To the editor:

On Oct. 23, 2005, then-Sen. Brownback went on the record for Fox News Sunday and stated: “I think we just need to stick to our knitting on the topics and the subjects the American people care about.”

Have the times changed? Or just Brownback’s title? Just last week a CBS News/New York Times poll indicated that “jobs and the economy” were the top things on American minds at 53 percent. A Bloomberg National poll conducted June 17-20 listed “unemployment and jobs” on top with 42 percent, and way back in May, for the benefit of politicians with short memories, a Fox News poll ranked “economy and jobs” at the top of their list at 50 percent.

Yet with those concerns, we’re hearing news out of Topeka about the governor’s new “marriage initiative,” which raises some important questions. Is spending thousands of taxpayer dollars in closed-door meetings creating any jobs (other than for the handful of out of state consultants privy to the soiree)? Will the initiative to tell the residents of the great state of Kansas when they can and can’t marry and divorce lower unemployment? Will the proposed 200-item premarital inventory help the state’s economy?

I would hope the governor is smart enough to see the patently obvious answers to all three: no, no and no. So the only question that remains is: Will Brownback take his own advice and apply it to his home state, or are we the Kansas taxpayers simply stuck with some seriously lousy knitting?