Rob Wasinger of Cottonwood Falls is making progress on his 69-county tour of Kansas’ First Congressional District.
Wasinger, a Republican who is running for the seat U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran will vacate officially in 2011, was in Emporia on Wednesday to talk about his background and his qualifications to become a U.S. representative. He filed earlier for the job with the Kansas Secretary of State’s office.
Wasinger has chosen Bill Halvorsen of Elmdale and Dick Friedeman of Great Bend as co-chairmen of the leadership team and Mike Spinden of Cottonwood Falls to head the campaign’s steering committee.
Wasinger said he was born in Hays; his dad was a truck driver and his mom worked in a cafeteria.
“They worked me pretty hard,” Wasinger said.
Wasinger graduated from Harvard University in 1994 with a degree in economics.
He and his wife, Meghan, were married during his senior year at Harvard. Now, after 16 years, they are the parents of six boys and three girls.
After graduation, Wasinger joined Gov. Bill Graves’ staff, then worked for then-Kansas Senate Majority Leader Jerry Moran before joining the staff of Sen. Sam Brownback during the 1996 Senate race.
He moved up from legislative assistant to legislative director to chief of staff during his tenure with Brownback.
Wasinger left Brownback’s staff in June to move back to this area and campaign for Congress.
“I’m treating the campaign as a full-time job,” Wasinger said, adding that he also has a “small public affairs group on the side.”
The family has bought a 130-year-old two-story house in Cottonwood Falls and is having it remodeled and restored.
Wasinger said that his rural Kansas upbringing provides a good understanding of what Kansans perceive as issues for the state. Education, water issues, and health care are always topics of concern in general.
“Then in the communities, you find very specific issues,” Wasinger said.
He said he has considerable experience in helping resolve those local issues, and it was gained hands-on when he worked with Moran and Brownback.
Wasinger said that his emphasis as a congressman would be on public service and not on being a politician.
“Public service is a great calling,” he said. “It really means service to the community, the state, the government.”
He said he wants to work to develop the best policies and proposals for the farmers, ranchers and those in small communities across the state.
“Those are the things I believe in. What you can do to protect and enhance rural life now and in the future,” Wasinger said.
“I think all my time in public service has been doing exactly the job now that I’m running for.”