Kansas' party ban remains
By SARAH KESSINGER
Harris News Service
TOPEKA -- What Ellsworth Rep. Josh Svaty thought was a "little
nothing bill" turned into a lively First Amendment debate this week
and restored a ban of the Communist Party from Kansas politics.
The measure, Senate Bill 95, breezed through the Senate earlier this
year, but hit a wall Wednesday in the House Elections and Local
Government Committee.
The bill was a request from Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh, who said
current law is unconstitutional.
The statute's wording currently bars certain political parties from
filing in Kansas and includes a 1941-imposed restriction on the Communist
Party.
The section on communists also bans groups that instigate the overthrow
of government through violence.
Committee member Svaty, a Democrat, said he was surprised at the
committee meeting when legislators began to amend the bill to restore the
ban on communists. He viewed it as clearly anti-democratic.
"The whole reason that this country is different is because we have
freedoms that other countries don't have," Svaty said Friday.
The amended bill passed the committee 7-6. It is now before the full
House.
Jesse Borjon, a spokesman for Thornburgh, said the law is ineffective in
its current form.
"Banning certain political parties from filing for office has been
ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court," Borjon said.
The high court has ruled that barring certain political parties violated
the First Amendment right to free speech and freedom of association.
"If we don't repeal those statutes, they stay on the books, and we
can't enforce them," Borjon said. "It wasn't something we
thought was controversial."
Committee member Arlen Siegfreid, R-Olathe, supported restoring the
language. He said veterans on the committee were concerned about removing
the communist ban.
Also, he said, the majority of the committee thought it was foolish to
remove the language on violence "when we're chasing terrorists all
over the world for that very reason."
It is disturbing, Svaty said, "that since September 11 we've seen
these sorts of First Amendment rights completely dissolve before our
eyes, and no one's doing much about it."
"I took an oath to stand up for these constitutional rights,"
he said.
Svaty said his arguments to the committee were met with, "You're
young, you don't remember the days when we had to hide under desks for
bombing drills."
http://www.saljournal.com/stories/031503/new_party.html
