks refer to the Kansas Department of Transportation as the “Bank of  KDOT.” Why? Every time the state general fund runs low on money the governor “borrows” money from the ten year state highway fund approved by the legislature 5 years ago. To date, over $1 billion has been taken from highway funds to shore up the state budget.

We cannot allow borrowing from the state highway fund to delay construction of projects like the Kellogg and I-235 interchange. The state highway fund is meant to build and maintain our roads and highways, not pay for needless tax cuts for wealthy Kansans. Holding up the “Bank of KDOT” makes our streets and highways less safe, and delays highway projects and the jobs and industry they bring to Kansans.

We need to use our state highway fund for highways, not to patch potholes in the state budget caused by unfair and short sighted tax cuts for the wealthiest Kansans.