To the editor:

I am grateful to reporter Chad Lawhorn for publicly raising questions about the process used by the City Commission to give Deciphera Pharmaceuticals a tax rebate. The city manager and City Commission created a precedent for a new tax policy with little public explanation, no public debate and little accountability. I find this deeply troubling. Fortunately, District Attorney Charles Branson intends to investigate whether our city government violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act – an act designed to ensure that public policy decisions are indeed public.

The issue is not whether Deciphera deserved special tax treatment; the core issue is that our city government must operate in a transparent and accountable way. If the reasons for this deal with Deciphera were as compelling as city officials are now saying, then it should have been easy for them to make a convincing argument to the public. Breaching democratic process by making an important policy decision behind closed doors and then attempting to keep it under the public radar undermines the integrity of our city government and erodes public trust.

Jerry Jost,

Lawrence