Goddard mayor files to run for County Commission as independent

Goddard Mayor Marcey Gregory turned in her petitions Monday to run as an independent candidate for Sedgwick County Commission in District 3.

She’s planning to be on the Nov. 8 general election ballot facing incumbent Commissioner Karl Peterjohn or David Dennis, a former member of the state Board of Education. Either Peterjohn or Dennis will be eliminated in the Aug 2 Republican primary. No one filed to run as a Democrat.

Gregory turned in petitions with 3,051 signatures, about 500 more than she needs to qualify for the ballot. The election office will count and verify the signatures.

Gregory’s campaign could mark the first time Peterjohn has faced an independent candidate, but not the first time he’s faced Gregory.

In 2008, Peterjohn, an anti-tax advocate, ousted incumbent Tom Winters in the Republican primary and went on to defeat Gregory, who ran on the Democratic ticket, 55 percent to 45 percent in the general election.

Since 2015, Peterjohn has been part of a 3-2 conservative commission majority that has cut county health programs funded with federal dollars and attempted to take greater control of the Sedgwick County Zoo board.

Gregory said gathering the signatures gave her the opportunity to walk the neighborhoods of the district and talk to voters.

“They are disturbed about the fact that we have got a county commissioner that his only focus is lowering taxes.” she said. “They want somebody that will get in and work hard to bring businesses into the community so that they can have a vibrant, growing community with the type of amenities that they want – things like the zoo, Exploration Place, Project Access (health program) – and that’s what I’m going to work to do.”

This story was originally published July 25, 2016 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Goddard mayor files to run for County Commission as independent."