For bloviating politicians, ‘I know you are but what am I’ flops as communications strategy
Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson and Rep. Ron Bryce could use one piece of advice if they keep showboating: “I know you are but what am I” doesn’t carry weight as an argument.
Both men protested last week that the news media had somehow led Kansans astray in reporting about their policy priorities. In Masterson’s case, he spent most of the 2023 session pursuing a regressive tax bill that flopped spectacularly at the last minute. Bryce helped push an anti-abortion bill across the finish line with testimony that medical experts called extremely unlikely.
But rather than apologize or reconsider flawed positions, each man decided to call himself the victim of mean reporters instead.
As members of a party that once prided itself on promoting personal responsibility, that’s pretty rich.
‘Mental contortion’
Kansas reporters and columnists had rightly pointed out that Masterson sought nothing more than to line the pockets of the rich at the expense of the poor. His revised flat tax, as vetoed by Gov. Laura Kelly, would have netted Kansans making more than $250,000 a year more than $250 per month in savings. Those making $25,000 to $75,000 a year would have saved about $5 to $8 per month.
Sure, everyone would have saved a bit, but lower-income folks benefit from state services. Tax cuts undermine those services. Kansans’ experience with former Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax “experiment” proved that to most folks’ satisfaction.
But Masterson (who also pulls down six figures at a Wichita State University job) was ready to blame the news media instead of, you know, the policy he created and supports.
“These comments about somehow it benefits the wealthy, you have to get yourself in quite a good mental contortion to get there,” he said, according to Kansas Reflector’s Rachel Mipro. “It was a benefit for everybody just on that face value alone.”
He added: “You don’t always get accurate information coming through the general flows of information, through this standard sources of media.”
Masterson tried to shore up the indefensible by pointing to property tax relief included in the bill. That overlooks the fact that the poorest among us likely don’t own property. The bill also “accelerated $40 million in annual tax cuts for corporations,” Mipro reported.
So much for helping the neediest among us, huh?
‘Political agenda’
Bryce, a physician from Coffeyville, testified last session at a hearing in support of a bill that bars taking the lives of infants who survive abortions.
That sounds like a horrific scenario, but according to reporting by Katelynn Donnelly, medical experts say it simply doesn’t happen. For one thing, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists notes a fetus usually has to reach 25 weeks before it can survive outside the womb. In Kansas, abortions are illegal after 22 weeks.
To be clear, the bill Bryce supported did pass. Kansas legislators overrode Kelly’s veto and ensconced it in state law.
Yet the representative read Donnelly’s article as a personal attack and decided to write about it at length (his column was shared via email to members of the Kansas Press Association by the publisher of the Anderson County Review). In doing so, he misses the entire point of journalism.
I’ll quote his list of the story’s supposed falsehoods directly. Yes, he wrote about himself in the third person.
“Conservative legislators like Dr. Bryce ‘put out lies to the public.’
“Physicians like Dr. Bryce ‘are lying to their constituents and using their doctor title as a way to gain credibility.’
“Dr. Bryce’s experiences as a physician are ‘made up to try to scare people.’ ‘A non-existent scare tactic.’
“Dr. Bryce is ‘using misinformation to scare people.’ ”
Unfortunately, the good doctor bears false witness from the beginning. Not one of the passages he highlights was written by the reporter or Reflector editors. They are instead direct quotes from the experts that Donnelly consulted. These are the words of Bryce’s fellow physicians, not journalists.
You also wouldn’t know from Bryce’s piece that he was indeed contacted by the reporter and commented for the story. He was offered — and took — the opportunity to contribute.
Notably, he didn’t ask Kansas Reflector for a correction or clarification after publication. Indeed, his column never states that he was misquoted or misunderstood.
Bryce simply doesn’t like being called out.
“These are not normal people,” he writes later, deciding to move on to full-throated projection. “They are ideologically-possessed bullies who think they can change reality by screaming at it. These people demonstrate a blend of ignorance and arrogance that makes them impervious to anything outside of their political agenda.”
A journalist’s tools of the trade sit arrayed on a table, April 21, 2023 (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)Inconvenient truth
The fact is that both Bryce and Masterson are part of incredibly powerful Republican supermajorities in the House and Senate. These men and their party can pass any law they wish and override the governor at their convenience.
Masterson’s failure to do so stems from his inability to do his job as Senate leader and keep his caucus in order. Bryce actually achieved his goal.
Yet neither man will truthfully confront his shortcomings. Masterson didn’t make the sale — and proffered a faulty product beside. Bryce gave testimony that his peers in the medical profession find unbelievable. These two legislators have sowed their fields and now must reap the consequences, however unpleasant.
News outlets across Kansas don’t pass legislation. We don’t manage the careers of lawmakers. We report on both, in a timely and accurate way.
And we will continue to do so, regardless of schoolyard taunts.
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
