The Kansas Republican Party hosted the first gubernatorial debate for Republican candidates appearing on the August 4 primary ballot. The debate was held during the party’s Winter Convention on Friday, January 30, at the Wichita Marriott.
The host was Andy Hooser, a conservative radio host out of Wichita, known for The Voice of Reason on Wichita’s KQAM.
Six of the nine Republican candidates seeking the Governor’s office participated. These candidates met the Kansas Republican Party’s established criteria for inclusion, which were set by a statewide committee that unanimously approved the debate agreement.
This transcript has been lightly cleaned for readability.
Governors Debate:
Host is Andy Hooser: (This is not Andy word for word it was too long and unnecessary to print). There will be many other debates, and tonight was to allow the candidates to lay out their platform. We tried to give them the opportunity to lay out as many hot topics as possible in the State of Kansas. This is the unofficial launch as we do the debates and we will have them all come out at the exact same time. Please keep applause and responses down during the debate for time and recording. We will have one media break. Each candidate will have a 2-minute introductory speech, 90 seconds to answer a question, and if called out by another candidate 45 seconds to rebuttal.
Who is ready for a debate? Who is ready to see the Democrats loose again in Kansas? As we kick things off for 2026, we have six candidates on stage. Are we ready to see a Republican governor back into office? In order in how they will be on stage, we have Charlotte O’Hara, former state representative from district number 27. Former governor, Jeff Colyer, as candidate number two, current Secretary of State Scott Schwab, the current Senate president Ty Masterson, businesswoman and former Wichita City Council member, Joy Eakins, and businessman, Philip Sarnecki. There we are. Charlotte O’Hara for your two-minute introductory opening.
Charlotte: Oh, thank you. Good afternoon. I’m Charlotte O’Hara. I have traveled extensively across the state, and what an honor it is to meet so many wonderful, conservative Kansans, because I live in Johnson County, and sometimes it gets a little lonely there. So, it’s really wonderful to go out and chat with the folks. I was raised on a farm. So, when I get out into the hinterland of western Kansas, down in Bourbon County, where I was raised, all over the state where we have AG is the king. I feel very, very at home, because I learned to equal opportunity leaning into the flank of an old black Holstein cow. So, I know all about farm life.
We’re gonna have some real difficult discussions this evening, because Kansas has… a real problem with another Republican party on a vast sea of rhinos… masquerading as Republicans. At the top of the list is our Insurance Commissioner, who’s not here. She is pro-death. She is a gun control advocate, and yet she is our insurance commissioner. Our, Senate president has some issues of working with the Democrats too often, I think. He’s working with her on the Chiefs, Star bond Steal, and was congratulated for it by her for fast tracking the Apex Panasonic deal, and we have our Secretary of State, who in Johnson County ordered the destruction of the 2020 ballots. And that was evidence in an active…investigation.
Host: Thank you. All right, former Governor Jeff Colyer, thank you.
Jeff Colyer: I have a lot of friends here on the stage and out in the audience. Tonight, my bride, Ruth, the love of my life, is here as well. You all know me as a fifth generation Kansan from Hays and in our house, you stood for the flag and you knelt for the cross. I’m running for governor to make this the best place to raise a family and have a small business. We will be the beating heart of America once again. So, what’s the plan? First, Biden and the Democrats have made everything more expensive. We will put more money in your pocket with higher paying jobs and lower taxes. You will have a property tax lid you can count on.
Second, we’re finding across the country and in Kansas that school districts are trying to transition children without their parents’ knowledge. Your kids will get a world class education. It will be about education, not indoctrination, because we need to educate our kids because skills pay the bills. Third, we will get rid of the billion dollars in fraud and SNAP and unemployment that Laura Kelly has wasted. Fourth, we will protect our families and our communities and get rid of criminal, illegal aliens that threaten your families. And finally, we will restore Kansas common sense. Men will not be in your daughter’s locker rooms, no kid will be mutilated on my watch. We will make sure that we secure our sacred, God given rights for all Kansans.
Kansas needs a proven, strong, composite, conservative governor who will fight for you and who will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with President Trump. This is about winning. This is about taking back our state so that we are the beating heart of America once again. And tonight, I hope to earn your vote. Thank you.
Host: Thank you, sir. Here we go.
Scott Schwab: (hoarse voice) So, I want to continue on with the opening statements here. I have a son going through puberty, and I think this is the first time in the past year, his voice actually sounds better than mine. I called him, and he laughed. He goes, you sound horrible. Thanks, son. a real booster. Um, Scott Schwab, Kansas Secretary State, same term, and just real quick, I can answer that. After 3 months, the law says you have to destroy ballots. When there was no warrant, we were waiting and waiting for a warrant that never came, the county voted to go ahead and destroy the ballots. And so, it was really more on the county level than myself.
The reason I am running is basically three things. We need to modernize, revitalize, and fix. When I became Secretary of State, I came into a system, a computer system purchased in the 1980s by Jack Bryer. And so, we migrated off it. We went annual filing, to biannual filings. It’s not huge, but it kind of cuts our workload. And so, then we’re able to cut fees. If the legislature wants to cut aggressively on cutting taxes, it’s up to the next government not to increase spending but create margins so that we can afford those tax cuts. So, if they want to tell every agency you either modernize, reduce, or both. The other thing is, when I go home, to Great Bend, and the town looks different. Our world’s community is smaller; we’re the agricultural epicenter of the North American Continent. We need to leverage that to bring small manufacturing back to our little communities, and also make sure our local communities have the highway infrastructure that they need. And then the last thing is our appraisal system is jacked up. If I sell my house for less than it is appraised for, do I get a tax refund? You probably should. Which is why I released my BALD Plan. In part of it got attention into it, caused by people to read it. By simple things, by holding the software accountable through the Department of Revenue. Three of those platform pieces have been introduced to the Senate already. So, it’s not just the mill levying, but what it is, is an appraisal process, it’s creating a real estate bubble, and in a way, when the last one burst, it hurt, we have to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Thank you.
Host: Senate President Ty Masterson. You get 2:45 to respond to your name earlier.
Ty Masterson: Thank you very much. There we go. You think I would know how to work with a mic by now. (fiddles with mic) Well, I’m gonna start with actually a little bit of the response. That type of thing (Charlotte O’Hara’s comments) is why we lose in the general election, particularly. We spend time cutting each other off at the legs, right? What’s the Reagan quote, you know, 80% are my friends, not 20% are my enemy? This is not the enemy. (Points to outward at the audience) The Democrats are the enemy. That’s all I have to say about that.
So, I’m running because I’m a battle tested, proven leader, and I have the record and the relationships, to continue to deliver. We have a moment in time. Donald Trump is in D.C. right now, working every day to put more money in our pockets, keep our streets safe, and dismantling that woke agenda. That’s exactly what we’ve been trying to do in Kansas, against a Democrat governor machine, and the bureaucrats behind her. Since I have had the lead, we’ve had some strides forward. We abandoned the transgender, the sports, protected our girls’ sports. We have a constitutional right to carry and defend ourselves. We banned the DEI and Higher Ed, and in an executive branch. That’s a journey. We have; we’ve simplified the income tax. We’ve taken state tax off property. We take an income tax off Social Security and food. But I have got to tell you, this is not enough. We haven’t even begun to touch the real tax crisis in this state, which is property tax. I have an elderly neighbor that told me, literally, he was paying double property taxes alone, that he had been for his mortgage, his interest, his insurance, and taxes combined. When he paid this house off 20 years ago. That is also robbing our young people of the American dream. Homeownership is the underpinning of the middle class. And now, the first-time home buyer age is 40. It’s unacceptable. It has to be dealt with. I’m also running to make sure every kid in Kansas has access to world class education. And every parent has the freedom to choose that path for their child. And we need to have our strengths be saved. Our families be safe, and support Donald Trump. He takes on the drug cartels, and the criminal illegal aliens. Ultimately, what I’ve learned in my spot is in the legislature, the sword I wield is just not powerful enough to slay the dragon of government overreach. You have a Democrat machine in the office. Donald Trump is a battle tested, proven leader, and he is delivering for America. I am a battle tested proven leader. With your help, we will deliver greatness to Kansas. Thank you very much.
Host: Good! ladies and Gentlemen, Joy Eakins
Joy Eakins: Good evening. I’m Joy Eakins, and I’m running for governor to lead a Kansas comeback. Kansas should be the best place to live the American dream, but it’s not, because for too long career politicians, have been stewarding our decline. You see it everywhere. We’re paying more than we ever have for education, but our kids aren’t getting one. Our taxes are more like California’s than our neighbors’. And our people are leaving because they can’t find opportunity. We need a new leader, someone with bold vision and a proven track record, and tonight, I hope to show you that’s me. I spent the last 17 years building the most successful data consulting firm in Kansas. And with customers in 160 cities and 27 states, executives all over the country seek my advice when thinking about strategy, growth, and culture, because they know results matter. As a former Wichita school board member and former chair of the largest chamber in the state, I’ve had a front row seat to what happens in Topeka for over a decade. And what I’ve seen is too often career politicians are protecting their own power instead of serving the people. It doesn’t have to be that way. A Kansas comeback means a great education for our children. Where every family has choice, and taxpayer dollars are focused on student outcomes, not administrative bloat. It means real tax and spending reforms, so Kansas is competitive. And if Kansas comes back means businesses and entrepreneurs, they grow, invest, and innovate here, not because the government’s handing them your money, but because it makes sense to do business in Kansas. That’s the approach I’ll take to every issue as your next governor. I will fight for Kansas to have real opportunity, and tonight, I hope to earn your vote. Thank you very much.
Host: Thank you, Philip Sarnecki
Philip Sarnecki: Thank you all for being here this evening. Thank you to the other candidates as well.
It’s truly an honor to be here with all of you. For those of you that do not know me, my name is Philip Sarnecki, and I am a husband to my beloved wife, Heidi, of 27-years, who’s sitting back here with a sign. I am a father; I’m a business owner. For over three decades I’ve been building businesses and creating jobs, including all over the state of Kansas. And like President Trump, I’ve never run for office before. I grew up in a blue-collar family. My father was a janitor. My mother was a secretary. And we didn’t have much money, for sure, but over 56 years of marriage, my parents taught me what was truly important in life. They taught me about faith; they taught me about family. They taught me about hard work, and they taught me about sacrifice. And back then, you could raise a family on hard work and sacrifice, and even a modest income. But we are losing that in Kansas today. Our income taxes are the highest in our entire region. Our property taxes are completely out of control. And we have businesses, we have jobs, and we have good Kansans leaving our state to find better opportunities. And in spite of Donald Trump winning this state three times by overwhelming double-digit margins, Republicans have lost the last two governors’ races to a liberal Democrat. Career politicians are failing us. I am tired of watching Republicans lose in Kansas. No more losing. It’s time to start winning again, and that is why I’m running for governor. Thank you.
Host: Thank you. Very good. For the first question, we’re gonna go to you, former Governor Colyer, and we’re gonna go to the economy. Many of you already touched on it, but the state legislature this year is discussing a potential constitutional amendment, capping property tax valuations at 3% each year. If you become governor. What else would you do to help give tax relief to Kansans?
Jeff Colyer: So, here’s the issue, why are the taxes high? Because spending is high. Spending is up 60% since I left the governorship. Is your life 60% better? Are you getting 60% better education or services from the state of Kansas in the last eight years? We all know the answer to that. We need to control property taxes, because they’re growing like topsy. Now, there needs to be a constitutional amendment, a competent, strong amendment, and it takes care of the entire mathematics. The math of this is the appraisals and what they cost, and it is also, what is the mill levy? You multiply those to get the total amount. You have to control both of those. And that’s what we need as a constitutional amendment that puts a cap on all of that. We need to control our appraisal process. We need to make it more professional. We need to make sure that it is in line with the economics of the state. Not some random appraiser picking out houses randomly. But then, having the local community raising the mill levy without your approval, that’s insane. We need to control all of this. But in order to get there, you need to control the spending. Here’s what we did. We eliminated 5,500 unnecessary state employees, and nobody noticed. We ended up, we were the first state to privatize our Medicaid program. I ran that, I designed it. It has saved us over a billion dollars a year, for the last 15 years. Thank you.
Host: Thank you very much. Scott.
Scott Schwab: So, whenever I go, whether it’s Great Bend, or I mean, Hays, or even out in Hoxie, Kansas it is property taxes is an issue. But if you talk to our real estate agents, and you also talk to our people who want to develop our towns, they’re concerned about putting anti-free market principles into the Constitution. That’s a fair concern. We want to make sure that if you’re gonna cap something at 3%, but what if you cap it at 3, but I put a dormer in or a basement in my house? You can’t re-evaluate that, with the house next door, that already has that, that was included in theirs. Suddenly, it’s inequitable. So, we have to make sure we’re protecting whatever we end up putting in the Constitution, as it relates to property tax, it has to be free market.
The other thing is, in my BALD Plan, I said, you know, whatever unit of government is wanting to raise a mill levy, it goes to the vote of the people that are subject to that jurisdiction. If they want to raise property taxes on themselves, that’s their new thing. But there shouldn’t be just a panel of just three or four. And I will say as Republicans, when we run for school boards, we often talk about social issues. We need to be talking about property taxes. When you’re running for that county community board, we need to be talking property taxes. Cause the money’s not going to the state, we can eliminate 50% of the people working for the state, and that’s not gonna help your property taxes. What’s gonna help, is put budgetary restraint on local units of government, as opposed to building Taj Mahals high school and mission creep in our schools, that they fund things that schools were never intended to do.
Ty Masterson: Thank you very much. Obviously, when I mentioned it in my open, the property tax crisis is the number one thing we have to do this year. But regardless, it’s an all above approach, just like Donald Trump, with his working family tax cuts, you’re working on both sides of the legislature, your cutting taxes and growing economy, bringing investment into the country. I want that investment in this state. We’re gonna do everything. We’re gonna continue to ratchet down. We would rather put a ratchet to take our three-tier income tax to two, and now it’s ratchet to one, and that’s got a ratchet to go clear down to 4%. to continue to put more money in your pocket through your income tax. We are gonna go after the property tax, put more money in your pocket than the property tax. We’ve even lowered the corporate income tax. Why not been there? But it’s just not enough, until we get a governor that will sign these things, and we don’t need overrides. We can’t get there. We will also implement the aspects of the working family tax cut from the federal government that also benefit Kansas. We will do a lot of that, even this year, and I’m the only one that can produce that. We will do that, we will continue to do that in the future, moving forward.
Host: Thank you very much.
Joy Eakins: Well, I’ve been talking to Kansas from all over the state about their property taxes. People like the Readils from Ellis, who joined us here tonight. You know, these are hardworking people who are following the rules and then opening their appraisal statement and getting a total shock, because appraisals have become a back door tax increase for too many families. So, listen, I’m really excited tonight, because we’re gonna release our property tax reform plan. And after the debate in our party right next door, you can go get a copy of that. We’d love to talk about it some more and it does three things. First, it makes appraisals fair and predictable. We are not gonna cabinet 3%. What if inflation is less than that? That’s what it should be. Because families shouldn’t get a double-digit increase when the house down the street sells. We’re gonna put homeowners back in charge, put the burden of proof on government. Appraisers should have to show their work when they increase your home value. And what is with requiring people from liberal Kansas to pack up and go to Topeka in order to have their appraisal appeal heard? That doesn’t make sense, so we’re gonna move them regionally. And third, we’re gonna create property tax relief funds. Look, these are fueled by growth in local government. Because the government shouldn’t automatically grow its funds, just because they’re growing, they should put aside some of that money to buy down the taxes for people like seniors, veterans, and working families. So that’s our plan. Well, I’m happy to talk about it some more, and I look forward to it.
Host: Thank you very much.
Philip Sarneck: I would like to remind everybody that the property tax situation that we’re in right now, is not a problem in every state.
It is a problem in Kansas, because the career of politicians has failed us. Now, I know there’s the 3% cap in legislature right now, on the assessment limit. But the problem is, it’s not enough tax relief for Kansas. And plus, if you do that, you’re going to leave the door wide open on the levy side of things for people, the local taxing bodies, to come in and just raise the mill rate. So, you have to plug both, that’s immediate tax relief. It’s stopping the bleeding, and then the second thing I will do as your governor, is we will give property tax credit to all Kansans for their property taxes. And then you say the next question is, well, how are we gonna pay for that? That’s a great question. We’re gonna pay for those two ways. Number one, the waste, fraud and the abuse that we’re gonna clean up. Which I’m sure we’ll get into over the course of this debate that’s going on. There are millions upon millions, upon millions, hundreds of millions of dollars, in one study I read, in Kansas, in waste that we can clean up when I come in as governor. And then, the second thing we’re gonna do is we’re gonna grow the economy. One of the things out on the trail that I have not heard, anybody else talking about, it gets forgotten, is what you can do with tax relief when you grow an economy. And that’s what I’m gonna do as governor. That’s what I’ve been doing for 30 years, growing businesses. We’re gonna create a rip warring economy all across Kansas, and then watch we can do with tax rates once we make that happen.
Host: Thank you very much. Charlotte
Charlotte: Thank you. I was a general contractor and actually was in the business when we passed the Constitutional Amendment in 1986, which brought in this disastrous system that we have now. I also owned a couple of industrial buildings, and then in 2018, I opened up my tax bill. My appraisal increased 61% in one year. I appealed it, like many people do. I lost, and the second level, I got a letter saying, You should be getting this amount for lease, we can’t help that you’re a bad manager. Honestly, that’s what they said. I can’t get this for a lease. “They don’t care. They taxed me anyway.” We have an incredibly bloated system from the state level to the local level. We are giving tax incentives away like candy. It is every tax incentive given that is costing you. It is unbelievable, $108 million in 2024, just on industrial revenue bonds and taxing finance districts in Johnson County. All over the state, we have 101 tax incentive programs on the commerce department’s website. 101. We are giving the wealthiest of the wealthy, all of these tax breaks. And you folks get to pay the bill.
Host: Thank you very much. All right. Let’s go to the next question.
Jeff Colyer Can I respond to this?
Host: Yes, well, did we start with you? Mr. Secretary, we will start with you. We’ve recently seen the use of Star Bonds across the state for numerous different community investments. In your opinion are Star Bonds the best way to create economic growth in the state, and how else would you plan to invest in economic growth in Kansas.
Scott Schwab: First, can I respond to the career politician thing that’s been thrown around?
Host: Yes. Okay. We can do a few of those, of course.
Jeff Colyer: Wait, wait, does that mean you are a career politician? (laughter in audience)
Scott Schwab: I didn’t know that… You have the opportunity for you, and tight, and… So? Here’s a joke. Um, I’m a secretary of state for seven years. Over some two presidential elections.
One in the pandemic. I oversee 105 county election clerks with thousands of post-election audits; Therefore, I should be the general manager of the Kansas City Royals. Having experience to understand the terrain has always been a plus. in America. Whether it’s Reagan being governor… or whether it’s, uh, Bob Dole… having an experience, helps. It’s called learned. And my kid wants it to be in a career for 15 years. It’s a career and I’m proud of him for it. As long as you serve honorably and nobly. They call me a career politician, but no one’s insulting my integrity.
Host: Okay. Thank you. We’ll go back to the question just a minute, but elected, we’ll consider this as elected officials that are in office right now, if you would like to respond with that rebuttal, 45 second’s time. Would you like to respond to that?
Ty Masterson: As a quote unquote, politician, self-career politician. We’re not declaring career politicians. Just someone in office right now. or has been in office. Oh, no, that’s, I would just say, that comes from somebody who doesn’t understand how the process works, right? That is the battle test. Look how look how good Donald Trump has been turned to. Look at that. I mean, he has been amazing. That 1st year was so impressive. That shows you what battle tested does, right? And understanding how the machine works, how the process works, where the bodies are buried, and who you work with. That is the key. I am a career fighter. That’s what, that’s what I want. So, you’re gonna say, and then a government like we have now, when you’re raging against the machine, for 16 in the last 24 years, we’ve had a Democrat governor. And half of the other four years, we were controlled by the left in our own party. Raging against the machine and fighting for you every day? If that’s what you want to label me fine, but I have a career fighter.
Host: Thank you. Gov. Colyer, would you like to respond?
Jeff Colyer: I think I’m the least career person, but one of the most experienced. All throughout my career, I have always worked. Taking care of Kansas on their worst days at night. The last seven years, I’ve been out of politics. When I was lieutenant governor, I was very involved in our state. I learned a lot of what’s going on. Good and bad. But here’s the thing. We need somebody who is competent, conservative, and has a very sharp skeleton. Somebody who will make sure that they fight for you, that understands where you are, who deals with you every single day. You know, under that rule of career politician, I guess Donald Trump would have been a career politician. He was out of office, and now he’s back in. When you’ve done the job and done it well, and you come back with it. You can come back, guns a blazing.
Host: Thank you. We’ll start again with the question on this one regarding Star Bonds, creating economic growth in the state of Kansas. Mr. Secretary, to 90 seconds.
Scott Schwab: All right, thank you. Um, I don’t know if they’re the best tool, but they’re certainly effective. If you look at, if you look at what’s going on in Western Wyandotte County, by the racetrack, it’s been spectacular. And because of the growth, we’ve had our first Republican elected in Wyandotte County, in the State House, since the 1980s. If we grow well, we end up getting good values, because we get smart people. And the smart people can help educate those and lift them up, like Reagan said, you know, a rising tide lifts all ships. And even in the present, it’s not only that you don’t utilize tax incentives, but it’s also provided some, which has helped our country. You can’t argue that. And so, if we want to grow this and you say, well, there’s no tax exempt, then since in the state of Kansas, we will lose. We will lose. We will lose. So, as Governor, we would always continue to look for new tools to grow your economy. How do we get that? Part of this is gonna be education. Part of it’s gonna be work forced development.
And part of it is not just going to get the big fish, but making sure our community colleges is, in those communities, actually catering to the businesses in their community, not just everybody teaching comp one, and nobody’s really focused on it. So, these are the things we can do. Star Bonds, they’re a great tool, are they the best tool? There are always more tools. That’s the advantage of America as we get better. It’ll get better. we’ll get better. Thank you very much.
Host: You can just keep the microphone on if you want.
Ty Masterson: I mean, I have the tools there. It’s the best because you don’t have, you know, the state, the example everybody’s bringing up is the Chiefs deal, right? The stadium, the headquarters, the practice field, that’s what’s on people’s minds. Keep in mind, the State did not have to raise a single tax. Not one taxpayer is online for liability, that’s bondholders. There’s so much misinformation and on purpose, false information about that. That is the whole thing. And I’m not out here to make Missouri great. I’m not here to make Kansas great. And that’s bringing thousands of jobs. Some permanent jobs, careers even. And it’s bringing, its bringing investment, it’s bringing a billion investment outside of the stadium and all those deals. That’s outside of all that Bond deal. Those are jobs, and that’s what I want my kids in Kansas. I don’t want my kids being an export. And there is moments in time, just like Donald Trump does. He’s negotiating being a big investment into the United States. It had banks built here. I don’t think it’s built in Kansas. I want people to come here. That’s where we want. And it is, there is the false information you’re diverting some type of tax money. That is not the case. Nobody’s gonna lose any services. It is actually, the last estimate was income tax from the team, nearly three billion dollars over the term of the bond. Has nothing to do with sales tax, that is additional revenue in Kansas. We want those jobs, we want those people. We want that opportunity for our children.
Host: Thank you very much.
Joy Eakins: I just want to say that those politicians on the stage that think Trump is a career politician. That’s why we are all excited and getting stuff done. That is clearly not true. Listen, I have been very outspoken about the Chief’s deal, but it not just the Chief’s deal, which is one of the most lopsided stadium deal in the history of our country. And other states are pointing to it and saying, “We don’t want to be like that.” Because it is a problem when you hand out money to companies. It’s my job to make my profit and loss statement work, not yours. Thank you. It is my job to make that happen. I want to make that happen. I have seen when government interferes in the business world. It is about picking winners and losers. I am grateful the Chiefs are coming. But I don’t think we need to negotiate away all the great things about Kansas in order to get them here.
Yes, President Trump is doing some great things internationally, because he is calling them to account and making them give us what we are do. Instead of the weak way career politicians have done those contracts over years and years. If I was governor this is what I would do. I would fix our education system. Who wants to do business with a state or live in a state where kids can’t get educated. Number 2, I would fix our taxes. Because they are not sustainable at this level and 3. I would fix regulation. Because we are regulating businesses out of business. And that is why they don’t want to come to Kansas. Those are the reasons they are not coming to Kansas. States that have done that with their governors have seen incredible things happen. Hopefully we can talk about education…
Host: Thank you…Thank you very much.
Philip Sarnecki: I would like to point out a reference to Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan had never run for office, when he ran for Governor of California.
Here is my question on the Star Bonds. Is it working? Your property taxes are 50% higher on average per capita than every state in our region. Your income tax is the highest in the region. Your corporate tax is the second highest in every state in our region. Is it working? Is giving a billion-dollar tax exemption to foreign companies, with a 20-year property tax exception. Is that a good deal? Is that working, promised 4,000 jobs, the last number I read there were about 800 jobs. I will bet they will not get to half of that. By giving away these tax exemptions. It is keeping your property taxes and your income taxes the highest in the region, ladies and gentlemen. We are over taxing and overspending and overregulating the citizens of Kansas to death. Because our career politicians don’t know how to grow an economy. If we were to grow the economy by reducing regulations, let me give you an example. When Glen Youngkin came in. When he came in as governor, by the way had never run for office. He was a CEO, and business leader. He had a goal of reducing regulations by 25%. Across the entire state…
Host: Thank you
Sarnacki: Across every agency
Host: Thank you
Sarnecki: They did it and we can too.
Host: Thank you…thank you very much
Charlotte O’Hara: This is just an absolute graveyard of disastrous results. Where is Boeing? Oh, they’re in Oklahoma. Where is Cerna? oh, that company was bought out. We have two empty buildings. I think it was just leased after they had sat for FIVE YEARS. Nearly a billion dollars to Panasonic, 4.93 trillion-dollar company. We are giving the Hunt family 2.775 billion dollars. They are the 12th wealthiest family in America. This does not work; we have a Star Bond at 135th and Nall. Prairie, not on fire, their bonds, they defaulted, on their Star Bonds and on their community improvement (increment) bonds. We have given up on the free market, and you know why, because Kansas is a high tax point on the prairie. My great grandfather came to Kansas in 1869, I want to prove to him he was right, in coming to Kansas. But I am being taxed out. We have a small manufacturing company. We don’t get all of these goodies. I mean the bigger you are the more you get. What is this? It is a failed, failed policy. Thank you.
Host: Thank you, Thank you very much.
Jeff Colyer: Star Bonds are a tool and should be used rarely and for certain circumstances, and it better be a good deal over the long run. And most importantly, we will make sure of this. As governor, we will not bail out any Star Bonds. Kansas is off the hook. We will make sure your tax dollars are not going to happen there. The real thing we need to grow in Kansas City. We need to cut our regulations, and we need to cut our taxes. We are one of the high regulation states in the region, we can look to lower those and yes, my friend Glen Youngkin actually did that. We started to do that; we have a lot to do. We have our overhead, so we can lower our taxes. We gave you an 800 million surplus so you can set the stage for doing that. Our budget is under water for the third year in a row. We need to make sure we are growing our economy. And the best way to do it, is low taxes, low regulation, and making sure our kids have a world class education and we started attracting high wage jobs and low taxes. We are 43rd when it comes to wages, right now in the United States. We need to be in manufacturing. I worked for President Reagan, and the deals that he made, were fantastic. I also worked for President Trump, and he is recruiting business to come to the United States. And export more, he is trying to export more…
Host: Thank you
Jeff Colyer: Planes and agricultural goods.
Host: Thank you very much. Next question. Governor Laura Kelly continues to refuse to provide data to the U.S. Dept of Agriculture regarding current recipients of SNAP benefits in the state. At the same time, we’ve also recently heard the KS Dept of Health and Environment say they will not be updating their childhood vaccine schedule to match recommendations from the CDC. As Governor, where would you stand on a relationship with the federal government and the idea of federal compliance vs. state sovereignty?
Ty Masterson: I heard about two different issues. State sovereignty and non-compliance. Let me just start with State sovereignty. We started to lose our state sovereignty when we began to elect our State Senators, that ship has sailed. So, we have a sovereign state. When we chose to be part of a federal program like SNAP, we need to be held accountable. The administration needs to be held accountable. They are trying to bring Minnesota to Kansas. It’s like sensitive data. She…you are trying to hide the fraud…and when I am Governor we need to get rid of the fraud. Just like Trump, he is trying to get rid of the Department of Education and get back to States rights. He had DOGE, he is trying to get in all the waste, fraud and abuse. I started KOGE, I started that on Kansas efficiency We have a great chairman involved there. We are trying to reduce all the fraud we can, and simplify the government, because that is what we need and for our sovereignty we need to turn it over.
Host: Very good, thank you. Joy?
Joy Eakins: Well, Ty is right, if you are going to take money from the Federal Government, there are going to be strings and oversite and you should be handing the data over, and if you are a data person and you read her excuse for not turning over the data. It is just one more excuse of how she is trying to hide how badly she is handling our state. And the fact that of an example of…(can’t hear) you mentioned I watched this firsthand during COVID. I did a lot of data work in the state during COVID and had to fight to get the state open. And KDH (Kansas Dept of Health) kept handing over data that was wrong, incorrect. She was making decisions off of that that were hurting small business owners, so badly in fact, once I had to go talk to the legislator and testify how bad her data was. And what a Trend looks like and two hours after she heard the testimony, she opened the State back up. That’s right, I got Laura Kelly to open the state back up during COVID. How about Jacob Wayman, who had just bought a gym, and it was closed down. That was what she was doing, it’s not just there, think about all the money that was stolen from us as Kansans. Where did that money go? Why did we end up paying for it? We just took our money and stuck it in there. No! That is your money and my money. I love how her politicians talk about money like it comes from different places. No, it’s your left pocket and your right pocket, okay and your purse. That’s your money. Where was the oversite to see in those systems. Over and Aikens Administration that is not going to happen. We are going to run the state correctly. Not like a business, that would be Nieve. But we are going to run the state correctly. Thank you.
Philip Sarnecki: First, I want to address something down there on the bonds. I am not sure who it was. Someone said something about the bonds. That you will never bail out the bond holders. Ladies and Gentlemen, any of you in investments business in here? I have my Series Bonds, 6 and 63, 7, 9, 12, 24, and 66. The state could never let that happen, because the prices of the bond and the ratings would crash. And you would have to pay a fortune to attract investors in the future. That is ignorant. It would never happen. You cannot do that. On to the next thing. SNAP data, anyone on my social media has exploded the last four months and thank you very much. We are now the most followed candidate in Republican or Democrat. On all social media. Four months ago, we did not even have social media, and we are thankful for the grassroots and how you have been backing us up. I have called on social media, for Laura Kelly to release the SNAP data, and I’ve done it over and over again. Because I want to know what she is hiding. What is going on, do we look like anything like what is going on in Minnesota? Release the information. Um…right now we spend about 400 million dollars for the SNAP data, the average wait per state is about 10 to 12%, even if we are the average and we can get this and fix it, it will save the state about 50 million dollars a year by doing that. There was another question down here.
Host: You are out of time, thank you. (To Jeff Colyer) You were mentioned down here about Star Bonds. Did you want to respond to that?
Jeff Coyler: Sure, Star Bond when you make that bond, and make that bond rating, it is not the state’s guarantee for the Star Bonds. That is my position. We should not be covering them. If it is a State Bond, that is directly related to State things, that rating goes there. Star Bonds traditionally have not had the state do them. They have their own rating and based on their own finances. Not on the State’s finances. But I want to add one more thing. I was the governor who improved the state’s credit rating for the first time in a dozen years. Thank you very much.
Charlotte O’Hara: Um…mention on the Star Bonds if you have the state owned sporting authority that is issuing those bonds. The state is not going to allow those to go into default. Please, we are not that stupid. Okay, so Federal control of the states. You take federal money; they have control of your state. I was in the Kansas House in 2011-2012, I begged my colleagues. Bail out of the federal money for education because it costs us more to comply, than to bring revenue in. Plus, now we are to the point that, we have No Child Left Behind, now we have Every Student’s Succeeds Act. Which brings in social, emotional learning. What are we doing, that is just one federal program. Every Federal program that we take the money from the federal government owns us. There is no such thing as federal state sovereignty, until we decide what we are going to do on that. And education should be one of the first ones we should address. Why are we spending 300 million dollars a year on the State department on education. When they have an F? They are failing our children. We are spending 50 billion dollars a year on a non-governmental organization and green bush to create curriculum.
Host: Thank you
Charlotte: I am sorry, 50 million. I am sorry.
Jeff Colyer: Regulation from the government happens, okay. We get into these programs, and the state administers them. So, when I was governor the Food Stamp program was one of the best in the country. We had one of the best compliances, we were running in the 5’s. The day I left office it started creeping up and the fraud in the SNAP program increased 150%. That is millions of dollars out of your pocket and the Federal Government is going to penalize us even more. Another 60 or 70 million dollars, because they have not been in compliance. We need to work with our federal partners. But it is Kansas first and we need to do the right thing and have really solid fraud programs. Look at what has happened in the last seven years. We’ve had fraud in that program and we had fraud in our unemployment program. I even had unemployment fraud, as a former governor I had people filing on us. We lost 1 billion dollars, and did you see anyone convicted? Let alone arrested? No. We need to make sure we get the fraud out of our state. And once you do that, we can start bringing back governments overall. We need a state that is growing. We have to have our honest values, let’s be Kansas again, not California.
Scott Schwab: I was talking to someone, and they were like how do I feed my family? And I understand the handout. Not the perpetual handout. I am not sure the data is the State’s data. It might be the Federal government’s data. My concern about not being allowed to be audited. Means, I am not willing to be held accountable. So, we are working with the Trump Administration, and we are working with Social Security. This has not happened in ten years. We have not been able to access to find out people who are no longer accepting social security. Because they are dead, there are over 5,000 people that are room temperature and no longer on our voting rolls. We had to make sure none of them voted. These are tools that when you work with the Federal Government are better. And I did it without doing anything to state sovereignty. I did not say, “Hey, we are going to surrender how we do…” we didn’t. I didn’t say “We will not do mail in elections.” We did not do it. We did not have too. They are partners. The Trump Administration has given us tools to make us better and if you get a chance. And if I am Kansas Governor, I will use a tool like that to make your state better. Why in God’s green earth not use it? It makes no sense.
Host: Thank you very much. We will take quick break.
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