A House committee has advanced legislation to dedicate a portion of highway in Kansas City, Kansas, near the Quindaro Ruins to former Rep. Marvin Robinson II — who died in August after spending his one term in the Kansas House fighting for the preservation of the ruins.
House Bill 2029 is sponsored by 110 representatives in the 125-member House, including leadership from both parties.
“There is no more fitting tribute to Marvin — an individual committed to his community and public service — than honoring him along this specific stretch of highway,” said Democratic Rep. Barbara Ballard of Lawrence in her testimony last week before the House Transportation Committee.
The Quindaro Ruins were once the Quindaro Townsite — an area where slaves seeking freedom on the Underground Railroad established a community in the 1850s.
Republican Rep. Patrick Penn of Wichita, a friend of Robinson who introduced the bill, said Robinson spent 37 years working toward preservation of the ruins.
Robinson fought for the ruins to be recognized on the National Registry of Historic Places, and helped prevent the area from becoming a toxic waste landfill. He was known as the “Mayor of Quindaro,” Penn said.
“It is such a rich, historical place that he worked his life trying to make sure that it was enshrined appropriately,” Penn said.
Robinson, a Democrat from Kansas City, Kansas, had a complicated history of voting across party lines. While he sponsored bills that would not tax hygiene products, end the death penalty and commute the sentences of marijuana-related crimes, he differed with Democrats in support of increasing restrictions on food assistance and his decisive vote to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a transgender athlete ban.
After Robinson sided with Republicans on the transgender athlete ban, a $250,00 provision to preserve the Quindaro Ruins was added to the Republican’s budget plan. Kelly vetoed the funding.
Some of his Democratic colleagues said Robinson sold his votes for the funding. Rep. Louis Ruiz, also a Kansas City, Kansas, Democrat, told KCUR “he’s a crusader and he’s willing to die on his sword.”
Republican-aligned PACs supported Robinson’s reelection effort last year, when he lost to Rep. Wanda Paige in the August primary.
Paige told Kansas Reflector on election night: “This man wasn’t going for the people in the district.”
Robinson received 22% of the vote and died two weeks later.
At last week’s bill hearing, Penn said Robinson “humbly faced extreme friction and viscous opposition with a quiet grace that concealed the grace of his will.”
The committee on Monday voted without opposition to send the bill to the full House for consideration.