Wichita Eagle: No public comment allowed at lawmakers’ public forum

Marcillene Dover, a Wichita State University student with multiple sclerosis and no insurance, gathers herself after describing her problems at a legislative forum early this year. Seated behind her at right is Janice Bradley, a local activist who is objecting to a new format that won’t allow public comments at the next forum in January. That has rankled at least two Wichita Democratic members of the delegation, incoming House Minority Leader Jim Ward and Rep. John Carmichael.

Ward said the delegation hadn’t been consulted before the decision was made to eliminate public comment and if it had been, he would have opposed it. He said the pre-session forum is a tradition going back at least 30 years.

“It was a unilateral decision by an outgoing legislator to deny the public the chance to engage their representatives,” Ward said. “That’s totally inappropriate.”

Added Carmichael: “Unfortunately, I understand some members of the South Central Kansas Delegation don’t have the courage to face their constituents. And that’s wrong.”

Read the full article at http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article122697439.html