The Missouri-Kansas border war in the 1850s grew from disagreements over slave labor. Now, 160 years later, the two states again clash over jobs and the economy.
It’s a states’ issue, and Missouri isn’t the only state with metro citites on state lines. However, U.S. Senator McCaskill has a simple word to explain the battle for jobs between Missouri and Kansas ….
“I think this notion that regions don’t cooperate is really dumb,” she says.
“The strenghts of the greater Kansas City area lies in the fact that we have a region that is strong,” she says, “and I think it s unfortuante that Gov. Brownback has done some of the things he’s done.”
McCaskill says her sister’s family moved to Overland Park, Kansas, for the education opportunities, and that if Kansas continues the path it’s on, it could chip away at the very reasons people move there in the first place.
“If Sam Brownback is left to his own devices, it appears to me they’re going to have to start hollowing out education because he’s on a mission to underfund i think alot of the state services in the name of no taxes,” McCaskill says. “Ultimately businesses come to a community because they believe they can have a great quality of life and a great education for their kids, so I think in the long run a lot of this may backfire on Gov. Brownback.”
In the meantime, she says she wishes Governors Nixon and Brownback would work together to grow the region and stop the jobs poaching mentality. McCaskill says the bidding war is costing taxpayers a lot of money and not value added to the overall region.
Missouri legislators continue to discuss “what to do about Kansas” in the latest border war for jobs. They’ll meet in Kansas City next Friday to discuss the issue.