So it's with some sheer annoyance that I have to report that Kansas House Republicans (read, the Speaker's Office) are touting despicable news as "good news."
Sigh.
The latest email from the Kansas House Caucus lists expansive economic development and growth in Kansas. And listen, I'm a fan of growth -- real growth. But to pretend that the Amazon deal is an amazing piece of news is just dishonest when anyone with half a brain knows that Amazon is shafting Kansans. This deal isn't a win.
The newsletter also celebrates the expansion of a GM plant in Fairfax. This is closer to good news. At least the GM plant expansion isn't robbing jobs and wealth from one Kansas community to give it to another. This time, we're just transplanting jobs from Michigan to Kansas. I have trouble celebrating, at least not in this fashion.
In the case of Amazon and GM, these aren't brand new jobs. This is a shell game.
I am thrilled to celebrate the success of DH Pace, which will hire 150 people at an expanded facility in Olathe. These appear to be new jobs -- not just to the area -- but actual, real expansion. That's great!! And the expansion or Emerald Aerospace in Wichita is equally exciting. These are actually new jobs, and that's exciting.
Including the Amazon and GM jobs in the newsletter greatly diminishes the real success of the other expansions. And let's be honest -- this is one reason people don't trust Republicans. It looks like we have no scruples when we pretend we've had a hand in creating news jobs when in fact all we've done is subsidize (through the taxes of working Kansans) the movement of jobs across state lines or worse, across county lines.
I am so sick of the unholy alliance between business and Republicans. We're better than this, or at least, we should be. I guarantee I am not the only person who recognizes this unholy alliance, though I may be one of the few who actually says it out loud.
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