Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins’ announcement of a few weeks ago that she would forego seeking re-election created seismic political pressures in the Kansas Second District, which includes Allen County.
Jenkins had hinted of her announcement earlier, and the banter about Topeka before the session ended was that if it occurred Caryn Tyson, 12th District state senator, would take advantage.
Jenkins retired. Tyson announced, posthaste, in opportunistic fashion, as politicians of every stripe are wont to do. Tyson was re-elected last November to a second four-year term in the state’s upper chamber, meaning she is in a fail-safe position: Win she goes to Washington; lose she stays in Topeka — even though taking advantage of circumstances in such a manner somewhat violates philosophical purity.
Already two other noteworthy GOP foes have leaped aboard: Kevin Jones, 5th District representative from Wellsville, and Kansas Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, Leavenworth. There will be others, assured Kent Thompson, who carries Allen and Neosho counties’ torch in the House, though we doubt his thinking involves minor figures such as Basehor Councilman Vernon Fields, whose announced candidacy would seem to be a lark.
On the Democrat side, Paul Davis, largely silent since he missed defeating Sam Brownback in the 2016 gubernatorial race — a mild surprise for many given Davis’ pre-election polling numbers — will seek the seat.
Back to Tyson. We are obligated by propriety to give the senator from rural Parker her due.
She talks with sincerity about dealing with mental health issues that negatively affect law enforcement and the judicial system, as well as schools, and, as we all should be, is concerned about cyber security.
Tyson also — by close association, being involved in agriculture with her husband — says she would be a good friend of farmers and ranchers. Ag is the biggest industry in Kansas, and it needs all the friends it can attract, particularly in an atmosphere where many who meander the halls of the U.S. Capitol don’t know a Holstein from a Duroc.
THERE IS another side in the equation detailing Tyson’s views.
We are distressed by her comment about healthcare: “We need to repeal Obamacare. That was a tax bill, not a healthcare bill.” Of course it was a healthcare bill, which gave millions of Americans access to healthcare, many of whom had suffered and, in tragic cases, even died because they couldn’t afford insurance or put off seeking treatment because of the expense.
The Affordable Care Act is far from perfect. But, until something better surfaces, or it is tweaked to deal with debilitating issues, Congress, and the president, should not throw it out with the bath water. We’d be delighted with a better approach to help those in distressing economic conditions to have access to healthcare, but no Republican alternative proposal has come close to filling the bill.
Another of Tyson’s oft-mentioned decrees is restoring the horrendous Kansas income tax cuts of 2012-13 was a tax increase. Not at all, Sen. Tyson. The Legislature’s action, and solid rebuff of Brownback’s faith in Arthur Laffer’s trickle-down economics theory, put back in place what never should have been removed in the first place. Calling it a tax increase is political gamesmanship, playing on anxieties of constituents.
BETWEEN NOW and the filing deadline for the November 2018 election the field on both sides of the ticket will grow, perhaps, with an open seat, as greatly as did the Republican field for president during the last cycle.
It will behoove each of us to examine closely all candidates, their qualifications and what they propose to do — knowing beforehand not much is achievable by a freshman in the U.S. House.
Traditional politics will come into play in each camp, although on the GOP side we’re likely to find two schools, with the split being between moderates and perhaps two levels of conservatism, one mostly reasonable and the other a little to the right of Attila the Hun.
Buckle up, another interesting election season is dawning.
— Bob Johnson
