In some races who shouldn’t be elected is every bit as important as who deserves the office.

Kansans most assuredly should not elect Kris Kobach secretary of state.

Chris Biggs, on the other hand, is doing a good job in the office and should be retained.

Kobach has been running a fear campaign, trying to persuade voters that voter fraud is running rampant in Kansas and that illegal aliens are sneaking in to vote. He would put an end to all that, he promises.

Baloney! is the polite response to those baseless rantings. There have been very few voter fraud cases over the state in the past decade. Something under 10 a year, in all 105 counties. Most of those were “innocent” crimes; a husband trying to get a ballot for his wife, that sort of thing.

There have been no reported instances of illegals voting. Why would any undocumented person run the risk of exposure, arrest and deportation in order to cast a ballot? Where is the temptation? What could be the reward?

Truth is, Kobach wants to spend full time fighting illegal immigration and has convinced himself that being the Kan-sas secretary of state would give him a platform from which to pursue his crusade.

But the office has not the remotest connection to immigration, illegal or otherwise. It is a record keeping bureau for the state, the state’s corporations and for counties and cities. The secretary is CEO of that office. His primary job is to see that the records are kept well, the services are readily accessible and that costs are kept low. The office also manages the state’s elections, which is a once-every-two-years assignment.

A secretary of state should be great on details, should be a stay-at-home executive good at hiring and managing a competent staff. The office doesn’t set policy, it takes care of business. 

What kind of manager is Chris Kobach? He was chairman of the Kansas State Republican Party a couple of years ago. He left the office in a fiscal and organizational mess. As a manager, he was a disaster. One of the reasons the office fell to pieces under his tenure was that he spent too much time in Arizona — you guessed it — fighting illegal immigration.

Kobach’s own record shows clearly why he should be defeated on Nov. 2.

Biggs was appointed secretary of state when Ron Thornburg resigned to take a job in the private sector. Biggs was state securities commissioner at the time, another job that requires me-ticulous attention to de-tail. He understands his new assignment and has done it well. 

The office has been called the least partisan of all of the state’s elected positions. Biggs has served as a manager, not as a partisan. His ambition is to continue to do the job well, not to use it to finance his adventures in other directions.

He should be elected on Nov. 2.

— Emerson Lynn, jr.

Voters will decide Nov. 2 whether to increase a countywide sales tax by 1⁄4 of a cent to go toward a new Allen County Hospital.
Members of the Allen County Healthcare Committee address questions about the issue.
Q: If the bond issue is successful and Allen County gives notice to HCA that in six months the present lease on the hospital will be terminated will there be a financial settlement? What is involved in calculating the amount due and what will the two parties end up with?
A: Yes, there will be a financial settlement of some kind upon termination of the lease between Allen County and HCA over the hospital. In simple terms any improvements in hospital equipment, furniture and fixtures that have not been depreciated plus any salvage value on purchased improvements made during the last 28 years of the lease will be compared to the salvage value of equipment, furniture and fixtures still being used that were present 28 years ago when the lease was first assumed by Research Hospital.
Hospitals are like all businesses that purchase equipment, furniture and fixtures that wear out or become obsolete. A portion of such items are expensed each year to account for depreciation in value. Normally within five to seven years, the value of most equipment is reduced to zero or a small salvage value. Furniture and fixtures may be expensed over a slightly longer period, but the end result is the same — zero or a small salvage value.
It is expected that ac-countants hired by HCA and Allen County will get together and determine the amount of the value of the improvements that Allen County would assume if it, again, takes over the hospital should the bond issue pass. The terms of the settlement could be a cash amount or some method of financing the settlement amount could be negotiated.
It is expected Allen County will owe HCA money since HCA has purchased some new equipment in the several years it has operated the hospital. The dollar number is not expected to be large and some or all of the money to pay the settlement amount is included in the $5 million bank loan that is part of the financing package for the new hospital.
HCA will get all the cash balances present at the end of the lease and the cash settlement discussed above. Allen County will get the use, again, of the hospital and all its revenue. However, it will not get any of the present cash balances of the hospital. Balances be-long to HCA and because of this need for the cash, Allen County has provided for the $5 million bank loan for operating money as part of the hospital financing package. This loan will provide the money needed to pay the bills until the revenue from hospital services billed to patients after the date of the takeover flows back to the hospital — about 3 or 4 months’ worth.
Only six days remain before the election. If you would like to help our voter information effort, write to “Yes Allen County Healthcare,” at A.C.B., Inc, 16 W. Jackson, Iola, KS 66749 or contact the Thrive Allen County office at 365-8128.

We honor our forefathers for their wisdom, and recognize that wisdom comes from experience. We believe our forefathers used experience to make the decisions that guide us today, driven to do good for the general public welfare, not their personal political welfare.
This conclusion should add some thought to the upcoming election changing Iola city governance and suggest the best would be a NO vote on Charter Ordinance No. 17. A NO vote on Charter Ordinance No. 17 will give Iola eight representatives.
More than 100 years ago, city governments were comprised of commissions that managed various departments or councils that represented the citizens while overseeing hired managers. In either case, a mayor represented the city in its activities and presided over commission or council meetings.
About a century ago, our Kansas state Legislature looked at these systems and decided that if any city operating with a commission form of government voted to change, it would change to the council system. The Legislature then created state statutes mandating council sizes and ward voting based on the city’s population.
I can see no political motive for their actions. Their decision surely came from experience. They made the wise decision. City government should be representative, not managerial.
A NO vote on Charter Ordinance No. 17 will give Iola the level of representation that has existed in Yates Center and Humboldt for years. It works well for them and it will work for us.
We will differ some. Due to our larger population, we have a larger pool of possible candidates for the two council positions in each of four wards. They will represent us on a neighborhood basis when there are issues affecting our neighborhoods.
As a group, they will set policy for the city and have the responsibility of hiring city management. But they won’t be managers.
We voted for this change with a two to one majority in April of 2009. That should have been final, but current commissioners disagreed with the people’s vote.
When we vote on Nov. 2, a NO vote on Charter Ordinance No. 17 will eliminate any further action against representative government for Iola.

Ray Shannon
Iola, Kan.

Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center maintains a close working relationship with Allen County Hospital. I am always impressed with the professional staff who work there and consider Allen County Hospital an essential partner in providing care for our community.
We need current businesses to stay in our community and new businesses to want to locate here, as well as new residents. They will give us serious consideration as long as they are assured we are committed to investing in the health of the community.
From what I’ve seen over the years, we are overdue in replacing this hospital, which has served us so well. I am confident that the vote to support Allen County Hospital will pass and I look forward to helping in any way I can to build for the future.
Citizens of Allen County have that pioneer spirit. We all know what needs to be done and many volunteers will be working hard to see that it is done and done well.
We are still that kind of community and that is why I enjoy living in Allen County.

Bob Chase,
Iola, Kan.

A group called “Ask Men” did a lot of asking around and came up with a list of the 49 most influential men in the country. Television comedian Jon Stewart topped the list. President Barack Obama came in 21st. Obama was first in 2008, dropped to third in 2009 and then went down in flames.
Whatever or whoever “Ask Men” is or are, one of the explanations for the 180-degree about-face in U.S. politics over the past two years is that both the Republican and the Democrat parties have pretty much gone away.
The “ins” and the “outs” took their place. The change has taken time coming. Sometime within the past two decades, or maybe longer, party loyalty be-gan to weaken. More and more of us said we voted for the candidate, not the party. That move away from political parties was bolstered by the rise of special interest groups and issue-oriented political organizations.
Gun control and abortion, for example, made as much difference in the voting booth as Republican and Democrat. Single-issue politics then morphed into ideologies. We became conservatives, liberals or moderates — and sometimes chose not to add a party label to those categories.
But none of today’s political labels imply or require loyalty or, to put it another way, invoke a sense of belonging or provide purpose for the majority of those who wear them. Those who joined the yes-we-can brigades in 2008 have no problem chanting no-no-not-never in 2010.
When the same voters who tossed out the Re-publicans two years ago give the House of Representatives to the Republicans next Tuesday and leave the Senate in a virtual tie only a literalist could argue that the Republican Party itself can take credit for the switch. The voters will not have become followers of Republicanism. They merely will have decided to throw the “ins” out.
And if the economy continues to bump along the bottom, the new “ins” could well become the new “outs” in 2012.

THESE ARE NOT value judgments. U.S. politics did not produce better government when a man’s political party was also his identity. Voting a straight ticket has al-ways been mindless politics.
What happens when parties don’t matter, however, is that candidates rather than issues command the attention of the voter. Our present circumstances illustrate. In 2008 it seemed that a solid majority of the voters favored fundamental health care reform and meaningful reduction of greenhouse gases. Those were two of the major planks in the Obama platform.
Today the members of the House and Senate who supported those initiatives and are running for re-election face de-feat.
Those who voted no proudly boast about it.
So it is probably fair to say that Obama was elected president be-cause of himself rather than his platform.
That is not a comforting thought. In an election the people should work for and vote for candidates who share their governmental goals as well as for men and women who seem best qualified to govern. When the personal characteristics of the candidates determine who is elected, the unspoken judgment is that issues don’t matter.
Since issues do matter, it can be predicted with confidence that the political pendulum will swing back toward the pragmatic problem-solvers who will be elected for what they want to accomplish rather than who they are. When this happens, the political parties will be naturally restored because they are the most efficacious way for like-thinkers to achieve political power to accomplish political goals.

— Emerson Lynn, jr.

Voters will decide Nov. 2 whether to increase a countywide sales tax by 1⁄4 of a cent to go toward a new Allen County Hospital.
Members of the Allen County Healthcare Committee address questions about the issue.
Q: What are the two groups; 1) “Yes” Allen County Healthcare and 2) Allen County Healthcare Foundation?  Do they have anything to do with recent changes in federal healthcare laws?
A: Except for the word “healthcare” there is no connection between the two local groups, “Yes” Allen County Healthcare and Allen County Healthcare Foundation, and recent changes in federal laws concerning healthcare. One — “Yes” — is a temporary group that will last less than six months and the other, Allen County Healthcare, is a 20-year-old fixture that will be around for a long time to come.
The volunteer voter education group, “Yes” Allen County Healthcare, formed in summer to help provide information to Allen County voters about the new hospital proposal that is on the Nov. 2 ballot.
Several hundred volunteers mobilized from all across the county working to provide information to voters. Its efforts are funded with contributions from more than 80 local individuals and groups. Donations to it are not tax deductible since it advocates voters approve the proposed bond issue. After the election, the work of the group will be done, the group will disband and the report of its expenses and revenues will be turned in to the county clerk.
The local not-for-profit Allen County Healthcare Foundation has the mission of providing funding for charitable healthcare services to citizens of Allen County and the surrounding area. 
It is a 501 (c)(3) and all gifts to it are tax deductible.  It has been in existence for about 20 years and if the bond issue passes, it will work closely with the new county hospital board of trustees to raise money in the form of charitable gifts for the new hospital.
Since Hospital Corporation of America, which currently runs the hospital, is a for-profit organization, the foundation could not raise money to equip or improve the hospital for HCA.
Once it is again a county run hospital, the not-for-profit foundation can be a big help in providing significant “extras” for the proposed new hospital and its patients and staff.
And, again, gifts to the foundation are tax de-ductible to the person making the gift.
Gary Parker is the chairman of Allen County Healthcare Foundation. Other current members of the board are: Alberta Searcy, Angela Henry, April Hudson, Bill Shirley, Deb Tynon, Denise Apt, Karen Gilpin, Kathryn Tillman and Mary Ann Magnuson-Patterson.