District 105 candidates differ on nearly all issues

The Eagle is profiling legislative races for open seats in Sedgwick County. Today’s report focuses on Kansas House District 105 in west Wichita. To learn more about these candidates or to find out about the candidates in your area, go to The Eagle’s voter guide at Kansas.com/politics.

The race

A former state legislator and a retired educator with opposite political views will square off in House District 105, where Rep. Mark Hutton decided not to seek re-election after serving two terms. The district covers part of west Wichita.

The candidates

Brenda Landwehr: The Republican candidate, 61, is a small-business owner who represented neighboring House District 91 from 1995 to 2012, when she was defeated for re-election. She moved into District 105 two years ago. Landwehr and her husband have three children, one deceased. Neither she nor Democratic candidate Cammie Funston faced challengers in the primary.

Landwehr said she was asked by others to return to politics, “did some soul searching and decided maybe I can help make a difference. I used to be able to get people to come together to work on things. Maybe I can help.”

The state’s top priority should be to “get its spending under control,” Landwehr said. She thinks Kansas’ current level of overall taxation and spending on education is adequate.

Cammie Funston: Funston, 65, retired in May from the Wichita school district, where she had worked as a reading tutor, speech assistant and in other jobs since the early 1990s. “I went back to school as a single mom with four kids,” said Funston, who has a degree in communication sciences and disorders from Wichita State University. “It took me a long time to get my degree, but I kept at it.” She and her husband, who have a total of seven children, have lived in the district for four years.

Funston said she was asked by state Rep. Jim Ward to run for office. Her priorities include increasing education spending, eliminating the income tax exemption for small businesses and ending the sales tax on food.

The issues

The candidates disagree on virtually every major issue.

Taxes: Funston said it’s unfair that about 330,000 businesses pay no income taxes “but are still utilizing state services. As I’m out campaigning, I’m meeting people who are (small-business owners), and they are telling me they’re happy to pay the tax, that (the exemption) hasn’t benefited them, it’s not enough to do anything with, they’d just as soon pay the tax.”

Eliminating the exemption won’t solve all the state’s budget problems, Funston said. She has not offered any other revenue proposals or said whether she believes the state’s overall level of taxation should rise.

Landwehr voted for the exemption and still supports it. It has been touted as a way to stimulate the economy.

“State government and local government have for years given tax breaks to big businesses, sometimes to relocate, sometimes to expand,” she said. “I kind of viewed the (exemption) as giving a break to small businesses, which are still the backbone of this state.

“It’s not something I’m going to run away from,” she said.

Supreme Court: Landwehr believes the state’s method of choosing state Supreme Court justices should be changed to give the governor more power in the process. The Legislature and court have clashed over school funding.

“There would be hearings, and people would be able to voice their opinions and hear from the nominee,” Landwehr said, adding: “It’s not about who is governor today. It was always my policy.”

She also believes four justices up for a retention vote in November should be ousted, citing their overturning of death sentences in the Carr brothers’ multiple murder case. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision.

“This Supreme Court has been overturned eight times, which is more than any other Kansas Supreme Court has,” Landwehr said.

Funston supports the justices and current method of selection, calling efforts to change the latter “an executive branch power grab.”

Social issues: Landwehr thinks the Legislature should make the state’s abortion laws more restrictive, direct who can use which public restroom and pass religious freedom legislation.

Funston favors anti-discrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, more restrictions on guns and fewer on abortions.

Medicaid: Funston supports expanding Medicaid services, saying it would help uninsured Kansans and help create thousands of jobs. Landwehr said the state could not afford its portion of the cost of expansion. She and Funston both say Gov. Sam Brownback should not have made recent cuts in the Medicaid system.

Brownback: The candidates agree that they agree on little.

“Her record demonstrates that she’s been very supportive of the governor and his policies,” Funston said. “She voted for his tax breaks for the wealthy and business owners. I am, on the other hand, a new voice for change. I want to go in a different direction.”

Landwehr said she was not a rubber stamp for Brownback when she was in the Legislature. “I’ve been asked that over the years, if I was a follower. I can tell you I’m not a follower, I am a leader. I’m not afraid to disagree with my friends if I feel they’re wrong.”

This story was originally published October 14, 2016 at 6:30 PM with the headline "District 105 candidates differ on nearly all issues."