In an electric atmosphere at the Kansas State Fair, the major candidates for Kansas governor on Saturday laid out a clear choice for voters this fall.
Speaking loudly and fiercely in the rollicking environment that marks the State Fair debate, Democrat Laura Kelly promised to take Kansas into a new era of financial stability with better taxpayer services ranging from roads to schools to health care.
Republican Kris Kobach, who at several points during the debate bantered with a hostile crowd, promised to cut taxes, cap property appraisals, keep utility rates down and end in-state tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants.
Independent candidate Greg Orman cast himself as an outsider, blaming established politicians like Kelly and Kobach for guiding the state in the wrong direction.
He framed himself as an experienced businessman who knows how to grow the economy, create jobs and keep people from fleeing the state.
“This is a big year for Kansas. The stakes have never been so high, and the choices have never been so clear,” said Kelly, the generally soft-spoken state senator who raised her voice during the 80-minute outdoor debate.
“We can either go backwards and repeat the last eight years of the Brownback devastation, or we can elect a governor who will work like the devil to rebuild our state,” she said in obvious reference to former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
“Kris Kobach has promised to bring the Brownback experiment back, and that means cuts — cuts to your child’s school, cuts on the roads you drove on to get here today, cuts to your health care,” Kelly said as she pointed her finger to punctuate points.
Kelly directed most of her comments at Kobach, at one point in her closing statement just fleetingly mentioning Orman. “Greg hasn’t promised one thing. He points his finger and complains,” she said. “That’s not what Kansas needs.”
Kobach criticized Kelly throughout the debate for relying on old ideas that depend on taxes and spending to run state government. At one point, Kobach said Kelly embraced socialist views and questioned her commitment to gun rights.
The secretary of state constantly pounded away at his themes of cutting taxes and spending in contrasting himself with Kelly and, on occasion, Orman. Sometimes he grouped them together.
“If you’ve been watching this race … you will notice some of the bold new ideas are coming from the Republican side,” Kobach said, alluding to his plan to give schools letter grades based on academic performance.
“From the other side, it’s just more tax-and-spend liberal thinking,” Kobach said. “If you are a liberal Democrat like some of the people shouting are, you have two great choices: You can have the official Democrat or the de facto Democrat.”
A couple times Kobach engaged with the boisterous audience cheering on their candidates – and sometimes jeering their opponents – throughout the debate.
During a response about education funding, Kobach started into a calculation, when he started to get drowned out. “I know you don’t like math, but just listen.”
When the crowd continued interrupting, Kobach shot back, “They really don’t like math. They don’t like logic either. How about rational thought? Nah. None of the above?”
On another occasion, Kobach drew boos when he said the state had one of the best highway systems in the country.
“It’s just a fact. I know facts aren’t liked by people on the left.”
Orman, meanwhile, didn’t have the same crowd issues as Kobach.
He stressed his business credentials as someone who can turn around state government and put it on a new course.
“The establishment has taken us badly off track and spurred two decades of decline,” Orman said. “If you want that, you’ve got two pretty good choices on stage.
“But if you want someone who can get us back on track, who has the experience of successfully running, managing and improving large organizations, someone who can grow the Kansas economy, and help create the jobs and opportunities that will help keep our kids here … then I’m your candidate for governor.”
The three candidates tussled over gun control, prompted by a question about whether guns should be allowed in Kansas schools.
Kelly outright said she opposed arming teachers. She said she supported the gun rights protected by the Second Amendment, but she called for “gun sense” policies for regulating firearms. “We need fewer guns in our schools, not more.”
Kobach ridiculed Kelly when she expressed steadfast support for gun rights.
“If Sen. Kelly is a supporter of the Second Amendment, I’m a supporter of higher taxes,” Kobach said.
Orman also opposed arming teachers, but questioned why Kelly supported a bill a couple years ago that allowed Kansans to carry concealed guns without a permit.
Kelly tried to head off that issue, saying she recognized that she made a mistake.
“I think it’s important that we have leadership in Kansas who recognizes when they’ve gone too far and a mistake has been made and can change course,” she said.
Only Kobach said he would support arming teachers.
“We defend our presidents with guns. We defend our courts with guns. We defend our banks with guns. We even defend our celebrities with guns. But we defend our schoolchildren with a sign that says this is a gun free zone,” Kobach said.
“Specially trained teachers and other personnel should be able allowed to protect our children … because I want my children to live,” Kobach said.
The three candidates took different approaches to how they would grow the state’s economy.
Orman emphasized leveraging Kansas’ position in the middle of the country to become the nation’s logistics capital and urged exporting the state’s wind energy. He also suggested offering a tax credit for career and technical education.
“That’s what we need to do, get employers the workers they need to grow their businesses,” Orman said.
Kelly, meanwhile, said the state needs to put more money into schools, roads, high-speed internet service and Medicaid expansion.
She wants to bring back agencies such as the Kansas Bioscience Authority, which was disbanded under the Brownback administration.
“We need to bring the things back that were decimated by the Brownback experiment, that had to be robbed to pay for his (tax) cuts. We’ll bring those things back. We’ll grow this economy.”
Kobach responded sharply, again reiterating the need for tax cuts.
“What you just heard from a fairly socialist point of view is spend, spend, spend — spend all the money you can, and then maybe the economy will grow,” Kobach said.
“We’ve learned through a century of history that doesn’t work,” he said. “You’ve got to make it possible for businesses to spend their own money to grow.”
