With over a quarter of the legislative session completed, it's become clear that Governor Sam Brownback and his GOP allies will do whatever it takes to protect tax cuts for their special interest backers - even if that means raising taxes on working Kansans, cutting funding for high-poverty schools, or cooking the books.

It's also become clear that GOP legislators are distracted from producing legislation that helps all Kansans, working instead to protect themselves, push forward pet projects, waste taxpayer dollars on punitive government measures, or waste their own time trying to legislate college basketball schedules.

Here the lowlights of what Governor Brownback and his GOP allies are spending their time and your taxpayer dollars doing:

1. Proposed raising over a billion taxes on lower- and middle-income Kansans.

2. Voted for tax breaks for big banks, but against restoring tax relief for working mothers.

3. Created a deficit that is going to require either raising taxes or cutting core services.

4. Made up budget numbers to prop up the governor's budget and justify the governor’s tax plan.

5. Proposed changing the school funding formula that would reduce funding for high-poverty school districts.

6. GOP State Senator Greg Smith proposed a bill with special employment protections for Kansas legislators.

7. Sen. Smith did this while working with other Kansas GOP legislators to strip protections for Kansas public employees.

8. Not to be outdone, Sen. Mike O'Donnell, R-Wichita, wasted taxpayer time and money trying to force KU and K-State play Wichita State in basketball.

9. Introduced punitive, ineffective, wasteful legislation that would drug test welfare recipients.

10. Governor Brownback continues making national headlines for his regressive tax plan that tries to balance our budget on the backs of the poor.

Here's one more piece for your consumption: the Democratic Governos Association graph showing how GOP governors across the country, including our own Sam Brownback, are raising taxes on lower- and middle-income citizens to give tax breaks to the top 1%.