County candidates give contrasting views on public health

Candidates for the Sedgwick County Commission differed on views about public health and the role county government should take in that realm in a public health forum.

One candidate, Sen. Michael O’Donnell, R-Wichita, was absent from Tuesday’s candidate forum, which was hosted by several local health-related organizations to compare candidates’ approaches to health.

At the forum, the candidates gave opening statements, then answered prepared questions they had received prior to the forum, along with questions submitted on-site by the audience, and ended with closing remarks.

Tim Norton, a Democrat, is running as the 15-year incumbent for District 2, which covers southwest Wichita and beyond to Haysville and Clearwater.

Norton addressed the vacant seat of his challenger, O’Donnell, during his closing remarks.

“One of the things I say about being involved in the community is sometimes you have to show up,” Norton said. “And I did. If you want someone to advocate for the good, and common good, in our whole community, I need some help,” he said, referring to voter support.

O’Donnell sent an e-mail to one of the event organizers, time-stamped at 2:19 p.m. for the 5:30 p.m. event, saying a family issue arose. He did not return requests for comment for this story.

Karl Peterjohn, a Republican, is running as the incumbent in District 3. That district is the largest of the five commission districts and covers northwest Wichita up to Bentley and Mount Hope and out to Goddard, Garden Plain and Cheney.

Peterjohn has one challenger in the Aug. 2 primary – Republican David Dennis, a former state education board chairman and retired Air Force colonel.

The winner of the primary could face Marcey Gregory, mayor of Goddard, who plans to run as an independent.

Here’s a few topics from Tuesday’s forum:

Overall views about the county’s role with health

Norton: “My default position is to the good of common humanity,” he said.

Norton talked about his dedication to public health efforts in the community and support of the county health department and other local health organizations.

Peterjohn: Peterjohn said the contrast between him and the other candidates lies with taxes. While other candidates talked about expanding services, he took the opposite approach.

“If folks want a government that takes care of you from cradle to grave, you need to elect another commissioner because I’m not your man.”

Gregory: Gregory said she hopes to see Sedgwick County become more compassionate to less fortunate residents.

“One of the best pieces of advice I got after I became mayor is, ‘you have to think beyond your experience and plan beyond your tenure.’ And I’m just afraid that some of our commissioners cannot think beyond their experiences to know what it would be like to be uninsured. They all get health insurance through their employer, which happens to be Sedgwick County, so our tax dollars provide their health insurance.”

Dennis: Dennis commended the health department’s work but said it could be improved. He alluded to support for a separate board of health. Right now, the county commissioners serve as the county’s board of health.

“I’m not sure having the county commission serving as the health board is an optimum situation,” he said.

Food deserts

Norton: “If you live far out east, or far out west, you might not worry about that (food deserts). But if you live in pockets of the south side, around West High School and other areas, you worry about it,” Norton said in reference to his district, which covers south Wichita.

Norton talked about his participation in state food symposiums.

“I understand the dynamics of what food policies can do, and I also understand there’s going to be people violently opposed to any kind of intervention in food policy,” he said.

Peterjohn: “I really struggle with ‘we’ve got an obesity epidemic with a food desert.’ I think that is a problem, conceptually.”

Dennis: Dennis talked about the economic and physical barriers to nutrition for people who live in food deserts, for example, the cost and need for transportation to a grocery store and the higher price of fresh food sold at convenience stores compared with grocery stores.

“I think it’s a community effort,” he said.

Gregory: If elected to the commission, she said, she would work with neighborhood associations in food deserts around the county to arrange for local farmers to sell produce once a month in those neighborhoods.

“I think obesity is a problem in our country, because it’s easier in our country to go through a McDonald’s drive-through, and sometimes cheaper, than to shop at a farmers market and prepare your own food,” she said.

Requiring proof of citizenship for services

Peterjohn: Peterjohn talked about communicable diseases suspected to be problematic among immigrant populations. “We’ve got a problem,” he said.

But because the county is not allowed to deny those services, he thinks the county should be able to ask about the citizenship status of its recipients.

Dennis: “The fact is, we don’t know who the illegal aliens are out there. And the fact is, we have folks in our country right now that are legal or illegal that are having babies, and they are having health problems, or they will have health problems, if they don’t have adequate nutrition.”

Dennis said he’s not sure about the entire idea behind the tabled resolution to ask about citizenship for services but said, “I’ll listen closely to that, and I’ll be interested to see what happens.”

Gregory: “The bottom line is, those people are here, they’re in our community,” she said.

“I want the women in our community right now to be able to buy good, nutritious food for their children and, certainly if they’re pregnant, be able to have access to medical care,” Gregory said.

Norton: Norton talked about the common good of humanity and how it affects each individual in the community.

“We try to take care of the world as the United States,” he said. “We go into countries and try to help them through all kinds of organizations, and even the military. Why we can’t look someone in the eye and take care of them here in our own community is beyond me.”

This story was originally published June 29, 2016 at 4:25 PM with the headline "County candidates give contrasting views on public health."