Driveway tax squashes reappointment bid of former mayor

MISSION, Kan. (AP) - Lawmakers have rejected the reappointment of the former mayor of Mission to the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission because of an effort to raise money for road repairs that she championed while leading the Kansas City suburb.

The Kansas Senate voted 19-18 Thursday to reject Laura McConwell for the state board that regulates casino gambling, The Kansas City Star (https://bit.ly/1Clcodo ) reports. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback had nominated McConwell to a four-year term on the commission. She has been filling an unfinished term since last summer.

The governor’s spokeswoman said Brownback would choose another nominee. “The governor was confident the nominee would have continued to serve the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission well,” Eileen Hawley said in a statement.

While mayor, McConwell supported a revenue-raising effort that the city called a “transportation utility fee” and critics derided as a “driveway tax.” Passed in 2010, it tied collections to how much traffic a specific property generates. Litigation over it is still winding through the state courts, and Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt issued a nonbinding opinion saying the tax was illegal.

Lawmakers jumped on the opinion to make their case that McConwell used poor judgment when she was Mission’s mayor.

“It is pretty obvious that it upset a lot of citizens in Johnson County to be taxed in such a manner,” said Sen. Mary Pilcher Cook, a Shawnee Republican who was among six Johnson County senators to vote against McConwell’s appointment to the commission.

“When the attorney general returned his opinion on it, there was still no recognition how unfair this tax was.”

Sen. Kay Wolf, a Prairie Village Republican, said a local issue should not play a role in deciding McConwell’s appointment. She said there is no relationship between the road fee and her ability to serve on the gambling board.

“It was completely inappropriate,” Wolf said. “What does that have to do with the Racing and Gaming Commission?”

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, https://www.kcstar.com