Earlier this month the Kansas governor joked with reporters about the qualifications necessary to run the state’s IT environment. He was defending his recent appointment.

The governor, a Kansas agriculture secretary from 1986 to 1993, said his technology specialist at that agency did a fine job without a diploma.

“My IT guy was a former meat cutter,” the governor said.

Gov. Brownback’s “IT guys” prepare the new state backbone

Something tells me his department needs from ’86 to ’93 consisted of two 486s, a shared modem and a dot-matrix printer. I guess what he means is back in the day when a PC would go down his IT guy would shoot a bolt through its CPU, throw it in the grinder, make silicon sandwiches and then order a new one from Compaq. Best IT guy ever.

But seriously, this has been a bad month for Brownback to show he has a clue about technology. First he hires a guy who has a dubious resume and then has to accept his resignation. Then he steps into a huge steaming pile of controversy over freedom of expression by trying to shutdown speech of a student his office considered “disrespectful”.

Gov. Sam Brownback apologized Monday for his office’s reaction to a Kansas high school senior’s disparaging tweet about the Republican during a visit to the Statehouse.

I think the flap about control over speech and Twitter is far more illustrative than many people might realize. As a former Kansan I see shades of what has plagued the state in the recent past. This governor looks set to dismantle programs that create long-term value and jobs in order to garner some sweet short-term investments from his business associates and campaign friends. He is in process of a big sell-out of the state for personal/selfish gains.

Note, for example, an urgency to dismantle public support of the arts and shift them to private interests who will control content, as stated in this comment in the Topeka Capitol Journal.

Funding the arts in Kansas was a mere 29 cents per person, with a HUGE return on investment. See kansasarts.org for more information. Now we get nothing and our money goes to other states. […] Koch is partly responsible for this agenda item, as they are against public arts funding and donate a lot of private money to the arts. As donors they get to select on what they consider “art”. Don’t forget the David H. Koch Theater (formerly the New York State Theater) in New York. The City Opera now has to move because it can’t afford to stay in such an elaborate building that was created just to have the Koch name on it. Business WANT to move to cities that are vibrant and have arts communities. Look at Mars and their criteria for moving to Topeka.

Brownback’s extreme position to zero out the art programs and reinvent them as corporate-backed programs doesn’t make a lot of sense as a move to save money. It mainly impacts avenues of dissent and puts a chill over the state — drops the quality of eduction and initiates brain drain to other states.

If I put Brownback’s public comments together from the three stories I get the image of a leader set to auction public interests to a corporate bidder and shutdown what he considers wasteful pursuits such as quality education and free expression. That’s the real story here. It seems to me that a leader who valued the potential of IT to bring freedom and prosperity to the residents of a state would be far less likely to make such rash decisions.

Alas, for those who think I may be reading too much into the news I submit to you a description by Pat Roberts of Brownback’s Chief of Staff:

The true Machiavelli of Kansas, David Kensinger, our pitbull without lipstick, whose expertise in this new and very different world of political campaigns is unrivaled. David mounted the parapets, waved the flag, fired the first and last shots and led our troops to victory.

There is a good chance that Brownback’s ignorance is a mistake, but there is also a very good chance that it has been very carefully and consciously allowed. I remember well the good-humored but extreme right-wing views of David Kensinger. When I defeated him the one and only time we faced each other in competition I learned he will attempt every subtle trick imaginable; if he intends (or helps) to expand corporate control of government and the dismantling of freedom in Kansas then it will be very hard to stop him.

“Should have played baseball. Too many liberals in politics”