Michael O’Donnell wants to transcend divide

At 32, Michael O’Donnell has already served in the Kansas Statehouse and at Wichita City Hall.

Now he wants to be a Sedgwick County commissioner. He says he seeks to soften the political divide on the commission and consolidate some services with the city of Wichita.

The Republican state senator is running against Democratic incumbent Tim Norton in District 2, which includes Haysville, Clearwater and parts of south and southwest Wichita.

“I’m going to work with whoever wants to do the best for our community and who is going to listen to my priorities for southwest Sedgwick County,” O’Donnell said.

The District 2 race could greatly affect the political direction of the five-member commission.

Since early 2015, county government has been guided by a conservative majority made up of Commissioners Jim Howell, Karl Peterjohn and Richard Ranzau. Peterjohn lost in the Aug. 2 primary to retired Air Force Col. David Dennis, who will face Goddard Mayor Marcey Gregory in District 3.

Norton, a Democrat, tends to vote with Republican Commissioner Dave Unruh on split votes involving public health and debt policy.

O’Donnell, who describes himself as a commonsense conservative, criticizes positions held by both Norton and the majority. He says he could improve county relations with the city of Wichita and bridge the divisions in county government through his relationship with current commissioners and council members.

“We cannot continue to have this sharp divide that we currently have,” O’Donnell said, criticizing the 3-2 split votes. “It’s not in anyone’s best interest to completely disregard 40 percent of the county.”

Son of a preacher

O’Donnell is a native Wichitan. His father, the senior pastor at Grace Baptist Church near Pawnee and Seneca, was an anti-abortion protester during the so-called “Summer of Mercy” in 1991.

“We just got involved in campaigns at a very young age,” O’Donnell said.

He grew up in Haysville and south Wichita, then moved to Bel Aire and later attended Sunrise Christian Academy. He went to Baptist Bible College for a year before graduating from Friends University.

He started working for Clear Channel Radio in 2005 when he was still in college. He did radio sales as an account executive until 2011.

“If you ever want to get into a difficult job, sell air,” O’Donnell said. “That really taught me a lot about tenacity, hard work and really selling myself.”

He ran unsuccessfully to be the Bel Aire mayor in 2005. He ran for the Wichita City Council in 2007 but was disqualified after questions arose about whether he lived in Bel Aire or south Wichita.

‘Respect the taxpayers’ money’

O’Donnell ran again in 2011 and defeated Joshua Blick for the District 4 City Council seat in southwest Wichita.

He said he pushed to improve neglected roads in his district, citing work on Meridian south of Kellogg to Pawnee. He also was a critic of taxpayer-backed incentives for business developments.

“We need to respect the taxpayers’ money just as if it were our own,” O’Donnell said. “And I didn’t see that happening a lot.”

He left Clear Channel in 2011 to handle marketing for Wink Hartman’s portfolio of companies. O’Donnell said he works there about 20 hours a week.

O’Donnell said he was recruited to run for the Senate by Sen. Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican who is now the Senate president. Wagle called O’Donnell a team player and a strong communicator.

He defeated third-term Sen. Jean Schodorf in 2012 as part of a wave of more conservative candidates ousting more moderate incumbents.

‘Topeka isn’t working’

O’Donnell points to several bipartisan efforts he has championed in his one term in the Senate, such as legislation to help protect seniors from financial scams.

“Kansas did not have enough teeth to really throw the books at these individuals that would prey on senior citizens,” O’Donnell said. “Every senior citizen is now in better shape if they were ever to fall victim to a financial predator.”

He also touted work to get property tax relief for tornado victims after the 2012 tornado that hit south Wichita.

O’Donnell also led the charge on changes to welfare programs last year, carrying a bill to the Senate floor that limited participation in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to 36 months, among other changes.

“It’s much better for everyone involved … whether it’s the individual that uses welfare or the community that pays for it, to get those individuals out of a welfare cycle and into the workforce,” he said.

But he said he became increasingly frustrated with state government “careening” from one crisis to the next, such as revenue shortfalls.

“I’ve learned a lot from Topeka. Unfortunately, the thing I’ve learned most is that Topeka isn’t working,” O’Donnell said. “And that comes from the top down.”

He says people assume he’s a “rubber stamp” for Gov. Sam Brownback’s plans, but he sharply criticized Brownback for essentially forcing an increase in the sales taxes on food last year.

O’Donnell voted for a bill last year that increased sales and cigarettes taxes but lowered the sales tax on food. He voted against a subsequent part of the tax plan that dropped the future cut to the sales tax on food.

County decision, residency

O’Donnell says he was approached last fall by “many people” about running for the County Commission.

“The word out there was that Tim (Norton) wasn’t running again,” he said.

That played a huge part in his decision to run, he said, and in picking up initial support for his candidacy. He has outraised Norton, according to campaign finance reports filed in late July.

“I feel like I could make more of a difference at the local level being one of five … versus one of 40 (state senators),” he said.

O’Donnell lived in District 3, Peterjohn’s district, until December. He said he flipped that house and sold it to a cousin.

His current address is a house on South Sheridan just west of Friends University that lies in commission District 2 and his state Senate district.

“It is not outside any office that I ever held or outside the office that I’m seeking,” O’Donnell said. “So I really think the residency is a non-issue.”

O’Donnell says he has strong ties to southern Sedgwick County.

“My family has been in south Wichita and Haysville going back to my grandparents,” he said. “To me, it (District 2) is home.”

O’Donnell views on majority

O’Donnell emphasizes some differences between him and the commissioners in the current majority.

He says the county should be open to paying for some road and bridge projects by borrowing money. The majority has moved toward paying for those projects with cash only.

“At the county level, you need to bond when you’re doing road projects that are 20-, 30-year road projects,” O’Donnell said. “It doesn’t make sense to spend cash when people are going to be using that (road) for the next two decades.”

O’Donnell also said the commission majority did a “disservice” by ending its funding agreement with the Sedgwick County Zoo.

And, he said, the commission started an unnecessary fight when it decided in September to stop requiring wastewater inspections during home sales out in the county. Realtors warned the deregulation would compromise public health and safety.

“The commission needs to listen to the real estate industry, because they know what the consumers need better than the commission does,” O’Donnell said.

He praised the majority on lobbying efforts to support a property tax lid for local governments and to block illegal immigrants from receiving in-state tuition.

‘I’m building coalitions’

O’Donnell says he would prefer Unruh to be chairman of the commission in 2017. Commission chairmen can have a bigger role in setting the weekly county agenda.

“I’m going to be with Commissioner Unruh a lot,” O’Donnell said. “(But) I see myself working with each person on the commission on different issues.”

He added he wanted to work with commission candidate Dennis to improve relations with Wichita city leaders if they both were to be elected.

“He (Dennis) talks about tearing down the wall on Central between City Hall and the courthouse,” O’Donnell said. “I want to be right there with him with a sledgehammer.

“I’m building coalitions,” O’Donnell said. “I have trust with my potential colleagues.”

Unruh, a Republican who often votes with Norton, said he won’t endorse anyone in the District 2 race. He says he generally supports Republican candidates but doesn’t want to do or say something that would hurt Norton.

“I’m hopeful that the commission next year will be much more sensitive to community needs and focused on being a good partner,” Unruh said. “That will happen no matter who prevails in that race.

“He (O’Donnell) has indicated to me that he’s less extreme and ideological than the current majority,” Unruh said.

O’Donnell said he wants to end commission majorities that don’t listen to their colleagues in the minority.

“I will criticize the current majority for doing that. I will criticize the former majority for doing that,” O’Donnell said. “These 3-2 splits have been going back and forth for a while now.

“I don’t care if I’m voting with Dave Unruh or Richard Ranzau as long as issues that benefit the district I’m representing get the majority.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2016 at 4:03 PM with the headline "Michael O’Donnell wants to transcend divide."