production funding for Ruckus has been provided by gifts from Dave and Jamie Cummings, the Hartwig Family Barbara and Peter Gattermeir the Courtney S. Turner Charitable Trust John H. Mize andBank of America co-trustees and by viewers like you, thank you welcome Ruckus our weekly food for thought fight over the news of the day in the trends of the times I'm Mike Shanin the Ruckettes join me shortly our topics this week an arresting development in the mayor's race in the governor's race differing views on education funding and what difference will gender make in the Johnson County elections plus of course roasts and toasts but we start with our interview segment and put the focus on three questions that will appear on the Missouri ballot this November all three deal with making medical marijuana legal two are constitutional amendments ones a proposition what are the differences if any we'll get some thoughts from Jack Cardetti with New Approach Missouri Jack welcome to Ruckus thanks for joining us thanks for having me on got to be confusing for voters when they go to the polls on November the sixth and see three questions all dealing with the same issue of medical marijuana and making it legal can you simplify this for us and tell us what the essential differences are yeah absolutely so it it really is is incredible you know the debate this year isn't so much whether or not Missouri will become the thirty first astate to have medical marijuana but under which system they'll do it there's three different propositions now amendment two which is what we support would is a fairly straightforward approach it would have the Missouri department health regulate the program there be a small four percent sales tax that would go towards veterans issues now Prop C. which would be trumped if either of the constitutional amendments pass that's another fairly straightforward approach the biggest difference there is if it passes the legislature could come back and ah or change it Amendment three is really sort of the outlier or there is a much different approach to medical marijuana it's backed by single person a of personal injury attorney Brad Bradshaw Bradshaw we know Brad he's run for office before we have you seen his billboards for person for his personal injury firm here in Kansas City you're familiar with him he would essentially put himself in charge of the program may be a chair of a new you know a state agency that would oversee this appoint the board members and then he would also place a fifteen percent sales tax on the sale medical marijuana which would be the largest in the nation okay let's say Amendment 2 the one you support passes what happens then yeah absolutely and so Missouri will join thirty other states where state licensee physician an MD or DO can work with the patient that had cancer epilepsy PTSD or other debilitating and issues look at their is thier their different disease or illness and say okay we've believe medical merit medical marijuana is an appropriate treatment option will there be companies that spring up providing medical marijuana all of that will be through the Missouri department of health an existing state agency will license all of it has to be produced in the state we have to be sold added this license dispensary all of that will be highly regulated by the Missouri department of Health do we know that medical marijuana actually helps cure any diseases yeah we know the medical marijuana has some real benefits when you look at cancer someone that has nausea somebody the that it helps with appectite it helps with sleep so really can bring a lot of relief ah to patients but even more ah the the other thing that really helps is when you look at what it does to opiod abuse doesn't do a lot for pain relief if your or in severe pain medical marijuana helps ease that pain yes severe pain chronic pain is one of the best things the medical marijuana for it and the thing is right now physicians when someone's in pain they're real only option is to prescribe opiods and we know that opioids have some level of addiction to go with them and so what the Journal of American Medicine has found in a study just out this May is when states implement a medical marijuana law opiod prescriptions actually go down we think that's good for society you mentioned there are thirty some states that have legalized medical marijuana the federal government has not legalized it that is How does that happen you're absolutely right the the like a lot of things DC has not gotten with the times DC is not lead on this issue as a result the state's picked up if you look at just this summer the state of Oklahoma medical marijuana was on the ballot it passed there in the twenty sixteen election cycle it was on the ballot in those liberal bastions of North Dakota Arkansas and Florida where needed sixty percent of the vote it passed in all of them Jack your known throughout Missouri as a democratic consultant a very successful one I might add is this a measure that is backed by Democrats exclusively and by liberals absolutely not in fact there's a bipartisan coalition of veterans and patients and doctors that back this and for a little proof of that look no further than the Joplin Globe in the most conservative part of the state they came out and endorsed amendment two just this week in fact some of our most fervent supporters here are very libertarians there Trump supporters that don't believe the government ought to be coming between a doctor and a patient I think I saw on one of the documents about your organization that you have the ACLU on the left essentially and the tea party on the right both in support of amendment two and medical marijuana absolutely they're both sticking up for patients here we love that that coalition when I leave the show today we'll actually go to announce that the VFW the Veterans of Foreign Wars that don't get involved in many political issues are coming out in support of amendment 2 Jack pleasure to meet you thank you very much for coming and thanks for having me you bet that is Jack Cardetti with New Approach Missouri now let's meet the panel and start all Ruckus Jeremy Lafaver is a former Missouri state representative now with LaFaver and Associates Dave Trabert is the president of the Kansas Policy Institute Michele Watley is founder of the Griot Group and attorney Steve Mirakian is with the law firm of Wyrsch Hobbes and Mirakian and is co chair of the twenty twenty Avenatti for president committee congradulations Steve on that He's doing extremely well pays off that four million dollars he's gonna be in great shape you attorney stick together no question about it becoming mayor of Kansas City is no doubt an intoxicating thought but intoxication on route can be a problem third district councilman Quinton Lucas a KU law professor was arrested last week in Lawrence on suspicion of DUI Lucas says he attended a charity event had too many drinks decided he best not drive back to Kansas City sat in his car and went to sleep responding to a call Lawrence police found Lucas arrested him took the councilman to jail Lucas says he never drove never even started his car and acted in a responsible manner so regardless of what happens now whether he pays a fine or is exonerated what will be the impact on his race for mayor Jeremy will this hurt, help or have little to no affect at all on that I've always sort of been along the lines that when you get in trouble that you've either got to be a criminal defendant or you gotta be a politician it's really tough to be both no matter how it comes out having a mug shot on the mailer is never a good thing but I think it's certainly possible you know people really like a repentant sinner so to speak or they they like an apologist or somebody who takes responsibility for their actions I think there's still plenty of opportunity potentially for for the councilman to get ahead of this at some point I I also understand you know his desire to probably want to see this through the criminal proceedings if if it does go forward I certainly think that whatever happens in that regard certainly will dictate to some extent the the outcome of this too Michele the election the primary is not until April of twenty nineteen does he have enough time to get this forgotten by voters He definitely has enough time the primary is ages away and at this point we're in the throes of a heated mid term election we've got twelve days what is it thirty four minutes fifty four seconds you know before we have mid terms and we got two the most contested races in the nation both think Kansas and Missouri so I think it gets lost in a sea of ads in the mid term and then he has plenty of time but do you think his opponents may use that against him remind people of the charges I think they do so the councilman is handling of the situation is becomes more important than the situation itself does he apologize <eps> you know you can came out ahead of it it was very transparent about the situation and so that is all that's what's going to play out with voters Dave does it surprise you that you can be charged with DUI in Kansas without even driving the car just sitting in the car well considering that people can have their personal property seized for no good reason under civil ah asset forfeiture laws no it mean anything doesn't surprise me I think that this issue really underscores the need for criminal justice reform in Kansas I mean for someone to be able to make a responsible decision to not star even start their car assuming he's representing the facts accurately I think that that should not be punished if if they didn't if he didn't drive then he should be punished you represent people charged with DUI who never started their car we have and and you know I'm I I've always believed and still believe that our constitution you're presumed innocent and the fact the matter is that the state would have to prove that he was operating a vehicle thtere's no crime of sitting in a car even though you may be intoxicated I take him at his work I have no reason not to at this point so if he wants to come out later on and say now I've made up and or whatever and I apologize fine it's not gonna hurt him in the campaign at all I agree with what's been said this is this is minor minor stuff even if he were convicted of a DUI people tend to forget those kinds of things they want to focus on his on the policy plans and things of that nature but it does strike me as being the kind of at the way our society seems to be changing that when someone is accused of something in a high level position we suddenly all want to believe they must be guilty because they were accused I have no reason at all to doubt what he said and if what he said is true he acted in extremely responsible fashion all this not withstanding is Lucas a strong candidate for mayor I think he was a strong candidate then I think it's possible the still strong can is a charismatic guy absolutely and he's an intelligent individual I think you know in a crowded field how does something like this impact that primary race and then if he manages to squeak out into the top two how does that impact you know whether there's there's the criminal side of this innocent till proven guilty certainly and then there's the the public side of this and I think it remains to be seen how the public will react Dave to think voters might commiserate with Lucas and say you know he's done everything he can do he didn't drive his car he's apologized he's paid his fine or went to jail whatever happens to him and we'll have some empathy and sympathy for and I think that's certainly possible Mike I imagine some people can identify with making as he says making a responsible decision to not even start his car I I think that in in fact some I agree that some people will probably use that against him that could actually backfire on on people using it if if the facts or born out there that he acted responsibly certainly brought his name to the attention of Kansas city voters which might be valuable, it did in an unfortunate you know way as you look at a crowded field this could be for some voters a way that they weed out who they you know who becomes a front runner their mind but again the the primary is months away Michele who else getting attention in the mayor's race Jolie Justus Jolie Justus for jumping back in the race after having jumped back out at it and again I think we're pretty far out so to be pretty hard to tell how that impacts voters but it's not something that I think they forget it'd be interesting to see how voters view that um she was the front runner when she was in before Jason Kander jumped in and so to see her jump out jump back in it'd be interesting to see how that plays out Steve I wish you had been here last week when I was talking about Jolie Justus and she had dropped out and then got back and I said Justus delayed is not Justus denied yeah see nobody laughed last week what's the point what are you trying to say she should use that her campaign that yeah there are no doubt many policy differences and preferences between the two major candidates for Kansas governor Democrat Laura Kelly and Republican Kris Kobach one both like talking about is funding K-12 education senator Kelly is proposing no changes to the present system where lawsuits from four districts including Kansas city Kansas often result in the state Supreme Court deciding the amount and fairness of state funding secretary of state Kobach supports a constitutional amendment which if approved by voters would give the final decision on school funding the legislators not the state Supreme Court the Kansas Policy Institute which Dave is president recently released a lengthy study about Kansas school finance and Dave what are a couple of the key findings of that stuff Steve I'll give you five key points to remember Mike Mike I'm sorry Steve's over there I'll give you five key points to remember enjoying your last appearance on on Ruckus it is it has been fun number one school funding last year set yet another record thirteen thousand six hundred dollars per pupil number two funding has not been cut as many people have claimed it's actually increased six of the last seven years and most of those years were record setting years number three no amount of money is going to resolve the real education crisis in Kansas and that's persistently low student achievement I'll give you some examples only thirty seven percent of students are proficient in reading we've seen billions more added over the last twenty years far above inflationary levels and we still have we have a lower A.C.T score than we did twenty years ago we have less than thirty percent of kids college ready on on in English reading math and science on that if you look at the the constitutional issue in nineteen ninety four the Kansas Supreme Court said the constitutional language is not about setting a certain funding level but about creating a system kind of having a formula and and the last one is that the cost study that was done paid for by the legislature is worthless you're saying the sufficient provision aspect of the constitution does not apply to finances according to the nineteen ninety four Kansas Supreme Court they said that that language is about creating a system of funding not setting an amount now very quickly because I got to get other people in here but you're saying there's more money for Kansas schools and schools are using and everything I read says just the opposite that Brownback has taking money away during his tenure as governor and schools don't get nearly enough money yeah I'm for and there are people who claim that including a not this program but a lot of people in media claim that and it's just not true funding according to the department of education funding is not only at record levels but so are the cash reserves the carry over money about which indicates they haven't spent all the money they received in the past year and KCK Kansaa City Kansas is one of the districts with carryover money that's not being you they're one of the worst examples Michele can can this take place and keep the courts from deciding controversies it'll be interesting if that takes place but that the role of the court is to be the neutral party in decisions like this or other controversies so that partisan politics and other issues don't come at play and so I think that's the value that the Supreme Court has in being a deciding factor in something like this so the notion that we want to take that away from the courts is (unintelligable)well Jeremey what happens to these four school districts that depend on the state Supreme Court to increase funding every time like fail file suit these are districts that say they are poor have less affluent people in the district why I there is a a the two provisions of the Kansas constitution about equitable and sufficient and there is a requirement that that all students receive a sufficient I think that's part of Supreme Court finding rather than the constitution that's right that's not in the constitution III think Supreme Court just ruled that it was inadequate not equitable and that's what they're trying to remedy I think I'm right we can we can we split the baby on the words on that one but the the idea is that the education the financing level must meet certain standards to be able to provide for an adequate education can we bypass courts Steve like this constitutional amendment would absolutely and let me address two things that that that that we just talked about and and I would do respect it's not a matter of just splitting the baby on the words ok the words are what matter the Supreme Court of Kansas like every Supreme Court like every court is supposed to be neutral but that's not the question the question is what is the role of court under our constitution it is not the role of the court to legislate it's just that simple so we have they still determine whether legislation is constitutional, so we that's true but we have to look at the words of the constitution not the words the court has chosen to use it as the constitution that governs the words of our constitution when it becomes obvious to the people of the state that a court seems to be legislating that it is the prerogative of the people if they choose to do so to amend the constitution in a way that would not deprive the court of its job but would simply say we have now change the constitution so that you can no longer usurp the power of the legislature gotta stop of there and mention that this is not on the ballot and may not be for sometime in and if if were it would fail depends not according to polling I disagree and you have I mean it's it's six hundred people five hundred of them are low are registered voters of those probably forty percent are likely voters so only one third of your poll's respondents are actual people who go to the polls that constitutional amendment would get trounced two thirds are Dave's friends so from what one reads and hears about Johnson County it is easy to assume that most residents like the way the county commission does business residents often cite good infrastructure quality schools competent law enforcement and manageable tax rates but the president of the Johnson County democratic women's north chapter talking about the Johnson county commission says it is not acceptable that it's all white male that's not our County that's not who we are four of the commission seven seats are on the ballot all four held by male incumbents there's a female challenger and each of the four races let's start with this does gender should gender play a role in deciding who Johnson countian vote for Steve you are a Johnson countian well it's the way you've asked the question it can be answered either way well that's the idea of people people obviously have the right to decide if they would shoot if they would rather vote for female or male gender can certainly be play a role because you may say I would choose I would like to support a female candidates but the question as I see the larger question is whether or not within our society we do ourselves a service by by looking at people and evaluating their ability to serve as elected politicians elected representatives and so forth based upon essentially immutable factors such as race or sex or age okay it seems to me if the if the if the chairman of the of the Johnson County democratic women's group or whatever she is wants to say we'd like to see more women on the commission and more women should run and more women should try to be on I agree with that one hundred percent that's fine but the notion that there's something inherently evil or wrong about having white men on the commission as opposed to white women or black women or Hispanic women or I don't care the fact of the matter is vote for people who are qualified without saying you're qualified because you are a man Let me get to Michele with the same question essentially of what role should gender play if any in choosing who you vote for does gender play roe yes in this era of Me Too the Women's March in more women running for office it any time in recent history it does play a role should play a role of course we want to elect candidates who are best suited and qualified to run for office and in this case some of those candidates happen to be women but I don't think that with the argument she's making is that it is wrong for you to be white and male however to have a commission that has you know seven is it seven nine members that are all older white males of for the last almost last decade that's problematic of course they didn't elect themselves of course they didn't but you know does not represent (Idon't think) again this is a role candidates ah run to represent electorate that vote for them and seven white men on that the commission is not reflective of the demographics of Johnson County well Jeremy we are seeing a lot of women run across the nation especially for the US house and Senate level we yeah I think the voters Johnson County at the the best say to your question of whether diversity among governing bodies is important to them and I think diversity of gender and diversity of race and diversity of thought and socio economic status but in this case I think it diversity of gender is an important topic in the the voters in Johnson County are about just I think tell you that it is important Dave you live in Johnson County I believe do you have a generally positive view of the way the county commission has been operating you know I think that there is a need for some change in overall and how the commission has been operating but it's based on policy not old young male female it's I'll give an example property taxes in Johnston County of increased two hundred twenty six percent over the last twenty years while inflation and population were only about eighty eight percent there was a a survey a few years ago where the County residents said they did not support property tax increases and yet the commissioners out went ahead and did it so the issue should be about the the the role of government and how people view the issues not what color they are or what gender they are alright we got ahead now for the soapbox more Roasts and Toasts were the Ruckettes have thirty seconds each to iply deny or defy and we start with Mr Mirakian the president has put it into perspective the absurdity of the notion that the United States should allow ten thousand migrants to cross our border under the Honduran flag by saying if you want to come here and remain here you must do so lawfully we must secure our borders and cannot permit people to enter or stay unlawfully of course the president who said the very insightful words was Barak Obama in two thousand five when he was a senator so I guess in the eyes of the open borders lunatic Barack Obama now joins Bill Clinton and Donald Trump as racist xenophobic crazy old white guys Jeremy I have a roast today for the deranged psychopath that is somehow committing acts of terrorism in our country as well as the politicians that apologize for and coddled them it's enough it's time to stop and it's time for us to lead our country into the nat-exuse me the nation that's safe for my daughters to grow up in Michele I want to give a toast to the women running for Johnson County commission ah and stepping up in and taking leadership no offense to the old white or male guys on this panel speak for yourself, she just called you old any of you that - no offense -those that my apply but it's great to see women stepping up on both as women who work for a different perspective and added value to the commission but who are also just as duly qualified to run for office and take their seats Dave thank you Mike they a roast for the Kansas City Star for of unbelievably using a series of false accusations to ironically accuse a gubernatorial candidate of lying about school finance and then having been presented with proof that their claims were false over a week ago they still to they've yet to to retract that and correct the record so look look we know that the Kansas City Star prefers the big government tax and spend candidates but even editorial writers should be honest and accurate and finally here's a toast to UN Ambassador Nikki Haley who may have stumbled over the boundaries of political correctness when she said this at the Al Smith dinner in New York actually when the president found out that I was Indian American he asked me if I was from the same tribe as Elizabeth Warren Haley's speech was well received and some analysts see her as a future GOP presidential nominee and that is Ruckus for this week we're back next Thursday at seven now for the Ruckettes and the crew Mike Shanin saying thanks very much for watching and goodnight production funding for Ruckus has been provided by gifts from Dave and Jamie Cummings the Hartwig Family Barbara and Peter Gattermeir the Courtney S. Turner Charitable Trust John H. Mize and Bank of America Co-trustees and by viewers like you thank you