Ranzau, Nicks say battle for county commission comes down to character issues

Challenger Hugh Nicks says Sedgwick County Commissioner Richard Ranzau has too divisive a temperament to continue to serve on the board. Ranzau says a Nicks victory would bring more secrecy and backroom dealing at the county.

Those are the key battle lines drawn in the Republican primary campaign for the District 4 seat on the County Commission.

Nicks, a first-time candidate for public office, entered the race because of what he characterized as a lack of respect and civility on Ranzau’s part.

“We’re headed in the wrong direction and primarily because of one person who tends to bicker and point fingers and accuse other commissioners of wrongdoing,” Nicks said. “We have staff who gets up and give reports that he talks down to, talks over . . . we have the general public come to the podium and he treats them in the same fashion. That is uncalled for, and that is poor leadership style.”

Ranzau says Nicks was recruited to run against him by powerful business interests “who support corporate welfare and rent seeking.” Rent seeking is a political term for businesses lobbying for government subsidies and tax breaks without providing much return to the public.

“My position is there’s too many backroom deals and discussions going on,” Ranzau said. “He (Nicks) has already criticized me for having those debates publicly.”

District 4 stretches from central Wichita to the north and west. It includes Park City, Valley Center, Maize and Sedgwick.

All five county commissioners now are Republicans.

But there’s a longstanding split on the board between low-tax, small government advocates and more pro-business advocates who favor government subsidies to spur jobs and commerce.

Ranzau, a leader of the small-government side, hit his stride in 2015-16 when a like-minded majority governed the board, and he set the tone as chairman in 2015.

They pushed through spending cuts, pulled Sedgwick County out of the National Association of Counties because it was deemed too liberal, and turned down state and federal money for health and other services that they didn’t think government should be involved with.

Ranzau is quick to point out that it wasn’t all cutting, however.

“As the chairman I was able to start the joint law-enforcement training center (that opened at Wichita State University’s innovation campus in January) as well as the new downtown tag office (opened in June) . . . and making it easier for home occupations and agri-tourism out in the unincorporated area,” Ranzau said.

But Ranzau’s influence waned after the 2016 election, when the majority shifted back to commissioners who were more proactive about government’s role in the economy.

Ranzau now says corruption is his No. 1 issue.

Ranzau made himself the odd man out on the commission by repeatedly asserting from the bench that fellow Commissioner Michael O’Donnell had abused his position to try to steer business to friends and campaign contributors. The other commissioners took O’Donnell’s side.

In May, O’Donnell was indicted by a grand jury on federal charges that he misused campaign funds to benefit himself and his friends — and that he filed false campaign finance reports to cover it up. He continues to serve while awaiting trial and Ranzau is the only commissioner to publicly call for his resignation.

“There continues to be a dark cloud over this commission and quite frankly, I don’t think this commission has handled it very well,” Ranzau said. “I’m disappointed that I’m the only commissioner that’s willing to take a stand for what’s right with respect to ethical behavior on this commission.”

Nicks takes umbrage that Ranzau has sought to link him to cronyism.

“I know where he’s going with this whole corruption thing, I mean we all do,” Nicks said. “I don’t like the fact that he may be trying to pin me into a corner along those lines. I find it disrespectful and I don’t like it.

“He doesn’t really know who I am and anyone that knows me would (say) that’d be the furthest thing from the truth.”

Nicks has criticized Ranzau’s behavior on the commission and said his major goal is creating and retaining jobs in Sedgwick County. His background and interests put him squarely in the camp that’s for partnership of government and business.

A retired marketing executive and former Chamber of Commerce vice president, he takes pride in a deep network of friends and contacts in the Wichita business community.

“I have built a lifetime of relationships with people, whether it’s through business or volunteering or mentoring or just the fact I’ve been here and been very active in the community,” Nicks said. “I think we can do a lot better job at building coalitions, city, county, private, so that we can move our economies forward.”

He said he recognizes that the county’s bread and butter is basic services — police, fire, ambulances, roads and bridges, parks and public health.

But he said it all starts with jobs. Otherwise, “we don’t have the tax base for that to happen.”

“Richard would argue that that’s not government’s job” to intervene with local business,” Nicks said. “My argument would be that we should be at the table and be part of the discussion for the benefit of the people who live here.”

Ranzau has made hay over comments that Nicks made last month in a debate at the Republican Pachyderm Club.

In the debate, Nicks said: “In our business, when we had closed-door meetings, when we argued about how we were going to move forward in our business, we didn’t go out in front of our employees afterwards and act the same way that we did back behind closed doors. We wouldn’t act that way in front of our customers. If we did, we wouldn’t have any customers.”

Ranzau said the county owes it to the citizens to discuss public issues in public.

“He talks about how in his business, he’s used to closing the doors and making the decision and then moving forward,” Ranzau said. “Well that’s not actually permissible in the public arena.”

Nicks said it was his first debate as a candidate and he intitially thought to give an answer blasting Ranzau, but decided instead to highlight his own business background.

“That was a poor choice on my part,” Nicks said. “I wish I’d not done that. I wish I’d just said the truth and what was in my heart and what I believe is happening with him and the way he conducts himself.

“I was trying to take the high ground and it backfired on me.”

The winner of the Aug. 7 Republican primary will face the winner of a Democratic primary held the same day. The Democratic candidates are former Wichita school board member Michael Kinard and hospice specialist Lacey Cruse.

This story was originally published July 26, 2018 at 5:01 PM.