Schmidt for AG
Friday, October 29, 2010
Methamphetamine has affected many people in many different ways. If you are an addict, a family member of an addict, treatment provider for addicts or a law enforcement officer who is trying to eradicate the manufacture, use and distribution of this highly addictive and life-destroying substance, you are affected.
My family and I fall into the category of how a law enforcement officer and their family can be and was affected by this drug. On January 19, 2005, my husband, Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels, was shot and killed while serving a warrant. He was ambushed by a criminal who was not only high on meth, but was in the process of manufacturing it. Matt paid the ultimate price for one criminal’s addiction. My two children and I also paid the ultimate price.
Ironically, at the very time Matt was serving the warrant and lay shot and dying, Derek Schmidt’s bill, the Chemical Control Act, was being introduced and testified to on the floor of the Kansas House. This Bill would govern the sale of cold medications containing pseudoephedrine, which is the main ingredient in methamphetamine. The Bill would require all pharmacies and stores who sold cold medications containing pseudoephedrine to secure it behind the counter; limit the number of boxes that could be purchased by an individual at one time and keep a log of purchasers to assist law enforcement in tracking down meth manufacturers.
Matt dedicated his life to serving and protecting the people of Greenwood County. Included in this were concerted efforts by his department to curb the manufacture, use and distribution of methamphetamine. While it was too late to save my husband and the kids’ dad, we wholeheartedly supported the bill and its passage and in a bittersweet moment when Derek Schmidt’s Bill passed and became law, we were honored that the bill was named the Sheriff Matt Samuels Chemical Control Act in memory of Matt.
Because of Derek Schmidt’s commitment and dedication to getting this bill passed, somewhere tonight a little girl is being tucked in bed by her policeman daddy and a husband will kiss his wife goodnight because she made it safely home from another shift.
Derek Schmidt is the kind of man we need as our next attorney general. He will enforce the law and prosecute those who break it. He has my full support in his endeavor to become the next attorney general for the State of Kansas. Vote Derek Schmidt on Nov. 2.
Tammy Samuels
Eureka
krazykansan (anonymous) says...
Well stated Tammy!
October 29, 2010 at 12:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Frank (anonymous) says...
The worst campaign ads I've heard on TV are for two statewide candidates: Kris Kobach and Derek Schmidt.
Kobach warns us endlessly about scary aliens voting in dead people’s names. The citizen he cited has been alive and voting regularly since 1964.
He also listed exactly two wrongly registered non-citizen “motor voters.” 54 green card holders completed voter registration applications given them in error by clueless DMV workers.
Two actually voted. Big deal.
Two avid supporters of Schmidt actually voted in Independence for McCain/Palin in 2008. Unfortunately for them they also voted from their second home in a Phoenix suburb.
They bragged and got turned in Arizona. Federal charges were filed.
I'd like to know why conservatives made it harder for Kansas seniors to vote.
Rural Kansas suffered widespread polling place consolidation encouraged that has caused voting to drop by about 75% in our town. Seniors had to drive 40 miles round trip on mostly bad roads to the county seat to vote.
Our Secretary of State Chris Biggs can fix this.
Schmidt is far worse. Teaming in 2003 with Phill Kline, both took maximum contributions from GEO Group. GEO wanted to repeal a ‘80s Kansas ban on the industry’s riot-torn and escape-ridden, for-profit prisons.
They could be built anywhere; your neighborhood or mine. This would have undermined state workers jobs to export profits to a Florida corporation with millionaire management that paid high-turnover, poorly trained guards $8 an hour.
Unable to coerce sufficient legislative support, they combined the ban repeal with “Jessica’s Law.” Their one-size-fits-all sex offender statute would certainly incarcerate many low-level offenders for decades. Projections indicated passage would require 1,000 additional Kansas prison beds, costing some $30 million annually.
Convictions of more serious crimes, formerly obtained through plea bargains, would consequently require testimony from very young children. Otherwise charges would be dismissed. Schmidt’s threatened colleagues courageously forced abandonment of Derek’s special interest legislation.
Attorney General Steve Six isn’t in anyone’s pocket, actually successfully prosecuting predators.
Derek now mischaracterizes his law as “protecting children.” In fact it seriously endangers our most vulnerable offspring while squandering taxes.
Six has restored and improved the consumer affairs section that Kline demolished. I’m voting for Biggs and Six.
I'm also voting for Treasurer Dennis McKinney. When Dennis represented a nearby district he used to attend constituent meetings with Republicans Sen. Teichman and Rep. Bill McCreary. Even though we weren't in his district, which was on the far side of our county, he always listened and helped.
As Minority Leader in the state House, he championed education in particular, and was prominent in keeping the escape, riot and corruption ridden for-profit pens out of Kansas.
October 29, 2010 at 5:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )