A lack of transparent government somewhere like Kansas is a much smaller problem for the governed than lack of transparency in a state with a larger government bureaucracy.

edit: It's still a problem, I'm just pointing out that the per-capita harm of a state like NY or CA playing by the same transparency rules as KS would be much greater. This may be why the people of KS are more willing to put up with it, the net harm to them is low because the government's involvement in their lives is low.