Richard Ranzau back in politics; files for school board where he fought mask mandate
Two and a half years after losing his seat on the Sedgwick County Commission, Richard Ranzau is back in politics, running for a seat on a school board where he recently fought unsuccessfully to repeal a COVID-19 mask mandate.
Ranzau is one of three candidates seeking one of three seats up for grabs in the Valley Center School District USD 262.
It marks his re-entry into electoral politics after eight tempestuous years on the county commission, a tenure that ended in a November 2018 defeat by Democrat Lacey Cruse.
Ranzau couldn’t be reached for comment, but his candidacy has already spurred social media campaigns to try to recruit at least one more candidate so he won’t win by default.
“Richard Ranzau filed to run for Valley Center school board. There are 3 at-large seats & only 3 candidates. Please run, if able,” read a Facebook post by Elaine Stephen, co-leader of the independent political group Kansans Demand Better.
Carri New, a former Democratic state committee member, also posted: “Ranzau has applied to run for school board in Valley Center. If you know Dems in VC, you need to have conversations with them . . . Tuesday is the last day to register . . . PM me for info if you need it..”
In an interview, New said she’s “actively, very actively” seeking candidates to run against Ranzau.
She said her opposition is rooted in a combination of Ranzau’s anti-mask activism and his prior performance as a commissioner.
“He would be making decisions (on COVID) for children who are vulnerable, teachers who are vulnerable, populations that are vulnerable,” she said. “And he is not willing to follow the science.”
Ranzau had largely dropped out of politics until last month, when he forced three special meetings of the Valley Center school board to address his anti-mask grievances.
He was one of the first parents in the state to take advantage of Senate Bill 40, a new law making it easier to challenge mask mandates deployed across the state to prevent classroom spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
SB 40 forces school districts, county commissions and courts to expedite anti-mask grievances, requiring that complaints be given a hearing within 72 hours and that a decision be rendered within seven days.
Ranzau filed one complaint in Valley Center on behalf of his own son, who’ll be a high school senior next year. About a week later, he represented another parent who had filed a grievance against the mandate but couldn’t appear herself.
A physician assistant, Ranzau was also part of a similar anti-mask campaign in the Mulvane school district, testifying as an expert on behalf of several parents who had filed grievances against that district’s mask mandate.
None of the challenges succeeded. The Valley Center board rejected both complaints unanimously and Mulvane voted 4-1 with two abstentions.
On the commission, Ranzau was once part of a conservative Republican majority that sought to reshape the county into a smaller organization providing fewer services — especially ones provided by the private sector.
Ranzau was known for frequent broadsides from the commission bench on state, federal and international affairs, including a 2017 speech in which he called the progressive movement “the enemy of the people,” expanding on comments President Donald Trump had made about the news media.
New cited that as one example of Ranzau’s unfitness for office.
“I don’t understand how someone who supposedly serves our community can look at half of our community as an enemy,” she said.
Ranzau drew two recall attempts in 2015 over his votes to reject what he called “wasteful” federal grants for the prevention and control of obesity, diabetes and heart disease, and for his outspoken advocacy for a proof-of-citizenship requirement for people seeking county health services.
The recall petitions were dismissed by the district attorney under a state law that allows recalls only for a felony conviction, official misconduct or failure to perform duties prescribed by law.
In 2017 Ranzau became the first commissioner to publicly question the honesty and ethics of his then-commission colleague, Michael O’Donnell, who was later indicted and acquitted on federal campaign-fraud charges.
O’Donnell was voted out of office in November amid a scandal over his participation in the production and attempted cover-up of a false smear campaign targeting Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple.
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 2:56 PM.
