John Bradford: Kansas State Lawmaker’s Condescending Response To Constituent Goes Viral

John Bradford might want to take a minute before he clicks send next time.

The Kansas state representative shot off a seemingly flip and condescending response to a constituent about an upcoming bill that opponents say would effectively ban Uber from the state, but the private correspondence didn’t stay that way for long. The angry voter decided to take her plight to the internet, sharing the letter with the local Kansas City page on Reddit.

The woman, who goes by Thad-Jarvis on Reddit, explained that her husband is blind and relies on Uber to get around. She believes a proposed set of regulations, which are likely to pass, would drive Uber out of the state.

Thad-Jarvis shared with Reddit her worries with the bill:

“My interpretation of the proposed amendment is that it would become too costly for someone to be an Uber driver due to stricter regulations on insurance as well as requiring a business and chauffeur’s license. The whole concept of Uber is to allow everyday people to become part of ride-sharing. My husband calls this “financial intimidation”, but I’m not sure if there’s a technical term for it.”

The woman also decided to write a letter to John Bradford, her representative. After laying out her objections to the bill and asking Bradford to oppose it, this was his response.

“I received your email. I don’t need it, so I am sending it back to you.”

Little did John Bradford know that he would be sending it to the entire internet as well. The Reddit post quickly went viral, reaching the front page of the link-sharing site.

It turns out that Bradford is already in the middle of a heated legislative issue. He is part of a group of legislators investigating a Democratic representative who called a bill racist. The bill would repeal an existing law allowing undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at Kansas colleges and universities.

A special investigation committee is meeting Wednesday to discuss whether the remarks from Rep. Valdenia Winn contained “inflammatory language.”

The measure (and Bradford’s involvement) earned the scorn of columnist Mary Sanchez from the Kansas City Star, who wrote,

“In a perfect legislature, people who make laws governing everyone would have a firm grasp of the damage that institutionalized racism has caused and still holds within society. They would understand that kind people, people without flagrant prejudices, exist within biased systems. But they are swept up by the current as policies play out to harm or favor one group over another.”

“Cooler heads would have taken the route of trying to sit down with the professor and grasp her points. But that’s not what we’re dealing with in Topeka.”

The Inquisitr reached out to John Bradford for a reply on the seemingly rude email, but he has not yet responded.

[Image via JohnBradfordKS.com]