close
close
bxsonair

Kansas political history book highlights influence of centrist governors with bipartisan instincts • Kansas Reflector

Posted on by Gerres
Kansas political history book highlights influence of centrist governors with bipartisan instincts • Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA — The pattern that Kansas voters have adopted in electing governors over the past half-century has meant the state has constantly rotated Republicans and Democrats while rewarding candidates with experience in elected office.

With one notable exception, eight people have been elected governor over five decades Republican Robert Bennett in 1975 and completed Democrat Laura Kelly in 2022can be classified as centrists open to two parties. They exhibited a variety of leadership styles, but apart from Republican Sam Brownback, the group consisted of policy-oriented CEOs who sought to distance themselves from the interests of culture warriors.

To some extent, Kansas voters followed the advice of Governor Robert Docking, a conservative Republican state Democrat who served from 1967 to 1975.

“Docking coined the phrase: Kansas government should be ‘tough but appropriate,'” said Michael Smith, a professor at Emporia State University. “We argue that this truly shapes Kansas government for generations. And then of course we have the Brownback years, which were a major change.

Smith collaborated with Ed Flentje, professor emeritus at Wichita State University, to edit and write the book “Reform and Reaction: The Arc of Kansas Politics.” The idea for the book was conceived and initiated by Burdette Loomis, a professor at the University of Kansas who died in 2021. Other authors included former Kansans Chapman Rackaway of Radford University and Patrick Miller of Kent State University.

Together, they painted a nuanced history of Kansas politics through the administrations of Bennett, John Carlin, Mike Hayden, Joan Finney, Bill Graves, Kathleen Sebelius, Mark Parkinson, Brownback, Jeff Colyer and Kelly. The book describes the governors’ challenges and plans, bitter divisions in the GOP, Democrats’ persistent numerical disadvantage, Brownback’s experiment with deep red state politics, and the consequences of all this drama.

On the Kansas Reflector podcast, Smith and Flentje discussed an era marked by a dedication to modernizing outdated state government institutions, the transition to a period of political activism, and the political aftermath.

“About 20 years of institutional reform followed by about 20 years of public policy activism,” Flentje said. “Then we’ll move on to the reaction.”

In terms of institutional changes, the reapportionment of seats in the Kansas Legislature got rid of the system in which each county had a guaranteed representative in the House. Since the 1970s, housing districts have been based on population. This brought many new people into the Legislature who rethought state policy on economic development, school finances and transportation infrastructure.

“These were people who took public policymaking very seriously and were willing to put their careers on the line, to be the first to put their heads above the mountains and take on the difficult issues,” Flentje said.

Hayden, Republican governor from 1987 to 1991AND Carlin, a Democrat who served two terms from 1979 to 1987, focusing on core issues that were not particularly ideological. Both were from western Kansas, were Speakers of the Kansas House of Representatives, and wanted to support the agricultural economy.

Finney, a Democrat who was state treasurer for 16 years, he was elected governor in 1990, defeating Hayden. She was the first woman in the United States to defeat an incumbent governor and a rare pro-life Democratic Party governor. Finney did not run for a second term and Kansas moved to Graves, a Republican who was Secretary of State.

Graves dealt with divisions in the Republican Party that pitted conservatives against moderates, but he managed to cut taxes and promote spending on K-12 schools. Republican Party infighting gave Democrats influence over legislation.

“He was elected in 1994, and it was an interesting time because Graves was very moderate. He was pro-choice,” Smith said. “So you have very moderate leadership from a Republican governor, but yet there is a conservative rebellion going on.”

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback attends the National Governors Association meeting on February 27, 2012, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C.
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback attends the National Governors Association meeting on February 27, 2012, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. A new book on the last 50 years of Kansas politics identifies Brownback as an outlier among governors because he was driven by greater ideologies than his peers. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Graves served two terms and he gave the governor’s estate to SebeliusDemocrat, former member of the House of Representatives and state insurance commissioner. Sebelius’s progressive instincts provided a safeguard against the conservative policies emerging from the legislature. She left her job in 2009 to work for President Barack Obama as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Sebelius’s lieutenant governor, Mark Parkinson, was a Republican-turned-Democrat who declined to run for a full term. Parkinson was accused of handing over the job to Brownback, a U.S. senator who failed to gain prominence in the 2008 presidential campaign but caused no problems winning the 2010 governor’s race. His election advanced an ideologically conservative agenda, especially opposition to abortion, and led to the promotion of a risky plan to eliminate the state income tax.

“I don’t think Sam knows much about state government and state politics,” Flentje said. “He was secretary of agriculture, he was a congressman, he was a senator, and that’s not a good base for learning the intricacies of state government — whether it’s infrastructure, roads, schools, whatever you want to call it.”

In 2012 and 2013, the GOP-led Legislature passed and Brownback signed laws that undermined the state’s tax base and failed to deliver promised job growth. State revenue shortfalls led to an increase in the sales tax and undercutting funding for highways and education. In 2017, a bipartisan majority in the Legislature repealed the Brownback tax program.

“Brownback’s favorability ratings were in the toilet. And so a whole group of legislators came forward – moderate Republicans and Democrats – and a coalition was formed,” Flentje said.

Brownback resigned as governor in 2018 to work for President Donald Trump as U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom. Brownback handed the keys to Colyer, who served in the House and Senate.

Colyer lost the GOP gubernatorial primary several hundred votes for Secretary of State Kris Kobach. In November 2018 Kobach was defeated by KellyDemocratic state senator from Topeka. Kelly won re-election in 2022, defeating Derek Schmidta Republican who served three terms as attorney general.

“I think Kelly is a return to the moderate tradition,” Smith said. “It is well known that she is strongly supported by former Governor Sebelius, who I believe was instrumental in encouraging Kelly to run.”

Flentje said policy developments in Kansas indicate an era of state government reform may be on the horizon.

“It will be based on what people have discovered before,” he said. “Taking public policy seriously and building cross-party coalitions. We’ll see if that’s really the case.”