Burdett Loomis: Legislative races must be focus this election

About 18 months ago, I wrote that the 2014 election for governor was “the most important election in your lifetime.” That declaration stands.

We knew in November 2014 that the Kansas economy was headed off the cliff, but we could not appreciate how far down we would fall.

Voters actually did understand that Gov. Sam Brownback’s income tax policies were failing, according to exit polls. If the high-dollar battle (roughly $17 million) between Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and challenger Greg Orman had not changed the focus to President Obama from Brownback, it’s likely that the governor would have lost. Instead, he narrowly won four more years to continue the so-called Kansas experiment.

But Brownback is both term-limited and not on the ballot in 2016. So Democrats and centrist, sensible Republicans simply must focus on state legislative races this year. Period.

Forget Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Forget whoever wants to challenge Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan. Don’t give a cent to national campaigns. Not a cent. Kansas needs to return to its largely successful moderate-conservative government model of the past 50 years. We need to start electing responsible, nonideological state legislators who will find ways to reverse the Brownback administration’s truly disastrous policies.

So – how to do that? Honestly, it’s no mystery. Recruit good candidates. Provide them with money, the “mother’s milk” of politics. Encourage them to campaign with unbounded energy, starting now and not relenting until Nov. 8. Work hard on their behalf, including extensive communications with your friends and acquaintances.

We know this works because it always has. In Kansas, we know it works because for more than 20 years far-right Republicans have followed this formula. If the 2014 election demonstrated anything for Democrats and moderate Republicans, it was that being “right” on the issues, and especially income taxes, did not guarantee victory. Money mattered a lot, but so did the energy and hard work that have supported far-right politics in Kansas for the past two decades.

Change, however, is in the wind. Continually declining Kansas revenues, growing numbers of cutbacks, and the sub-basement approval ratings of Brownback have greatly increased the incentives to challenge incumbents. Even in mid-April, seven weeks before the June 1 filing deadline, we’re seeing a lot of potentially strong candidates step up.

For example, former Hutchinson Community College president Ed Berger, a Republican, and Democratic Wichita school board member Lynn Rogers are challenging sitting senators, as is veteran Overland Park City Council member John Skubal, another Republican. These candidates face difficult races against incumbent Republicans. But given the turmoil at the top of the GOP ticket and Brownback’s unpopularity, it’s a welcome sign that these well-qualified individuals are getting into the game.

State legislative races are scarcely sexy, but they represent the essential first step in changing the Capitol’s cast of characters and returning responsible rule to Topeka.

This story was originally published April 15, 2016 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Burdett Loomis: Legislative races must be focus this election."