To the editor:

In the Aug. 8 Saturday Column, Mr. Simons praises Gov. Parkinson, saying “He is smart and he wants the best for Kansas.” I agree, and it applies equally well to Kathleen Sebelius, who sought him as her running mate in her campaign for a second term. John Moore, her lieutenant governor in her first term, was also a convert from the Republican Party. Talk about reaching across the aisle!

The contentious, controversial issue in her time in office, the one where she dug in her heels and vetoed bills several times, was the Holcomb coal plant proposal. Though the Republicans have huge majorities in both houses, enough Republicans supported her vetoes that they could not be overridden. This is not what I call purely partisan politics. This was a serious disagreement about a serious issue, with tough choices being made by all of our elected and appointed officials.

Only 200 megawatts of the plant’s output will go to Kansas; the remaining 700 megawatts goes primarily to Colorado and Texas, neither of which wants the plant within its borders. The 200 megawatts for Kansas is easily within the capability of a power-generating wind farm. In fact, it is a small fraction of the wind power currently being generated in our state. In future columns, I hope Mr. Simons controls the urge to toss in red herrings like his implication that western Kansas needs a coal-powered plant and only a coal plant will do.