The Emporia Gazette

November 21, 2009

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Candidates for county commission and two Kansas House seats attracted a large audience Monday evening to a forum held in a Visser Hall lecture room. The candidate forum was sponsored by the Emporia League of Women Voters, Emporia Chamber of Commerce and the Emporia State University Associated Student Government.

League President Tracey Graham welcomed the crowd and reminded them that more information about candidate positions in the November election are available at the league’s web site, emporia.lwv.org. The website also links to statewide candidates’ web sites.

Mark Schreiber moderated the question-and-answer sessions that followed for the pairs of candidates, and Marilyn Krueger acted as timer to ensure that candidates did not go over their alloted minutes.

Scott Briggs and Ken Bazil, both campaigning for the District 1 county commission seat, opened the forum.

Briggs, a farmer-stockman and trucker running on the Democratic ticket, said that roads and bridges, law enforcement and cooperating with other government entities were priorities for his campaign.

Bazil, a Republican, said that he recently retired after 36 years of serving the public; 24 of those years were in management positions. He said that strategic planning would be necessary to cope with taxes, homeland security, finding ways to save money and promote Lyon County.

“We’ve got a big problem coming and it’s more in the livestock and crop industry than it is anywhere,” Bazil said in his opening statement.

The men disagreed on two issues that voters will decide in November: a five-man county commission and an administrator to oversee county operations. Each agreed that, as a commissioner, he would support the wishes of the people.

Bazil said that other counties successfully have enlarged from three to five commissioners and that they were able to accomplish more because they could spread commission duties over a larger number of people. Bazil also supported the county administrator proposal.

Briggs disagreed.

“I myself am not convinced that the five-man commission will save the county any money,” Briggs said, mentioning his experience in business.

“I know that sometimes the more people you get involved, the less we have of cooperation. ...The county administrator would be very hard to implement because you’ve got elected officials running the county and they still are elected by the voters. The county controller right now is probably doing what the county administrator would be.”

The question turned to financing salaries of an administrator and two extra commissioners, which Briggs estimated could cost approximately $285,000.

“You have to have some incentive or you’re going to have a commission of people that basically will be there for their own agendas,” Briggs said.

Bazil speculated that an administrator could take on responsibilities of other jobs through attrition.

“I therefore don’t think the costs will be that great,” Bazil said. “The administrator is going to take over duties of some other people, and we may have that person on board (as a current employee).”

“I see the administrator as being the person who’s the go-to person to interact with the city and other cities and other counties and to open new fields,” Bazil said. “I feel we have a lot of things we haven’t touched out there. I don’t know what they are ... but I feel there’s other (ways) to improve service.”

Briggs responded, “The county commission should be the one to see to the people’s concerns and represent what the taxpayers want, and that shouldn’t change whether there’s three or five.”

Briggs said that he presumed the administrator would not be involved in policy-making.

Bazil favored the administrator handling the budget, leading to find ways to fund projects, and finding grants, in addition to writing policies and making sure they are within the limits of the law.

Both men agreed that population would need to be considered in dividing the county into five districts, if the proposal passes. They diverged on how that would be accomplished.

“...(M)aybe two in Emporia and three in the rural areas,” Bazil said. “That would be something that would need to be studied.”

Briggs saw redistricting through population, with a different suggestion.

“I do believe that the rural area should have the lion’s share of the votes,” Briggs said.

Briggs said that he believes the expanded county commission and a county administrator could put Lyon County on the path to consolidation.

“We need cooperation, give-and-take, and sharing equipment,” Briggs said. “I don’t think consolidation is the answer.”

76th District House

In her opening statement Monday night, Republican incumbent Peggy Mast said that she had learned much during her 10 years in the Kansas House of Representative. She listed the Kansas State Troopers Association, the National Rifle Association and the Kansas Grain and Feed Associations as having given her 100 percent voting record rankings. She said she had been endorsed by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Lyon County Farm Bureau, among other groups.

“I support their principles. I love the opportunity to represent their values in Topeka,” Mast said. “This coming year, I’m hoping to work more on senior issues ... and carrying a banner for the veterans.”

Democratic challenger Susan Fowler’s opening statement mentioned that she is a fourth-generation Emporia State graduate with a master’s degree in library information science and post-graduate certification in legal information.

“Education is very, very important to me,” Fowler said. “Education and health care, affordable health care, good health are all related, and along with that are good-paying jobs.”

Fowler said the state’s future rests on good public education, with new emphasis on lifelong learning — learning, unlearning and re-learning.

“It’s that unlearning that is the most difficult,” Fowler said. “We need to teach kids how to think, not what to think, but how to think critically so they can see for themselves.”

Fowler said that priorities for each area of the district would be different. Lyon County has about half of the property valuation of Coffey County and the economies are different in each county. Lyon need to improve, Coffey needs to maintain, and Greenwood needs greater improvement because of its depressed economy in the northern part of the county.

“Each area is going to require something unique to that particular population,” Fowler said.

Mast said that the agriculture economy needs help, and the legislature needs to deal with the needs of senior citizens, including health and senior care centers.

“They don’t complain,” Mast said. “They don’t have very good representation in Topeka and they’re overlooked.”

60th District House

Money, or the lack of it — in education at all levels, local government units, health care, and KPERS — lies at the core of many issues facing state government, candidates for the 60th District House seat agreed.

Charles Long, a Democrat, said the state had deferred about $60 million in budget expenditures at Emporia State University alone. As costs continue to rise, students are amassing student-loan debts and working one or more jobs to be able to finance their educations.

“We need to make sure we don’t develop a two-tiered system ... where only the educated can afford to educate their children,” Long said.

Don Hill, Republican incumbent, said that, despite tuition increases, higher education remains less expensive in Kansas than in other states.

“Fortunately, we are still known ... as a low-tuition state,” Hill said, adding, “We’re no longer a state-supported Regent system. We’re state-assisted.”

Both candidates agreed on their support for biofuel production, though they took different approaches.

“The reason we’re not (producing more) is that it takes a great deal of money to do those things and we haven’t had a lot of money in the state,” Long said.

Hill said that six or seven ethanol plants now are up and running and more are on the way.

“We have no fewer than 27 plants that are in some state of due diligence or are being contemplated,” Hill said. “That brings to reality that we have far more plants anticipated or being considered than we have corn,” Hill said. “But that’s a good thing. ... I think we need to do everything we can ... so we’re not dependent on foreign sources.”

Hill said that he would work for cost-of-living increases for KPERS retirees, “but I would hasten to say that folks should have a very low expectation in that regard.”

He speculated that the system may go to a more-defined contribution plan rather than defined benefit plan.

“We may have the opportunity to come to some sort of hybrid, and when that happens ... it would have to be phased in over time,” Hill said.

Long said that he considered KPERS retirement to be a promise of the state.

“We need to make abundantly sure that their retirement is adequately funded and they can be paid,” Long said, adding that the votes to accomplish that do not appear to be there.

Long said that this area needs to work with cities and counties along the Interstate 35 and Kansas Turnpike corridors to make an economic-development impact in the Legislature.

“Emporia alone isn’t going to be able to sway anything in the legislature,” Long said. “(Partnering) how you grow revenues, that’s how you increase the economy, and that’s how you get things done.”

Hill said that he is excited about the potential for Kansas, which was helped by the Kansas Economic Growth Act passed two years ago.

“It includes elements from the bioscience initiative, entrepreneurship, tourism,” Hill said. “I think those all can be drivers of economic development.

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