BY DANIEL SAENZ
During this last fall, it was election season in the United States. Some notable races featured the showdown between Ted Cruz and Beto O Rourke in Texas, Stacy Abrams vs. Brian Kemp in Georgia, but most notably for Kansans, Laura Kelly vs. Kris Kobach for the KS Governorship. Kobach sought to capitalize on Trump’s popularity by warning voters that Kansas was being invaded by illegal immigrants who would drain our social services. In addition to this, Kobach even posited that there was a mass epidemic of voter fraud. During his stint as the Kansas Secretary of State, he gained the authority to prosecute voter fraud, drafted laws that restricted voting rights, and was eventually held in contempt by a federal judge who actually rejected his policy proposals. In fact, a judge even recommended that Kobach take more constitutional law classes.
Kelly, on the other hand, ran on local issues such as expanding Medicaid, increasing funds for schools and highways, and even received endorsements from Kansas Republicans. While Kobach aimed to capitalize on Trump’s popularity within the state, Kelly went the opposite direction and capitalized on the unpopularity of Sam Brownback and Kobach’s associations with Brownback.
Once Kelly became governor, it was then up to her to have a dialogue with average citizens about the new direction she believed the state of Kansas should take. So, this last Monday, she came to the Sternberg Museum to engage in a town hall with the local community in Hays.
Throughout the duration of the town hall, Governor Kelly hit on a wide range of issues, including the issues that she ran on during her campaign such as education funding as well as issues regarding the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, as well as funding for the Department of Transportation.
When asked about the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System during the question and answer portion of the townhall, Governor Kelly optimistically remarked, “KPERS is doing well. It’s not perfect. Several years ago, we set up a KPERS commission and we looked at ways to shore up KPERS because I think at that point dealing with a liability of about 9 billion dollars.
“So, we designed a system that would start to make a dent in that and we’ve implemented it, withheld payments during the last administration to a significant amount. And actually, we have not only made those repayments but by the end of this fiscal year we will actually have made an extra payment.”
She finished this off by pointing out that, based on the data, the state is on the right track to making KPERS stable.
Another key moment was when Governor Kelly was asked about this year’s legislative session. She responded by reiterating the fact that she promised to be the education Governor. Then, she laid out how she was able to successfully put a plan together. Her proposed $90 million education funding package has been sent to the court for review and she was confident that the courts would say it is good enough to properly fund education.
“I am feeling good that we were able to do that and hopefully it will end the cycle of litigation that we have been in for the last 20 years,” Kelly said.
These were only a handful of key moments from the hour-long town hall. Whether or not we agree with Governor Kelly’s proposals, taking part in civic events such as these are truly beneficial as they help to foster accountability as well as transparency.