By Dan Verbeck
Kansas City, MO. – Barring a court challenge, the Kansas City Council might not allow a citizens' vote on use of the new and expanded Honeywell plant for manufacture of nuclear weapons parts.
The Council Committee on Finance, Governance and Ethics declined to endorse a resolution putting the issue before voters. The full Council votes later this month. A vote counter to the Committee action is considered unlikely.
City Attorney Galen Beaufort told a Council Committee today a petition pressing the issue is unconstitutional, citing purported violations-- "those include violations of Article 1, Section 8 of the federal constitution, dealing with the constitutional powers of the federal government to provide for the national defense."
Petition collectors have said they will go to court if city government denies a vote on use of the plant where construction is already well underway.
The organization KC Peace Planters gathered more than 35 hundred valid signatures, hoping to bring a referendum on expansion of the Honeywell Plant in far southeast Kansas City. The measure would prohibit making of non-nuclear parts for the nuclear arsenal. It favors using the plant for green technology.