Coalition that opposes sales tax made of people wanting to be heard

It’s easy to see Jennifer Baysinger is passionate.

Earlier this summer, Baysinger was named spokeswoman for the Coalition for a Better Wichita, which opposes the 1-cent-on-a-dollar sales tax that will be on the November ballot.

“I’m thankful that I get to fight for the taxpayer. It’s a heavy responsibility. But it’s just in line with who I am. God has just put me on a path of service, and I guess this is one more way that I get to serve. I don’t know that I’ve even really fully realized that until now.”

Baysinger is an entrepreneur. She met her husband, Blake, when she went to buy a cellphone at Baysinger Police Supply. Shortly after, she launched her first business, Spectrum Wireless, at the age of 23.

“I sold cellphones. My joke is that I peddled cellphones the size of suitcases around town,” she said.

In early 1999, they sold Baysinger Police Supply and took time to get more involved in ministry. Baysinger attends Hope Community Church in Andover, which happens to also be where Yes Wichita co-chair Jon Rolph attends.

“We’ve gone to church together for years. We know each other very well. We joke at almost every forum about that. ... We sure don’t want the pastor calling us out on the pulpit for bad behavior,” she said. “That’s the beautiful thing about this whole process is that we’ve been able to maintain a level of civility. ... In the end we always shake hands, pat each other on the back or give a hug.”

She and her husband launched Edrop in 2003, which allows people to drop off items to be sold on Ebay.

“With a six-week-old baby, we threw open the doors,” she said. “My entrepreneurial husband and I thought, ‘You know what, this is something that we could do and we made the numbers work in such a way that made sense and we did it. We’ve been busy ever since.”

They have three kids: Marcus, Mason and Max. She is originally from Severy, about an hour east of Wichita, and attended Tabor College and Wichita State.

What led to the coalition forming?

It started over classic coffee shop banter. I just remember, we weren’t officially in a coffee shop, but just that idea of sitting around with concerned citizens and talking about the potential 1 percent sales tax we’re hearing about and people saying, “This is a bad idea,” or “This is a good idea” and “Here’s what Wichita should do.” (We were all) very pro-Wichita, particularly the business owners who have put down deep roots here, but didn’t feel like the sales tax was the solution.

Is there a committee that meets regularly?

A lot happens really organically. We do have headquarters now at 358 S. Laura. And so people are stopping by and asking what they can do. ... We have a couple of new guys that started part time with us because of the overwhelming demand for yard signs is more than I can keep up with. There are just so many folks who have stepped forward and there are also folks who have either made a contribution or said, “We’ll help however we can but we don’t want to be real public.” So a lot of folks helping behind-the-scenes and I want to be respectful of that, too.

Of the four sales tax issues, does one stand out in particular?

Honestly, if not for the jobs fund, I would not be involved in this. If they would have let citizens vote on each of these individually, I would have only spoken out on the jobs fund because I believe Wichita needs a long-term water solution and it may come in the form of a sales tax but not the way it’s packaged now.

How would you describe the coalition?

Something I’ve noticed and that I feel separates us from the other side is, as an observer, I see (Yes Wichita) with the Chamber of Commerce and the Wichita Downtown Development and Go Wichita and these groups are very developer-chamber friendly. Our coalition is made up of the taxpayer and people who call and say, “Thank you for doing this. I would never know how to make my voice heard.”

It’s easy for the other side to identify these groups that are supporting them. I would just have to give you hundreds of names of people. And I’m proud of that.

This story was originally published September 21, 2014 at 7:59 AM with the headline "Coalition that opposes sales tax made of people wanting to be heard."