Finney County Commissioner Lon Pishny is making a second run for the Legislature, this time for the seat now held by outgoing state Rep. Bill Clifford.
Pishny, who unsuccessfully ran for the Kansas Senate in 2020, has filed to run for the House District 122 seat in western Kansas.
Clifford now represents the House district, but he is running to replace Republican state Sen. John Doll of Garden City who is not planning to seek reelection.
Pishny is now in his third four-year term on the county commission after first getting elected in 2014.
He ran against Doll for a seat in the state Senate in 2020 but came up short with 42% of the vote.
“I still have a passion for serving,” Pishny said in an interview.
“I am in my ninth year as a county commissioner in Finney County, and I am thoroughly enjoying serving at the local level.
“I am not building any resume. I’m not trying to step on to Washington, D.C., or anything like that,” he said. “I believe I am called to serve in whatever capacity that might be.”
Pishny characterized himself as someone who “strives every day of my life to live by Biblical principles and Biblical truth.”
“That means that I am for marriage of a man and a woman. I am against abortion because I believe life begins at conception.”
Likewise, Pishny said he’s guided by Biblical principle in finances as well.
“There is so much that we’re taught about how to be good financial stewards and how to use funds wisely and how the love of money is the root of evil,” he said.
“Those principles have guided me in not only my personal life, but as we looked at county budgets and I hope to look at state budgets as well.”
Pishny said he believes tax cuts can stimulate economic growth, but they need to be done in a “proper” way.
“We can’t just cut taxes and expect economic growth to happen,” he said.
He said he’s willing to consider the proposed flat tax that the Legislature is expected to take up next year but said there may be other options worth considering
A longtime financial planner and investment adviser, Pishny has served as a member of the board of directors for the St. Catherine Hospital Development Foundation and is a member of the Garden City Area Chamber of Commerce.
He also served on the Kansas Association of Counties’ governing board and the Kansas Statewide Broadband Expansion Planning Task Force as well as 12 years on the Board of Trustees of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System.
He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Fort Hays State University.
The House district is decidedly Republican.
Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt carried this district with 66% of the vote in last year’s governor’s race, and conservative independent candidate Dennis Pyle won 3.5% of the vote here as well.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly received 29% of the vote here.
The constitutional amendment on abortion won in this district with 61% of the vote.
About 53% of the district is made up of Republican voters while about 16% of the voters are Democrats.
About 29% of the district is comprised of unaffiliated voters.
