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Statehouse renovation is huge embarrassment
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Kansas legislators should be embarrassed. I don’t drive to Topeka often, but every time I ask myself — when are they ever going to complete the Kansas Statehouse renovation?The answer is 2014 — maybe.Simply put, the Kansas Statehouse renovation is a $332 million cost-overrun disaster which epitomizes what is wrong with politics and politicians.The Taj Mahal never got this much attention.Most politics starts with a good idea.The hard question is always — “How will we pay for it?”In the case of the Kansas Statehouse renovation, the answer has been tens of millions in yearly bond financing, $40 million from Build America federal stimulus funds and $7 million Kansas Department of Transportation financing after an original price tag of $135 million. The $332 million Capitol renovation project is being carried out by J.E. Dunn Construction.The KDOT money will replant grass, pave a new driveway and pave a road.