Peggy Mast has said before that she makes it a point to remember her title in the Kansas Legislature: Representative. In joining a number of other state legislators conducting a recent constituent survey, the Emporia legislator believes she’s keeping herself attuned to what her constituents’ stances are on the issues.
And if her constituents tell her something that conflicts with her personal views — as is the case with at least one issue on the nine-question survey — Mast said she’ll consider moving away from her beliefs and voting to reflect what the people want.
“They do have a strong influence on me, because I realize the people that responded are people that take an interest in what I do up here, to take the time to respond,” she said.
She said survey results are still trickling in, but Mast released the results last week of nearly 800 responses, representing about 15 percent of the questionnaires she sent out. Mast said she was told that 15 percent was a high figure compared to the return rates of other legislators’ surveys.
The survey focused on the issues that have become big parts of this year’s legislative session — including immigration, the proposed Sunflower Electric plant expansion in Holcomb, health care and, of course, taxes.
“I did take the results of my survey to the individual who suggested we might want to do a survey, and several legislators chose to this year,” she said. “And when he looked at the results, he said that it was very similar on a statewide basis. It’s amazing to me that the responses from people all across the state are very similar to that particular survey.”
Toughening the laws on illegal immigration, something Mast has been a proponent of, was an issue that provided the most lopsided vote. Not surprisingly, Mast’s constituents were overwhelmingly against tax hikes, too.
The expansion of the coal-powered Sunflower Electric plant in Holcomb had the support of Mast’s respondents. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed legislation last week that would have allowed the plant expansion, but the majority of Mast’s survey-takers voted in favor of it.
All-day kindergarten isn’t an idea Mast’s constituents are embracing.
“I think the all-day kindergarten was one that really did surprise me,” Mast said. “I guess I thought that that would be something that the majority of people would want. But I was surprised, and ... when I talked to other legislators that had had a survey, the responses were pretty similar. Many people felt like 5-year-olds were too young to put in a full day at school. ...”
Interestingly, one of the two closest votes came on the question of whether there should be restrictions on teen driving. Those who voted yes were asked what restrictions teens should have; many wanted to ban cell phone usage while driving and/or wanted a requirement for more adult supervision while driving before a license can be obtained.
The same vote disparity existed on Mast’s question of whether colleges and universities should be able to restrict students who have concealed carry permits from having firearms in their cars at campus parking lots; 410 said colleges should be able to make that restriction, while 389 said no.
Smoking was part of the issue on two of the survey’s questions. On the question of who should decide whether smoking is banned in public places, 423 voters said business owners should get to make the decision for themselves.
The question “Would you increase cigarette taxes to fund health care reform?” was one in which Mast’s constituents differed from her personal view.
“I’m not for raising taxes,” Mast said. “But the rationale of the people that did not agree with the cigarette tax, I thought, was pretty good. I mean, they said, you tax cigarettes to put the money into health care reform. And you do that because you think that it’s going to cause fewer people to smoke, right? It’s going to deter smoking.
“Well then, what do you do when you have those programs and you don’t have the revenue from the cigarette tax because you’ve reduced smoking? That does make a lot of sense, that you become dependent on money from something that you’re trying to stop.”
Every question gave voters a spot to list their rationale for their vote, and Mast said she was surprised by the number of people who wrote in those spaces.
“My intern worked to compile the results of the surveys, and I asked her if I could personally look at each one who had written a response,” she said. “And it’s been time-consuming, and I’m behind on that. Because I have been trying to respond when people wrote things that were good ideas that I hadn’t considered, or when they had a conflict with something, and I thought maybe they didn’t understand it, or didn’t understand where I was coming from, and so I’ve been trying to personally (get back to them).”