By Maria Carter
Kansas City, MO – Republican lawmakers unveiled a plan in Kansas City to overhaul the state fee offices.
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The plan by the GOP lawmakers calls for changing how the license offices are doled out, giving the often lucrative franchises to non-profits and local governments instead of the governor's political supporters. Governor Matt Blunt, also a Republican, drew criticism last year after he turned over 11 state-run fee offices to political backers. The Kansas City Star reported the F-B-I was looking into the matter. F-B-I has not confirmed the investigation, but Kansas City Representative Ryan Sylvey says no matter what the current system is broken and needs to be changed.
Ryan Sylvey: This is a systemic problem that has been around from generation to generation and it needs to be fixed regardless of whether there is or is not an FBI investigation.
Sylvey says the Blunt administration is not to blame for the problems. A Department of Revenue spokesman says the current system is workable and the Governor has already made many changes for fee offices, including requiring business plans and a pilot project competitively bidding out an office.