I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving! This time of year provides us an opportunity to reflect upon the significant blessings in our lives – our faith, family, friends, and the freedom we are able to enjoy by living in the United States of America.
Many of you have asked me in recent days about what we can do as a state to protect the freedom we enjoy in regards to our health care, given the re-election of President Obama. In last year’s session, we fell one vote short of forwarding the Kansas Health Care Freedom Amendment to the voters. The amendment to the Kansas Constitution, which you can learn more about at www.kansashealthcarefreedom.com, would allow Kansans to establish their clear feelings in regards to the federal health care law.
Read the rest Mary's newsletter by clicking here.
Sen. Pilcher-Cook Stands Up for Property Tax Relief
Shawnee, KS – Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook (R-Shawnee) announced support for legislation that would address high property taxes in Kansas. The Property Tax Transparency Act would require property tax mill levies to be automatically lowered as property valuations go up. Local units of government that have taxing authority would be required to vote to increase the mill levy for increased property tax revenues instead of automatically taking the revenues as they do now.
“I have long fought for this important fundamental reform to our property tax system in Kansas. Local governments should not be able to have a back door to tax increases through higher property valuations. This legislation addresses this concern and holds elected officials accountable – if members of a local government want to raise taxes, they will need to vote to do so,” said Pilcher-Cook.
As income tax rates go down in 2013, Pilcher-Cook added that several constituents have expressed concern about what that would mean for property taxes in Kansas.
“We must keep all taxes low, and the property tax burden has been of special concern to many Kansans, particularly seniors living on fixed incomes. The Property Tax Transparency Act will allow property owners to have stability and security regarding the taxes they owe. I look forward to working hard to ensure this legislation passes in 2013.”
Senator Mary Pilcher-Cook was re-elected on November 7 with over 58% of the vote.
Thank You!
Dear Friends,
The election results on Tuesday produced great results for Kansas. With a few notable exceptions, conservative candidates prevailed. Republicans will be holding a majority of 32-8 in the Senate and 92-33 in the House.
In Senate District 10, we won with 58% of the vote. I am thankful for the election of Charles Macheers in District 39 and the re-election of Brett Hildabrand (District 17), John Rubin (District 18) and Kelly Meigs (District 23). I am looking forward to working with all four of these stellar people!
I want to thank all of the people on my staff, all of the wonderful volunteers who worked on behalf of my campaign by walking door-to-door, everyone who took a yard sign, or helped in other important efforts. Without you, we would have not had the great victory we achieved.
Nationally, our task of defending life, liberty, property and limited government becomes all the more important over the next four years. I will work diligently with my fellow legislators to ensure state sovereignty is protected and that the wishes of Kansas citizens – overwhelmingly expressed at the ballot box – are respected.
It is clear there are many great challenges ahead. While elections mark the end of a campaign, they also represent the beginning of a renewed effort to communicate our ideas and our principles to the people. I look forward to serving you in that task in the next four years.
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Thank you again for your trust in me.
In honor of your liberty,
Mary Pilcher Cook
Senator Pilcher-Cook Response to Steve Rose Column
The following is a column in response to this recent column by Steve Rose which attacked Mary. Originally, Mary submitted her letter to the Kansas City Star in response to the column but it was rejected by Miriam Pepper for length, limiting it to just 200 words. For Mary's response to the Star and her full letter in response to Steve Rose, click here
Donate Online and help Mary Pilcher Cook!
Mary is excited to announce you can now help the campaign by donating online through PayPal! Just click the button below and you can make a donation to the campaign. Donations in this cycle are limited to $1000 per person. Thank you!
