It was a lively discussion between 2006 Kansas Lieutenant Governor Candidates Mark Parkinson and Sen. Susan Wagle Tuesday night.
Emporia State University was host to the event between Democrat Parkinson, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ running-mate, and Republican Wagle, running mate for Sen. Jim Barnett. Tuesday’s event was the only debate between lieutenant governor candidates in Kansas and gave Kansans the only opportunity to hear from the people who could become second in command in Kansas.
Nine questions were asked of each candidate, each getting an equal allotted amount of time for each question.
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Lt. Governor Debate at ESU
Lieutenant Governor candidates Mark Parkinson and Susan Wagle discuss the important issues affecting Kansas.
The first question centered around what the candidates thought the top issue facing Kansas was. Parkinson said the biggest issue is how can the economic turnaround by Sebelius be continued.
“Four years ago, Kansas was broke,” Parkinson said. “We faced hundreds of millions of dollars in obligations.”
Parkinson said Sebelius looked at every budget in the state and cut wasteful spending.
“She basically turned the state around,” he said.
Wagle said Kansas is at a cross-roads and has been rated 50th in the nation on private-sector job growth. Wagle said the first thing that needs to be done is to lower income taxes, eliminate the death tax, and increase the child tax credit.
“If every paycheck you receive more money then the more (will be spent) and the more tax dollars will be generated and sent back to the state,” Wagle said.
Funding for state universities was another question the candidates answered during the debate. Wagle said the best way to bring money in and keep taxes low is to grow the economy and bring jobs to Kansas. This in turn, will allow universities to be funded, Wagle said.
“We need to keep our young people in Kansas,” she said. “The only way to do that is to give them a job and to keep businesses (growing) in Kansas.”
Parkinson said Kansas can’t be great unless its universities are great.
“It is so critical that our universities are great,” he said.
Parkinson added that Sebelius has added $100 million in the regent’s budget despite budget crisis during her four-year tenure.
Illegal immigrants in Kansas was a hot-button topic during the debate. Parkinson said illegal immigration is a major problem in Kansas.
“Our borders are basically unprotected at this time,” he said. “We need to make sure illegal immigrants aren’t attracted to Kansas and we need to crack down on employers who (hire) them.”
Wagle said Sebelius contradicted herself during her tenure.
“You just heard the governor doesn’t want illegal immigrants to be attracted to Kansas, but a few months ago she voted for driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants. This governor has promoted special (favors) to illegals coming to Kansas.”
Job growth in Kansas came up one other time during the debate. Parkinson said the facts are clear: there has been job growth in Kansas.
“Private sector employment is increasing faster around the state,” he said. “Jobs have grown in the state.”
Parkinson said jobs are growing faster in Kansas than most of the neighboring states. He also said that Kansas’ strengths should be played upon such as alternate energy, aviation and biomedical and bioscience research.
Wagle agreed that there has been job growth, but said it’s not enough.
“The truth of the matter is we’re not growing anywhere near what are states are,” she said. “You know about your neighbors that have been laid off and have had to move. People are crossing the state lines in southeast Kansas to work in Oklahoma and Missouri.”