Candidates for House District 21 offer similar stances on key issues

Voters in the Kansas House District 21 race will choose between two candidates who share largely the same positions on reforming the state budget and protecting schools.

Republican Dorothy Hughes and Democrat Jerry Stogsdill will compete on Nov. 8 to represent the district, which covers portions of Prairie Village, Overland Park, Mission Hills and Leawood in northeast Johnson County.

Both are Prairie Village residents and relative political newcomers. They are seeking to replace incumbent Rep. Barbara Bollier, a Republican who is running for a seat in the state Senate.

Hughes, 33, got to the general election by defeating Neil Melton with almost 61 percent of the vote in the August Republican primary.

Hughes said she supports rolling back tax cuts for limited liability corporations that were enacted in 2012, which she said have left the state unable to properly pay for many of its obligations to the public, such as supporting schools.

“I continue to hear at the door that the top two priorities are budget and education, and voters definitely understand those two are inextricably linked,” she said

Hughes, a health care consultant, said she is watching, like others in the state, to see if the Kansas Supreme Court rules that state education funding is “adequate.” She said she doubts that current funding will pass legal muster, forcing lawmakers to draft a school funding formula that preserves adequacy and equity for students in Johnson County and across the state.

“I would certainly add the element of sustainability as well,” Hughes said. “We need to get out of this constant cycle of litigation.”

In addition, she favors giving districts like Shawnee Mission more local control over raising revenue for their own schools.

She acknowledged that higher education has also suffered from state cutbacks, which has led to increased tuition, and she supports restoring that funding. But she said the primary goal is fixing the state budget.

Hughes also said she would fight against continued efforts by the Legislature to impose restrictions on how cities and counties govern themselves, such as next year’s cap on how much local governments may raise taxes without requiring voter approval.

Stogsdill, 69, is a former naval officer, elementary-school teacher, past president of the National Education Association for Shawnee Mission, former head of the Silicon Prairie Technology Association and a current small businessman.

Given his background in public schools, Stogsdill’s main campaign issue is boosting funding for education, which he said requires regaining revenue by rolling back income tax breaks enacted by Gov. Sam Brownback and Republican leaders in the Legislature.

“We have to put those 330,000 LLCs back on tax rolls,” he said. “I’ve talked to a lot of small-business people, and they’ve told me almost to a person, ‘Look, we don’t mind paying taxes if we get something for it, and we sure as heck don’t want to see our public schools and our colleges and our universities being wrecked in Kansas.’”

He said a healthier budget would also stop the state from continuing to siphon off revenue from such functions as road and bridge maintenance and state pensions.

Stogsdill also favors expanding the state Medicaid program, which provides health care to the poor and disabled. The federal government pays part of the initial cost of allowing people with slightly higher incomes to participate, but Kansas, like several other Republican-dominated states, has refused, saying the price tag would be too high. Stogsdill said that decision is mostly political and has forced health care providers to foot the bill of caring for the poor themselves.

Michael Smith, a political science professor at Emporia State University, said the decision facing District 21 voters – choosing between two candidates with very similar positions – is a common phenomenon this fall with resurgent moderate Republicans often stealing the fire of anti-Brownback Democrats.

“It’s easy for the messages to blur,” Smith said.

Stogsdill acknowledged that similarity, but he said he is the better choice because of his wider work history.

For her part, Hughes said she, unlike a Democrat, would have a direct vote on House leadership, more influence in what legislation could get hearings and support, and better committee appointments.

This story was originally published October 25, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Candidates for House District 21 offer similar stances on key issues."