Kansas vs. the Koch Brothers

My letter was published in The Kansas City Star on Feb. 3, 2015: Consider these Kansas budget numbers: $278 million – The 2014 budget shortfall after Gov. Brownback cut income taxes on top earners and certain  small businesses. $141 million – The cuts in highway funds ($100 million) and public employee pensions ($41 million) to help  plug the deficit. $1 billion – Amount that revenue is expected to fall short in 2015. Compare those figures to these for the Koch brothers: $80 billion – The estimated net worth of Charles and David Koch ($40 billion each) – 13 times the 2014  Kansas budget of $5.9 billion. $900 million – The amount the Koch brothers plan to spend in the 2016 election to help elect politicians who  will further lower their taxes and weaken environmental and workplace regulations. Unknown – How many millions they're saving in Kansas income taxes. What we do know is the crippling budget shortfall in Kansas amounts to only about 30 percent of what  the Koch brothers plan to spend to buy the next election. It seems the only thing the Koch brothers can't buy is our respect. If only they would pattern themselves after Ewing Kauffman (“Let KC have baseball!”) instead of Marie Antoinette (“Let them eat cake!”).