The stampede to trample the political rights of Kansas Citians reached the floor of the Missouri Senate Tuesday, in a display of arrogance and misinformation that shocks the conscience.
At issue was state Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer’s bill requiring Kansas City — and only Kansas City — to spend what he believes is an acceptable amount on the police: 26% of virtually every dollar the city collects.
That amount, Luetkemeyer conceded Tuesday, could reach $400 million a year, nearly double what KCPD currently gets. Spending that much on police would decimate city funds for parks, snow removal, trash pickup, streetlights and other essential city services.
No matter, Kansas Citians. Tony knows better than you do. “I think this 25 or 26% … is reflective of the modern day funding needs of the department,” he said.
The Parkville Republican’s arguments were so filled with half-truths and misinformation that state Sen. Barbara Anne Washington struggled with her emotions on the Senate floor. She pointed out the millions of dollars Kansas City spends to settle police brutality and wrongful arrest cases, not to protect her constituents.
“I don’t want to see a budget double, because you’re not hiring more officers with it, and you’re not hiring more people who look like me,” she said. “And you’re not training people to be sensitive, or understanding the community that they are to police.”
Washington’s heroic floor speech halted the anti-Kansas City tsunami, at least for a few moments. She offered an amendment reducing the funding floor to 25% (still higher than the current 20%), and removing the every-possible-dollar calculation Luetkemeyer wanted to use.
Her amendment passed by voice vote. But the work wasn’t over.
As we’ve pointed out, Luetkemeyer’s bill is a clear violation of the state’s Hancock Amendment, which prohibits unfunded state mandates for cities. His answer? A statewide vote, this year, exempting police funding decisions from Hancock.
His amendment would apply to every city in the state, which stunned senators of both parties. We’re smacking Kansas City around, they gasped, not every Missouri community.
“This is big government,” said state Sen. Karla May, a Democrat of St. Louis. “This is too broad … It’s essential that this doesn’t apply to every area across the state. This is micromanaging.”
Yes. Yes! We’ve been saying that for months. Why, though, is the state entitled to micromanage Kansas City’s budget, but not the budgets of every other city? May and her colleagues did not say.
“I clearly don’t believe that this should be applied to the rest of the state,” she said. Apparently, Kansas Citians, and only Kansas Citians, must cede their rights of self-government.
The amendment resolution is pending.
No one, with the exception perhaps of Sen. Washington, emerges unscathed from this outrageous display. Kansas City-area state Senate Democrats — John Rizzo, Greg Razer and Lauren Arthur — were lukewarm in their defense of the city’s interests.
A Senate aide said Democrats don’t have the votes to defeat Luetkemeyer’s bill.
We’re not letting Mayor Quinton Lucas off the hook, either. He clearly mishandled police funding last year, and his voice has been ignored in Jefferson City. But we still endorse his general idea: City Hall should control police spending above the current 20% threshold.
Luetkemeyer’s proposal reflects colonialism at its absolute worst. The state not only wants to control Kansas City’s police department; it wants to dictate the city’s budget. Why?
Perhaps because Jefferson City wants to control the decisions of urban areas with large minority populations, and minorities in political leadership. That sad possibility should enrage every Missourian, and especially Kansas Citians.
Luetkemeyer’s bills should die in the legislature. If that fails, Missourians should crush them at the polls later this year.
This story was originally published March 02, 2022 12:36 PM.