Bill Otto essentially was re-elected in Tuesday’s primary to his fourth two-year term in the Kansas House to represent the 9th District when he defeated Raymond “Bud” Sifers. No Democrat had filed, meaning Otto will be unopposed in the Nov. 2 general election. It was the only race decided that had distinctly local implications.
Otto, Le Roy, got 1,572 votes to Iolan Sifers’ 1,227, or 56 percent of those cast. In Iola, Otto out-polled Sifers 343 to 330. Sifers won his home precinct, South Iola Township, 55-34. In Allen County, Otto won 944 votes, while Sifers drew 819. The district also includes parts of Anderson, Coffey, Franklin and Woodson counties, where Otto garnered even more support at 61 percent, 628 to 408.
The 1,763 votes cast in Allen County comprised 48 percent of the 3,710 registered Republicans.
The election settled a campaign of mainly signs and posters supporting both candidates in numerous locations and external support for Sifers through mailers sent by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, which repeatedly targeted Otto’s vote in favor of the one-cent increase in the statewide sales tax. Tea party activists also made it clear they favored Sifers, who promised an anti-tax stance.
Otto earlier said he voted to impose the one-cent sales tax for three years to prevent further cuts in state aid to education and Medicaid, particularly in funding for nursing home residents.
“When it got to the end of the session, the sales tax was all there was. There’s wasn’t a viable plan B,” Otto said this morning. “The state Chamber targeted 10 of us Republicans in the House who voted for the sales tax. Nine of us won our primaries.”
Otto first was elected in 2004, when he defeated incumbent Stanley Dreher, rural Iola, in the GOP primary election and then was unopposed in the general election. The past two general elections Otto defeated Iola Democrats Bill Shirley, 2006, and Jon Dunbar in 2008.
OTTO TOLD the Register that with the election behind him, he was eager for citizens to understand “I’m everyone’s representative, no matter how you voted Tuesday. We have to work together, we have a lot of problems to fix.”
Foremost is dealing with an economy that Otto fears won’t show significant recovery soon. It is incumbent on the Legislature, he said, to find ways to deal with state revenue problems without shifting the burden to local governments, which has occurred in recent years.
“You have to have a house to live in” — the basis for most people’s property tax obligation — “but you don’t have to buy things,” which generates sales tax revenue, Otto observed.
About $300 million in stimulus money bolstered this year’s state budget, but Otto doesn’t think any additional injection of federal money is likely.
Also, Otto wants to do what he can for the regional economy in southeast Kansas.
“We have to fight for southeast Kansas,” he said. “We don’t want it to become Appalachia.”
Otto said he was delighted to have the election behind him, “so I can concentrate on the issues and spend time listening to what people in the 9th District think and find ways to help them.”
