Seeking third term, Karl Peterjohn banks on long anti-tax career

Before being elected to public office, Karl Peterjohn led anti-tax efforts and lobbied frequently in Topeka.

Eight years ago, he ran for the Sedgwick County Commission as the outsider, trying to shake up the county status quo.

Now, things are different.

He’s the longest-tenured member of a conservative majority that decides many split commission votes. His third run for office could determine whether that majority survives two more years.

He has two challengers for the western Sedgwick County seat: Republican David Dennis, a retired Air Force colonel and former state education board chairman, and independent candidate Marcey Gregory, the mayor of Goddard. Peterjohn and Dennis face each other in the Aug. 2 primary.

Peterjohn, 66, talks about a fiscally conservative record with votes to limit county debt and spend taxpayer money frugally.

He says his support for voter approval of tax increases and his push to shift the county away from property taxes altogether still make him an “anti-establishment” choice for District 3 voters.

“The people are with us,” Peterjohn said. “I’d rather be with the people and people who are paying the taxes than with the local government lobby.”

Peterjohn says he offers a different choice to voters because he thinks Gregory and Dennis would largely vote the same if elected. “From what I’ve seen, their differences seem to be biological and not political.”

Road to County Commission

You could say interest in government finance is in Peterjohn’s blood: His father was finance director for Columbus, Ohio.

“It’s kind of a family interest going back,” he said.

After graduating from Ohio University with degrees in government and economics, Peterjohn became a budget analyst in California state government.

“I worked two years under Ronald Reagan and two weeks under Jerry Brown,” he says, a fact he’ll share at candidate forums.

Peterjohn came to Kansas in 1978 through a job at Koch Industries. He was affiliated with Libertarian politics early on, running for Congress in 1982 on the Libertarian ticket. In the mid-1990s, he says, he changed his party registration to Republican.

He led the Kansas Taxpayer Network from 1993 to 2008.

John D’Aloia, who was a volunteer for former Kansas Sen. Ed Pugh, spoke about Peterjohn’s straight-forward demeanor as “he was making his rounds around the Capitol.”

“Karl was able to present facts in a calm, rational manner. And people could depend on the facts,” D’Aloia said. “He didn’t have to pound on tables and get emotional.”

When Peterjohn was the commission challenger back in 2008, his candidacy relied on his anti-tax message.

But his campaign drew concern from business leaders. Jeff Turner, then CEO of Spirit AeroSystems, said at the time that if Peterjohn’s “views were to prevail in this community, companies like ours would be hard-pressed to invest anymore in this community.”

Peterjohn toppled incumbent commissioner Tom Winters in the primary, then defeated Gregory, who was running as a Democrat, in the general election.

The Kansas Taxpayer Network merged with the Koch-affiliated Americans For Prosperity shortly after that.

Empowering voters

Peterjohn champions the Sedgwick County Commission’s strong support for the property tax lid on local governments.

Under state law, city and county governments will have to hold a public vote as they craft their budgets next year if they want to raise spending by more than a rate tied to inflation.

Peterjohn says the issue is about empowering voters on property taxes “the way they get to vote on local sales tax increases.”

“If the voters have a say at the ballot box in terms of the fiscal climate, it actually makes the elected officials’ jobs easier,” he said.

Peterjohn also touted the county’s prudence to avoid an expansion of the Sedgwick County Jail with alternative programs.

“We managed to bend the curve and I think keep the community safe,” he said.

Peterjohn supports last summer’s cuts to the county Health Department, including a community health assessment and programs promoting healthy behaviors in the workplace.

“Basically we’re getting into the Nanny Bloomberg type of thing as far as I’m concerned,” Peterjohn said, referencing former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg. “I want to try to keep the health department focused on core functions like they’ve done with infectious diseases.”

“We can spend a lot more money on it (public health), if you want to raise the mill levy,” he said. “But I won’t support that.”

Peterjohn supports changes to the county’s operating agreement with the Zoological Society, including increasing the number of county-held seats on the zoo board. He notes the county has about 10 percent of the voting power on the board but contributes about 40 percent of the zoo’s revenue.

“I think taxation without representation is a reason why we need some balance in the operating agreement,” he said.

Washington the ‘biggest problem’

Peterjohn makes no secret of his disdain for the federal government under the Obama administration.

“I think the economy could be acting a lot more strongly, and I view Washington as the biggest problem at the moment,” Peterjohn said.

The current majority tends to be more skeptical of federal grants, like ones related to public health or sustainability. Peterjohn said the county is “looking hard at federal grants as opposed to rubber-stamping them.”

“We’ve rejected … grants that are going to obligate Sedgwick County in ways that I think are unproductive and anti-competitive and harmful to the county in the long run,” he said.

John Todd, a local activist who agrees with what he calls Peterjohn’s free-market economic philosophy, said Peterjohn is the type of candidate a community needs.

“He understands what he’s grounded in,” Todd said. “It’s really easy to spend money that isn’t yours. And Karl gets that.”

Peterjohn has been criticized by both his opponents for the time he spends addressing federal and international issues, ranging from the “Islamist threat” posed by terrorists to the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon dioxide regulations.

He replies, “I’m happy to speak out against the overreach by other governmental entities.”

‘Move the tax base’

Peterjohn ultimately wants the county to stop relying on property taxes and look to sales taxes.

He said the sales tax base is growing much more strongly than the property tax base.

“I’m sympathetic to the idea of trying to move the tax base away from producers and people who have assets that are being used productively, and moving it onto consumption,” he said.

He talks about it as a long-term goal, because the county currently relies on property tax revenue and a state law governs how sales tax revenue is distributed.

“It would be a challenge. But if we wanted to have a unique marketing proposition to promote Sedgwick County and say, ‘We’re just eliminating the county property tax. Come to Sedgwick County and join the party,’ ” Peterjohn said. “And it would benefit every existing property tax payer in Sedgwick County.”

This story was originally published July 22, 2016 at 7:20 PM with the headline "Seeking third term, Karl Peterjohn banks on long anti-tax career."