Note: The Lawrence Times runs opinion columns and letters to the Times written by community members with varying perspectives on local issues. These pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Times staff.
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“Senator Jerry Moran is a nice guy,” they say. Like many, I have met Sen. Moran, and I’ll admit he has a folksy demeanor, so I can see why people say he is “nice.” But when you look at Moran’s voting record since he has been our U.S. senator, he’s actually not been very nice to most Kansans.
Moran is not very nice to women and girls. He uses money and his legislative power to regulate women and girls’ bodies. Moran’s PAC donated $50,000 to the Value Them Both Campaign — the campaign advocating for an amendment that could have led to a total abortion ban. And over his 12 years as a senator, Moran sponsored 75 bills to restrict and/or ban abortions.
Moran is not very nice to working families. In 2021, he voted against the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which he called a “a Democrat wish list.” That bipartisan law is currently bringing $3.8 billion in real jobs and real wages to Kansans, all while improving our infrastructure. And not lost on me is that Moran is now asking the federal government for money earmarked under that infrastructure bill. Apparently, Moran has now joined the “Democrat wish list[ers],” but had he his way in 2021, those federal dollars would not be coming to Kansas working families.
Moran is not very nice to seniors. He voted against Medicare negotiating better prescription medicine costs for Kansas seniors, and he voted against capping the cost of insulin.
Moran is not very nice to Kansans who long for commonsense gun reform. Recently, Moran voted against bipartisan, modest gun reform, and he has an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association.
Moran is not very nice to Kansans who genuinely fear the effects of climate change, including our Kansas farmers. Moran refuses to take any meaningful steps to protect our families and farmers from future environmental challenges and resulting statewide water shortages — he has voted down bill after bill aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change. Moran refuses to follow science and, rather, votes in the interests of big business.
Moran is not very nice to racial minorities. He voted against renewing the Voting Rights Act — a federal law that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.
Moran is not very nice to those of who truly value our democracy. Moran voted against conducting any investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection at our Capitol.
Over and over, Sen. Jerry Moran has voted for laws that are not very nice to most Kansans. That’s not who I want representing me in Washington, D.C.
— Amii N. Castle (she/her), Lawrence
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”My father (Navy), mother (Army), and many other family members served our country in World War II. … They gave of themselves, in countless ways, to stop the spread of authoritarianism, suppression of freedoms and tyranny of the many by the few,” Sandy Sanders writes in this letter to the Times.
