Dear Editor,
Governor Brownback has a long list of “firsts” that really need to be highlighted. Furthermore, he has been more concerned with policies that will have long term benefits for Kansans than about getting re-elected. He wants your grandchildren to have a great state to live in. When visiting with him once, he stated that he didn’t do as most politicians do and save all the controversies till after getting re-elected. Instead, he pushed for what he believed to be the right policies during his first term. In other words, Kansans won’t be surprised by a different man during a 2nd term.
Here’s a list of firsts that I came up with without much mental effort (notice the long term nature of these):
• He is the first Governor in memory to demand the Legislature fix our ailing pension system – it is now recovering nicely
• The first Governor to initiate a 50 year plan for all of our state’s water needs – extremely important for both urban and rural people
• The first to be proactive in taking on rural decline with the “Rural Opportunity Zone”
• The first to reduce the size of the bureaucracy in Kansas
• The first to pass over career bureaucrats, and appoint real people with business and science backgrounds to top positions in state government
• He’s the first to allow public schools to opt out of rules and regulations that are burdensome to comply with
• The first to require reading proficiency for 3rd graders
• Brownback is the first governor to stand up to overreaching Federal agencies
• Brownback is the first governor to strategically cut taxes to attract new businesses and encourage new startups
• The first to streamline the process of adopting a child
On the subject of adopting children, I have a good friend who has adopted 12 children over the past 17 years and fostered many more. He told me that since Brownback took office, there has been a dramatic culture change in the state agencies they have to deal with. He says the state agencies have changed from being a bureaucratic nightmare to actually being helpful to those who would take on children coming from bad situations.
You can see that I’m not building a case to vote for the lesser of two evils. The differences in the candidates is striking, and you have a very clear choice. A lot is at stake and I hope you’ll think of Kansas’ long term interests for your extended family this election day.
Mitch Holmes
Kansas State Senate
33rd District