The 2002 session of the Kansas Legislature won’t produce a lot of fond memories.

Well, about the best that can be said about the 2002 session of the Kansas Legislature is that it’s over.

A budget has been passed, along with a tax package that leaves the state only about $40 million short of balancing revenue with expenses. That apparently was the best the lawmakers could do, even though they stretched the session to the longest in history  106 days.

A congressional redistricting plan approved by the Kansas House won narrow approval Thursday by the Senate, which had rejected the same map just the day before. Perhaps senators were worn down by the long session and their eagerness to head home.

The map splits Lawrence in two between the 2nd and 3rd district and keeps Fort Riley in the 2nd District while splitting off its home community, Junction City, into the 1st District. The map now goes to the governor, who seems likely to accept it. However, the possibility that some aggrieved community will challenge the map in court still exists.

The $250 million tax package that was approved about 4 a.m. Friday will include increases in the state sales tax, inheritance taxes and cigarette taxes. Those will be paired with increased corporate fees, some tax breaks for business and a 50 percent increase in income-tax credits for poor, working families.

Interestingly, it appears Gov. Bill Graves may have performed some last-minutes heroics  arm-twisting, perhaps  to close the deal on the tax package. The governor had promised to call the legislators back for a special session if they didn’t approve a tax plan and threatened to cut $300 million from the fiscal 2003 appropriations (a “threat” that probably struck little fear into conservative Republicans who had wanted to cut the appropriations all along).

Leaders in both houses were close to giving up on the tax package Thursday after negotiations between the two chambers broke down. However, a meeting of Graves, House Speaker Kent Glasscock and Senate President Dave Kerr produced the tax package that gained final approval. It would be interesting to know exactly what was said in that meeting, what “incentives” Graves might have offered to conclude this negotiation. Whatever it was, it’s too bad it couldn’t have come sometime before the 106th day of the legislative session.

The compromise plan was just good enough to be forwarded to the governor on a 63-59 vote of the House and a 23-15 vote of the Senate. Those hardly are overwhelming majorities, but they got the job done.

Those who voted against the tax bill have preserved their ability to tell the folks back home that they weren’t the ones who voted to raise their taxes. Perhaps that adherence to a no-tax pledge will win them some support among their constituents. Although the tax bill isn’t perfect, hopefully, more voters will realize that those who finally voted for the best tax package they could get took the more responsible course.

Right now, any positive action taken by the 2002 Legislature is overshadowed by the extended conflict that marred consideration of the budget, taxes and redistricting. It wasn’t a pretty session, and Kansas voters should hold their elected representatives accountable for whatever role they played in it.