In Commerce nominee’s hometown, residents take sides in bitter confirmation fight

David Toland’s hometown — and years spent making friends and in some cases enemies there — may ultimately determine his fate as Gov. Laura Kelly’s pick to lead the Kansas Department of Commerce.

A volatile mix of local disputes and statewide abortion politics has fueled furious opposition from Republicans in Topeka, with the state Senate expected to hold a final vote this week.

“I feel terrible about the things that are being said about him and the politics and the misrepresentations,” said Virginia Hawk, who watched Toland grow up next door in Iola, a town of 5,700 in southeast Kansas. “If it’s this bad in this small of a situation, I can’t imagine what goes on in running for president or mayor of New York City. It’s really discouraging.”

Some local Republicans have raised concerns about Toland, a Democrat in a conservative part of the state. Since returning to Kansas in 2008, Toland had led Thrive Allen County, an Iola-based health advocacy and economic development agency.

The concerns center on such things as Toland’s support for raising the age to buy tobacco in Iola to 21 and his efforts to bring in a new grocery store that some think hurt an existing meat shop.

One Toland opponent — Kansas Republican Party vice chair Virginia Crossland-Macha — also questions how he handled harassing messages against him, saying he falsely accused a local businesswoman of sending them.

Sen. Julia Lynn, an Olathe Republican who oversaw Toland’s confirmation hearings, released four letters opposing Toland, who served as Kelly’s campaign treasurer.

One came from Crossland-Macha. Another came from the chairman of the Republican Party in a nearby county.

And one was authored by an Iola resident who happens to own the American-flag painted, replica machine gun-mounted Jeep that Republican Kris Kobach rode around Kansas during his campaign for governor.

Senators say it’s unusual for nominees to face local opposition. They contend partisan politics isn’t playing a role in their decisions.

“This pushback gave the committee pause as this was unexpected and became controversial,” Lynn said in a statement.

In Iola, many business and civic leaders hold Toland in high esteem. They say they are appalled by the opposition to him. Kelly’s office has gathered some 40 letters in support, including many from Iola.

“Nobody is a saint. But what’s happening here is — it’s immoral,” said Bill Maness, the economic development director at Thrive Allen County and former district representative for U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, of attacks on Toland.

Toland has been the state’s acting secretary of Commerce since January and will have to step down if the Senate rejects him.

In Topeka, Toland’s nomination produced a contentious two-day confirmation hearing where senators grilled him before voting to recommend the full Senate reject his nomination.

Senators wanted Toland to explain a picture of him in a bed with portraits on a nightstand of Gov. Sam Brownback and Sen. Caryn Tyson, R-Parker, that appeared to be poking fun at the officials. The photo was taken during a Thrive event to promote a local sleep clinic. At the hearing, Toland apologized and said it was in poor taste.

A few days later, Kansans for Life, the state’s leading anti-abortion organization, joined the fray, connecting Toland to a memorial fund for assassinated abortion doctor George Tiller. That prompted another round of concerns from Republican senators.

By all accounts, Toland’s confirmation vote will be close, and some senators remain undecided.

“I am very interested in what the district and my constituents think,” said Tyson, whose district includes Iola. “I will consider that information when I cast my vote.”

GOP official in Iola opposed

Since Toland was nominated, Crossland-Macha has raised concerns over his support for raising the age to purchase tobacco in Iola to 21. She owns a convenience store, and she wrote in an email last week to former Iola mayor John McRae that the change had a $100,000 effect on her business.

But much of the email focused on how Toland handled threatening messages several years ago.

In 2016, Toland found threatening messages — including one left on his vehicle — related to raising the tobacco age, according to a police incident report. In the report, Toland said he had ongoing ongoing problems with local businesswoman Cara Bolling Thomas and her husband over Toland’s work to bring a new grocery store to Iola.

The local prosecutor decided not to bring charges in the case.

Crossland-Macha wrote that Toland “threw a fit” when the prosecutor declined to charge. She also sent a separate email to senators about Toland and Bolling Thomas, with the subject line “David Tolands False Criminal Complaint against Cara Bolling.”

Attached was a letter from County Attorney Jerry Hathaway saying that he had declined to prosecute the case. The letter didn’t include an explanation of the decision.

McRae, who is president of Iola Industries, a local economic development organization, said he views Crossland-Macha as a good friend and said she’s a good person. But he took issue with how she described Hathaway’s letter.

“She mischaracterized the letter, in my opinion,” McRae said.

Hathaway, in an email to McRae, wrote that he decided not to file charges because he did not feel he could meet the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

“In my opinion David did what any citizen should do when they feel they have been the victim of a crime. He reported it and let the police investigate,” Hathaway wrote.

Bolling Thomas did not respond to a message left at her meat shop on Thursday. Crossland-Macha didn’t respond to multiple calls and a text seeking comment.

Toland, through a spokesman, declined a request for an interview, citing his schedule.

In response to questions — including about Crossland-Macha and Bolling Thomas — Toland provided a written statement.

“I’m focused on rebuilding the Department of Commerce,” Toland said. “In the past 10 weeks we’ve added or retained more than 3,000 jobs in the state, provided support to workers impacted by hospital closures, and totaled more than $200 million in capital investment for projects statewide. That’s what the Governor brought me here to do, and it’s what I intend to continue doing.”

Anti-abortion opposition

Early last week, Kansans for Life released a letter opposing Toland’s nomination. The letter contends Toland has ties to the Dr. George Tiller Fund, which is administered by the Wichita Community Foundation.

Tiller performed abortions at a Wichita clinic until he was murdered in 2009.

“It is unconscionable that anyone wishing to sit in the Governor’s Cabinet would be part of honoring the legacy of an individual who took so many innocent lives, half of which were Kansas lives,” the letter says.

Thrive Allen County received a grant from the fund in 2015 to help pregnant women quit smoking and was instrumental in getting another grant in 2018 for the local health department to provide long-term, reversible contraception. Together, the grants totaled about $19,000.

In Allen County, 17.5 percent of pregnant women smoked in 2016, compared with 10.2 percent statewide, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment,

“Obviously no funds being used toward anything with abortion at all. We have nothing to do with that here,” Thrive president and CEO Lisse Regehr said.

But Senate President Susan Wagle’s spokeswoman Shannon Golden said the “partnership in general is concerning.”

Golden said Wagle had an experience at Tiller’s clinic where she felt heavily counseled to get an abortion and that had affected her ever since.

Wagle will oppose Toland’s nomination, Golden said.

Asked about the Kansans for Life letter, Kelly spokeswoman Ashley All said Toland had spent the past decade working to improve the health and well-being of Kansas families and had been recognized at both the state and national level for his success.

“It’s time to end these baseless attacks and confirm him to be our next Secretary of Commerce,” All said in a statement.

‘Qualified in every way’

Whatever you think of Toland, his imprint on Iola is unmistakable.

The city has a new grocery store and nearby apartment complex that Toland led efforts to construct. He spearheaded efforts to build hiking trails in town. Even now, Toland is working to rehabilitate a theater.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2017 gave Allen County its Culture of Health award, in large measure because of Thrive’s efforts under Toland. The foundation noted how the county’s uninsured rate had dropped from 21 percent in 2013 to 10 percent that year.

Not everyone has appreciated Toland’s approach.

Toland showed signs that he believed economic development is something “that is forced upon an area” without data to support its success, Don Alexander, president of Alexander Manufacturing in Parsons, wrote to senators. He said SEK Inc., a regional alliance of business leaders, had not been invited to a 2011 economic summit.

Alexander, who chairs the Neosho County Republican Party, said in a brief interview that he has no problem with Toland personally.

“There’s no vendetta, there’s no back story really to it,” Alexander said.

Shilo Eggers, vice president of commercial banking for Landmark National Bank in Iola and president of the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce, wrote one of the letters of opposition to Toland. She said communication between Thrive and the chamber had improved since Toland left. Eggers didn’t respond to a request for comment.

But Mary Kay Heard, chairwoman of Iola Industries, said Toland is “qualified in every way.”

“What he did here for Allen County he will do for the state of Kansas. He will work with everybody and bring them together. That was his strong point: listening and then getting something done about it,” Heard said.

Toland was a model citizen growing up and never got in trouble, said Bob and Virginia Hawk, who lived next to Toland’s parents for decades.

“There are things he and I differ on,” Bob Hawk said. “But I can’t think of anybody anymore qualified, any more willing to work hard for Kansas.”

Like a ‘fire hose’

Sen. Lynn, who oversaw Toland’s confirmation hearing, said many people don’t understand or don’t know the confirmation process. Senators need to vet nominees in order to make a collective judgment about the qualifications and temperament of a nominee.

Toland’s nomination produced some pushback from people who had worked with him in a business capacity, she said.

“The committee exercised its judgement with the appropriate level of scrutiny,” Lynn said in a statement. “No nominee should expect a soft glove approach especially if members have heard opposition about the nominee.”

All, the Kelly spokeswoman, said the governor remains confident that Toland will be confirmed.

“He has broad local support — as well as support from economic development groups, nonprofits, and chambers of commerce all across the state,” All said.

McRae and other Toland supporters have been working over the past few days to fight objections to Toland’s nomination. They’ve spoken to senators and written letters of support.

They’ll soon find out whether it was enough.

“This whole thing has been like trying to drink water out of a fire hose,” McRae said. “You just can’t get a breath in.”

This story was originally published March 31, 2019 at 5:30 AM.