Print edition: 
The line between beauty pageants and political campaigns is blurry, but there's at least one difference that makes running for office easier for Lynda Tyler than competing for a crown.
"It's easy to stand up in front of everybody and answer questions when you're not in a swimsuit and heels," she said.
Tyler, 47, has competed in beauty pageants many times, starting in high school. As recently as 2009 she won the Mrs. National America title, she said.
She is running for office for the first time, seeking the District 5 seat on the Wichita City Council now held by Jeff Longwell.
She believes she brings more than poise to the race. As a licensed financial adviser, business owner, tea party organizer and GOP activist, Tyler believes she brings the knowledge and determination needed to scrutinize government at City Hall.
"It's not necessarily against Longwell," she said of her campaign, "it's just the insanity of everything that's going on down there."
Tyler said she felt compelled to run when the city last year agreed to a deal to bring a Fairfield Inn to WaterWalk. The city should have solicited other hotels and found out which wants to come in, not pay for one to come in and compete with other hotels in the area, she said
"The playing surface is not level for industry or any of our businesses," Tyler said.
The city justifies incentives such as tax increment financing districts, community improvement districts and industrial revenue bonds as fair because others can ask for money, too, she said.
"That attitude cannot prevail on our City Council," Tyler said.
City government is here to provide basic services, not be a commercial lender, she said.
"When you start giving away money, everybody comes to the trough."
Background
Tyler, an only child and self-admitted overachiever, was an honor student at Rose Hill High School, valedictorian of her 1982 class, and competed in forensics, winning a state title in oration.
She went to finishing school as a high school freshman, served on the Red Cross Youth Council and was a board member of the Midway-Kansas Chapter of the American Red Cross at 18.
Tyler was an Emory Lindquist honor student at Wichita State University, graduating in 1986.
She had planned on medical school, she said, but she became bored in her first year of college and went to work as a secretary for her father, a broker, where she began to learn the financial industry. She became licensed in 1983.
Tyler married in 1985 and lived in Bel Aire until 1995, when she moved to west Wichita.
She and her husband had planned to move to Denver, but her husband filed for divorce. Twelve years in family court and a bankruptcy ensued, she said.
Tyler filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Colorado in 2001, listing liabilities of $537,400, and assets of $233,500.
She said the bankruptcy was caused by her divorce and issues over a business she had held jointly with her ex- husband. She also accumulated $100,000 of credit card debt while living in Denver, she said.
Tyler returned to Wichita in 2001 with a new husband. She had met Robert Tyler while taking ballroom dance lessons in Denver. They married in 2000.
Robert Tyler is a substitute teacher, primarily for the Wichita school district. Lynda Tyler is branch manager for LPL Financial Services in Wichita and president of the Arkansas Valley Association of Insurance & Financial Advisors.
She also has her own business, Impressions Inc., which she started in 2007. It teaches poise and grace to pageant hopefuls.
She also studied for several months with Zig Ziglar and is a certified motivational speaker and trainer.
Tyler has two sons, 16 and 18, and three stepsons, 17, 20 and 22, who live with their mother in Phoenix.
Finding unity
Tyler founded Kansans for Liberty, a nonprofit, to give people a way to access politicians and candidates, she said.
Tea party members are included in the organization, and Tyler has organized local tea party events, but she doesn't like to be labeled a "tea party activist."
"When we start labeling people, we don't talk to each other," she said.
She once did a radio interview with a representative of the Socialist Party, and discovered they shared some common ground — a desire for smaller government and for people to take back some control, she said.
She also has found that unions object to jobs going to illegal immigrants, and thinks tea party and union members could unite to solve illegal immigration problems, she said.
Tyler said one of her strengths is finding commonalties between different groups and bringing them together, a strength she believes would serve her well on the City Council.
The city needs Tyler on the council, said John Stevens, a retired businessman and president of the Wichita Pachyderm Club, who has known Tyler and done business with her for eight years.
Stevens said the council has had too many 7-0 votes on important financial matters.
"The financial situation is critical, and we need to stop doing business the way we've been doing it, and she will make a difference in that department," Stevens said.
"Lynda is a very intelligent, fast learner."
Tyler said that if elected, she plans to serve one term, or four years.
"I'm not in this to be a career politician," she said. "If they want me to run at that point, great, but in my mind I'm going to go in there and say and do what I think is right and not worry about having to raise money for another campaign."
