It is good to see several Kansas City leaders calling for cooperation between government officials of Kansas and Missouri in promoting future development and growth in greater Kansas City.

A meeting between Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt has been proposed for early next year to give the leaders an opportunity to discuss how the Kansas City area can attract new businesses and how Kansas and Missouri can work together rather than having the two states competing against each other.

This is a fine goal, but one has to wonder whether a good part of the impetus for the meeting is coming from Missouri leaders who are seeing the great success of developments in Wyandotte County. There is even talk of the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals considering a move to Wyandotte County if they can’t get Missouri taxpayers to come up with enough tax money to renovate their respective stadiums.

If there is a genuine desire to take advantage of the many assets of greater Kansas City to the benefit of the entire region, that’s a good idea. However, if the idea is to cool the very successful efforts of Kansas and Wyandotte County in attracting business and sporting facilities, then Gov. Sebelius should be careful not to agree to any moves that would damage that trend.

Many in Kansas City have looked down their noses at Wyandotte County for many years. Now, many of those same individuals are trying to figure out how to keep Wyandotte County from attracting so many fine developments. They are envious of what is happening west of the state line.

Kansas leaders, both in and out of government, need to keep working as hard and as effectively as they have in the past few years to make Kansas an attractive place in which to invest and grow. Now, isn’t the time to back off and ease up on recruiting and sales efforts.

Sebelius should go to any meeting with the Missouri governor with an open mind. However, she should be extremely wary of any suggestion that Kansas might pull back in its current successful efforts to attract new business in order to balance growth on both sides of the state line. Also, there should be no trade-offs involving the assets and excellence of Kansas University, the KU Medical Center and the state’s goal of expanding its efforts in the biosciences field.

It’s understandable those on the Missouri side of the line want “cooperation” or “collaboration,” but there is reason to wonder whether the Missouri definition of those terms involves Kansas officials agreeing to hold back their drive for growth and excellence.

Better roads and mass transportation improvements are a possible area of cooperation, and undoubtedly there are other areas in which better cooperation and planning would pay dividends, but the assets of Kansas should not be compromised to strengthen Missouri’s effort in attracting new businesses and advancing its efforts in the life sciences field.