Meet the Candidates: U.S., State Races

Candidates were asked to submit answers to a candidate questionnaire. Only candidates with in contested races were asked to participate.

Each candidate was asked to respond to the following:

Q1. Why are you running for office?

Q2. If elected, are there specific issues you wish to address, or goals you wish to accomplish?

Q3. List your past accomplishments that have benefited the public, if any, such as serving in an elected office or community involvement.

Q4. Please list any personal information you wish to share with voters, for example family members, hometown, employment, hobbies or interests, and special training or education.

U.S. Representative - District 2

Nancy Boyda

Q1 – It has been a true honor to represent Kansas in Congress for the last two years, and I’m running for re-election to finish the job I’ve started. One of my top priorities in my first term has been ending the partisan gridlock in D.C. Recently, the National Journal featured my work in a cover story on “the New Center,” the handful of representatives with the most centrist voting records, those who have put aside partisan politics to achieve results. And the good news is that the last two years have brought meaningful results for Kansas. I helped pass $18 billion in new funding for the Veterans Administration, and I’ve sponsored bills to improve rural health care, extend permanent tax relief to middle-class families, crack down on illegal immigration, and expand off-shore oil drilling. Unfortunately, Congress didn’t achieve nearly enough this term. America still needs a comprehensive energy strategy, a solution to skyrocketing health care costs, and an end to tax giveaways to massive corporations. Believe me, I’m as frustrated as you are. The problems in Washington didn’t get this bad overnight, and we shouldn’t expect solutions overnight, but at last we’re moving in the right direction.

Q2 – Here in Kansas, two of the issues that I hear about most often are rural health care and the energy crisis. Right now, seven Kansas counties have no pharmacies. Even more rural pharmacies are being squeezed out of business by rising costs, falling Medicaid reimbursement rates, insurance companies’ efforts to push patients to mail-order firms, and the tumbling economy.  Meanwhile, rural hospitals are struggling to provide care to Medicare patients. Congress must act to address these concerns, and I believe that my 20+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry give me a unique perspective. On energy, I’ll fight to support new domestic and offshore drilling, as well as renewable energy sources that we can generate right here in the Midwest. America’s dependence on foreign oil is not only an economic disaster; it’s a threat to our national security. I recently voted to support legislation that will dramatically expand domestic energy drilling and will, at the same time, invest in renewable energy sources such as wind power. This bill is especially good for Kansas: not only will we benefit from energy independence, but as the third-windiest state in the country, we’re poised to lead the wind revolution.

Q3 – During my first term in office, I’ve authored laws to punish corruption in Washington, cut taxes on our soldiers, promote highway safety, and punish child pornographers. I’ve returned home to Kansas nearly every weekend, where I’ve participated in more than 400 public events, hosted 58 Congress on Your Corner events, and helped over 3,000 Kansans work with federal agencies. I’m also a former Big Sister in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, and I’m a member of Countryside United Methodist Church in Topeka.

Q4 – My husband, Steve Boyda, grew up on a farm in Marysville, and I’ve lived in Kansas for the last 30 years. I have two children, Leah and Ben, and five step-children. I’ve bicycled across Kansas 10 times as part of the annual Biking Across Kansas ride, and I’ve always enjoyed gardening and sewing.

Lynn Jenkins

Q1 – I was born and raised here in the second district and I want to make sure the people of this district are in good hands. There’s no question, Washington is a mess and we’re in need of a new direction. As a certified public accountant, I have years of experience cutting spending and balancing budgets. From the people of this district being overtaxed, to politicians in Washington spending too much of your money, I am determined to return fiscal sanity to Congress. I am running to keep your taxes low, put an end to wasteful, out of control spending, fight for a comprehensive energy plan, and make sure seniors and our children will have benefits such as Social Security today and into the future.

Q2 – Most importantly, we need to fix the fiscal mess in Washington and finally reach energy independence. On the fiscal issues, I will fight to keep taxes low by making permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax relief. If this isn’t renewed, nearly one million Kansans will see their taxes increase. Everyone from married couples, to seniors, and farmers will take a hit and I know you cannot afford to hand more of your paycheck to the government. Secondly, we need an energy solution that ends reliance on foreign oil. We need to drill offshore, in Alaska, and do so immediately. We also need to heavily invest in alternative sources of energy and promote conservation. We have a choice:

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create more American energy here at home or continue sending billions of our dollars to big, oil rich nations that don’t even like us.

Q3 – Growing up on a dairy farm in Holton, I was involved in 4-H. Since I’ve been in Topeka, I’ve served the community as president of the YMCA of Topeka Metro Board, served on the Kansas Children’s Service League Board, and was co-chair for the Topeka March of Dimes. Serving in the Legislature, I worked to pass numerous tax cuts, and even cut spending in order to balance the budget. As Kansas State Treasurer, we brought efficiencies to our office, ending the use of taxpayer dollars from the state general fund. Growing up in Kansas and being able to give back has been a tremendous honor and I am anxious to continue that good work in Congress.

Q4 – I am a sixth generation Kansan, raising the seventh generation in Topeka. I’ve been married to my husband Scott for 25 years. He grew up on the farm across the road and today we have two beautiful and brilliant teenagers, Hayley and Hayden. As I said above, I’m a CPA and the fiscal issues are what brought me into public service. My favorite moments are going to my children’s football and soccer games and being able to sit down for dinner as a family

Kansas Senate – District 19

Anthony Hensley

Q1 – I am running for office to continue my public service for the people of eastern Shawnee, southern Douglas and Osage counties; public service which I believe has been honest and forthright. I am running to continue my longstanding support for a level playing field between business and labor; fair wages and affordable health care that allows working families to live outside of poverty; quality education for all children, regardless of their parent’s income, where they live, or their disability; just compensation for workers injured on the job and good benefits for unemployed workers laid off due to no fault of their own. I am running to continue my longstanding opposition to tax breaks for special interests at the expense of middle to lower income taxpayers and the outsourcing of American jobs to other countries. One of the most important issues facing the legislature next session will be the creation of a new 10-year transportation plan. As state senator, I have already had discussions with KDOT and Osage County officials about the improvement of the seven miles of Highway 31 into Osage City and the widening of Highway 75 north of Lyndon.

Q2 – My first priority would be making health care more affordable for working families and seniors living on fixed incomes. For seniors in particular, lowering the cost of prescription drugs is vital. Second, the legislature must continue to improve the quality of public education and make postsecondary and vocational-technical education more affordable for working families. Third would be creating a business environment that retains jobs and creates new jobs in Kansas that pay high wages and provide good benefits. The legislature must also stop the outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries.

Q3 – Since being elected to the Kansas Legislature in 1976, at the age of 23, I have been a strong voice for the values and interests of this community and have worked hard to find solutions to the many challenges facing our state. As state senator, I have helped improve access to affordable health care options by lowering the cost of prescription drugs and creating new opportunities for small business owners to provide affordable insurance to their employees. During the 2005 special session and 2006 regular session, I advocated for continued public school funding with the accountability to assure that tax dollars are getting into the classroom, not to top-level administration. New scholarships and enhancements to financial aid, which I also supported, will help more deserving students take advantage of our state’s excellent higher education institutions. This year, I introduced a new cost-of-living adjustment for Kansas state employees. This proposal was the most comprehensive plan presented to the legislature in years and will help thousands of dedicated state workers. If re-elected, I will continue fighting for a more permanent COLA so that all Kansas retirees are fairly rewarded for their service. I also believe that attracting new businesses and bringing good jobs to our community is one of my top priorities. In order to attract investment, business development and job growth, I have supported an economic strategy that focuses on recruiting and retaining businesses in Kansas. In 2007, I voted to eliminate the state’s corporate franchise tax for 31,000 small businesses within five years. Last year alone, more than 16,000 small businesses benefited from the phase-out. In addition to attracting new business, it is equally important to keep existing companies from outsourcing jobs to other states or countries. In 2005, I introduced the Qualified Manufacturer Act which stopped the outsourcing of nearly 200 local jobs at Innovia Films, Inc., the former Dupont cellophane plant in Tecumseh. Innovia is an important part of our local economy and I’m pleased we were able to keep its doors open.

Q4 – I have lived in our community my entire life. I was born and raised in Topeka and live in the home where I grew up. My sister, two brothers, and I attended the Highland Park schools and graduated from Highland Park High School. My wife Deborah and I were high school sweethearts and were married in 1977. In 1984, we were blessed with the birth of our daughter, Katie, who graduated from Highland Park in 2002. I began my career as a public school teacher in 1975 and received my master’s degree in special education from Kansas State University in 1988. I am a special education teacher at Capital City School, a school for behavior disordered youth, located on the grounds of the former Topeka State Hospital. I served 16 years in the Kansas House of Representatives before being appointed to the Kansas Senate on July 1, 1992. In 1997, I was elected Senate Democratic Leader and am in my third term.

Shari Weber

Q1 – Over a decade ago I first threw my hat in the ring for a legislative race. Our youngest child was about to graduate from high school and it was apparent to me that being involved in the political process with my time was one way to give something back for living in such a great country. Serving in the legislature during the past decade has been a privilege entrusted to me by voters. Through those years my motivation has remained the same, to guard the quality of life we enjoy, protect the freedoms we hold dear and hand the public trust intact for the next generation. I am running for the Senate 19th District seat to offer a choice for authentic leadership to voters. It appears many of our leaders have forgotten about the importance of public trust. I hold the public trust in high esteem and I offer my legislative experience to serve the 19th District constituents.

Q2 – If elected it is my desire to focus on the peoples’ business. As your senator I will endeavor to review budget expenditures for measured outcomes and then balance priorities for spending. Less is more when it comes to tax dollars. Over the past decade and a half the budget of Kansas has grown from $7 billion to over $14 billion. That is incredible growth that is funded by tax revenue. My goal is also to increase the effectiveness of services to the people. Again, reviewing government costs for the services obtained is imperative, especially in these economic times.

Q3 – My previous community involvement has included downtown revitalization with the Main Street Program which is an arm of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. I also currently serve as a board member for the Midwest Assistance Program which provides technical assistance to communities across nine mid-west states for water, waste water and solid waste management. I am an executive member of the Eisenhower Foundation and I served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, 2005 and 2006, including two years as Majority Leader during 2001 and 2002.

Q4 – I attended school at St. John’s College and Academy in Winfield, and Moorhead State University in Minnesota. My husband, Marvin, and I owned Weber Tire in Herington for 25 years while we raised our children on the family farm near Shady Brook. We have been married for 36 years and are the parents of three grown children who live in California, Illinois and Louisburg. Several years ago we purchased a home on the south shore of Pomona Lake near Vassar and are members of Zion Lutheran Church in Vassar. For the past five years I served as president and CEO of Community Bankers Association of Kansas and my husband is currently employed by Ed Bozarth Chevrolet and Saturn of Topeka as a sales associate.

Kansas Senate – District 17

Jim Barnett

Q1 – I would like to provide the same opportunities available to my generation to the future children and grandchildren of Kansas. I feel a sense of obligation to offer my time, energy and resources to address the pressing issues facing our state.

Q2 – I believe that all Kansans should have access to affordable and quality healthcare. We must sustain adequate funding and resources for education and develop both short and long-term plans for clean and affordable energy. Kansas must maintain focus on economic growth so that we can remain competitive and provide jobs with adequate wages and benefits.

Q3 – I served on the Emporia Board of Education from 1991 through 1999, serving as board president from 1993 through 1997. For the past eight years, I have served in the Kansas Senate and have provided leadership in the state for healthcare reform, education, tax policy, economic development and more.

Q4 – I am married to Yvonne, a special education teacher. We have been married for 30 years and have been blessed with two children, Blake and Chelsea. Blake lives and works in Shanghai, China, and Chelsea is starting her first year of law school at the University of Kansas. I grew up in Reading, and have many fond memories of traveling to Osage City to play summer baseball, and visit Bob Potter for a haircut. DeBaun International was our resource for farm equipment for years and we usually visited Benner-Williams for home furnishings or McDaniel's in Lyndon for appliances. I obtained my bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Emporia State University. I completed my medical degree at the University of Kansas School of Medicine and my internship and residency at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas.

Kitty Franks

Q1 – I am running for the 17th District of the Kansas Senate because I care about people. The issues that are important to them are important to me. The current Senate leadership has proven that they are unwilling to work across party lines or build compromise to benefit the people they represent. For example, the 2008 legislative session will be recorded as one of the least productive sessions in the history of Kansas.

Q2 – As your senator, I will fight to assure state economic development funds are directed toward projects that allow us to improve the quality of our lives over time. Our goal is to provide jobs that pay more than the living wage with companies that enact family friendly policies and use resources wisely. The health of our communities depends on small business growth and sustainability. I am excited about new strategies for growing our own entrepreneurs. There is no reason to feel we must sell ourselves short in order to beat out competition for jobs that do not meet our standards. I will immediately support the Premium Assistance Program. It was recommended by the Kansas Health Policy Authority in 2008 to provide health insurance to 24,000 needy Kansans over the next three years at very little cost. In the long run, we must disconnect health insurance from employment. Very small businesses, the same businesses that sustain and grow our Kansas communities, cannot offer health insurance in an efficient and competitive manner. This practice no longer meets the needs of a nimble and dynamic Kansas culture. Regarding school finance, I will use my skills in building capacity and trust so that the school finances issue can be resolved with a plan that is predictable, accountable, equitable and sustainable over time. Half of our teachers are now 50 years old and older. Young teachers are reluctantly leaving Kansas because they can double their earnings elsewhere. And teachers are changing careers because they feel unable to make a difference anymore. These are issues that need to be addressed in a bipartisan strategic plan, through vision and leadership. Our children quickly get lost in the shuffle when we rely on band-aid fixes each session. They are growing every day, with or without the resources we know they need. I will provide leadership to end reliance on scarce traditional energy resources; the same resources that are the root cause of many of our environmental and health challenges. Conservation will be top priority. Kansas must invest in sustainable resource technologies, such as wind, while we have time to develop them through their trial and error phases.

Q3 – I graduated with honors from Emporia State University with a degree in economics. In 1990, as a non-traditional student with two small children, I served as an intern under State Senator Jerry Karr. I loved the process in the Kansas Legislature and have always looked forward to a time when I could give back. In my work in community capacity building, I have brought over $1.7 million to the Flint Hills area in grant projects to solve community problems. I have a proven record for finding money, building grassroots level teams and getting things done. Examples of my work include the North Lyon County Youth Association child care and community center, job creation projects through the community development block grant program, creation of anti-violence and school anti-bullying initiatives through Girl Scouts of the USA, and training young social entrepreneurs through a USDA program for girls in rural communities.

Q4 – We live outside of Allen in the same house on the same 10 acres we purchased over 20 years ago. My husband, Ken, is the construction coordinator for Newman Regional Health in Emporia. Our daughter, Sabra, is the circulation manager at the Fort Knox, Ky., military base library. Her husband, Travis, is sergeant first class with the United States Army and has served tours in Bosnia, Korea and Iraq. He now trains new recruits. Our son, Zachary, is a driller in the oilfields. He lives in Emporia with his fiancée, Bethany.

Kansas State Board of Education – District 4

Robert L. Meissner

Q1 – I have a passion for education and a desire to help make our education system in Kansas the best that it can be. I believe I have experience and qualifications to be an asset at the state level.

Q2 – Deal with teacher issues such as morale, retention and potential shortages. Also, work to narrow the achievement gap for students. Finally to be an advocate for adequate education funding without losing sight of increasing demands placed on our taxpayers.

Q3 – I have had 12 years of service on my local board of education, Shawnee Heights. I am a member of Kiwanis and Optimist Club. My volunteer activities include youth sports, donated dental services, Kansas Mission of Mercy, yearly dental outreaches to Central America since 1986, and 15-year board member of Topeka Youth for Christ.

Q4 – I have been a Topeka dentist, since 1977. I have two daughters and a son-in-law who are Kansas teachers. I have been married to my wife, Sharon, for 34 years. She is the volunteer nursing coordinator at the Topeka Rescue Mission. I attended Topeka public schools, Kansas Sate University and University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Dentistry.

Carolyn Campbell

Q1 – I have spent much of my adult life as a supporter of our public school system. As a parent, school board member and a mentor of children in need of special assistance to be successful in our system, I believe I have demonstrated my commitment to Kansas school children. During my 12 years of service as a board member of USD 501, Topeka Public Schools, I attempted to work to obtain consensus among my fellow board members, administrators and district patrons.  I would work to play a similar role on the State Board of Education. I do not see the state school board as a partisan position. If elected I would try to work with all members of the board in an effort to move our educational system forward in a positive manner. I have no interest in making political statements or pushing any particular agenda. My sole interest is in improving the system for all children and their families and doing so in a fiscally responsible way, understanding that we have challenges that face us that will require resources.

Q2 – Continue work to reduce the achievement gap. As a state we have seen significant improvement over the last few years, but there is still much to be accomplished. Recruitment and retention of qualified teachers and enhancing our mentoring problems. Studies show we lose new teachers within the first three years if they are not afforded support. I would also like to see a leadership academy established for administrators and school readiness through early childhood programs so all children are ready to learn when they enter kindergarten.

Q3 – My past achievements include: Elected to Topeka Public Schools Board of Education in 1995, 1999, 2003, president 1997-99 and 2006-07. Currently a Commissioner for the 2010 commission for the state of Kansas (2005-2010).  The legislative charge is studying school finance and presenting the Kansas legislature with a report of recommendations annually. Currently Sheldon Head Start Community Representative. Past court appointed special advocate for Shawnee County. Past board member of Topeka YWCA (2001-2007). District Citizens Advisory Council for Topeka Public Schools (1985-1990). Past president, National Federation Urban Suburban School Districts (2006-07). Past regional vice-president Kansas Association of School Boards. Past member of Kansas Advisory Council on Intergovernmental Relations (2004-07). Youth friend volunteer (2001 to date). Topeka High School Circle of Women co-founder. Avondale East Elementary volunteer (1977-84 and 1992 to date). Kettering Foundation faculty member (2002).

Q4 – Graduate of Topeka High School and Clark’s School of Business, Topeka. Retired manger Southwestern Bell Telephone Company (1960-1991). Kansas State Legislative executive assistant (1992 to date). Lifelong resident of Topeka, and St. Mark’s AME Church. I have one daughter, Erica E. Campbell, Arlington, Va. I have been endorsed by Kansas National Education Association, Kansas Families for Education, MAINstream Coalition, Educating All Children in Kansas EPAC, and Kansans for Lifesaving Cures. My recognitions include Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Living the Dream Vivian Scales Education Award, Brown v. Board Community Service Award, Kansas Governor’s Dr. M. L. King Award, Links Woman of Distinction, 2008 Topeka Friends of Education Award, Church Women United, Inc. Human Rights Award (Sept., 2008).