http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-brownback-override-20170607-story.html
Sam Brownback has been a Tea Party star since taking office as Kansas governor in 2011. He rolled back anti-discrimination laws and vetoed a bill that would have brought health coverage to 180,000 residents by making his state the 32nd to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
But his signature achievement — if one could call it that — was to institute a package of drastic tax cuts to produce what he predicted would be “a shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy.” Brownback’s tax consultant, supply-side guru Art Laffer, promised Kansans that the cuts would pay for themselves in supercharged economic growth.
Instead, job growth in Kansas trailed the nation. Month after month, revenue came in even lower than fiscal officials’ most dire expectations. Instead of turbocharged growth, observes veteran local commentator Yael T. Abouhalkah, “the state had to divert billions of dollars in road funding, slice higher ed money, cut social services, reduce support for public pensions and fall behind on previous pledges to improve funding of K-12 schools.” Despite that, Brownback squeaked through to reelection in 2014 with a 49.82% plurality.....
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