Incumbent Willie Dove facing two challengers in House District 38 race

For the second time this election season voters in the western Johnson County will choose between three candidates for the 38^th District Kansas House of Representatives seat.

Incumbent Willie Dove prevailed in a three-way Republican primary in August, but will face two more opponents interested in his spot on Nov. 8. Democrat Mike Fonkert and Libertarian F. Caleb Christopher, both of Basehor, are challenging him this time. Dove, of Bonner Springs, has held the spot since 2013.

Dissatisfaction with the way the state’s budget and economy are going is a big factor in Fonkert’s campaign. “The Brownback experiment has failed and we need to change course,” he said. The income tax exemption for owners of limited liability corporations should be abandoned as part of an overhaul of the state tax system, he said.

The sales tax increase to make up for lost revenue has become high enough that the tax system is out of balance, he said. Sales tax on groceries could eventually be eliminated, but it might take several years until the state’s revenue stream is stable enough, he said.

Education funding policies have left schools underfunded and resulted in teachers leaving, he said. Fonkert said he’d be better than Dove at working for bi-partisan cooperation on taxes and funding. “Where a lot of these policies are coming from is, is there aren’t multiple sides coming together to find reasonable ground,” he said.

Funding for roads was also another big part of his platform. Fonkert said he’s like to see more investment in roads, and opposes any more borrowing from the highway fund to plug budget holes.

Christopher said in an email the state should be doing more to curb its spending before asking to raise taxes.

Christopher said he’s interested in exploring a different type of state tax system, with Value-Added Tax a possibility. Value-added tax is a gradual type of tax similar to sales tax in which consumers pay on the increases added at each stage of production of an item.

But generally, he said he likes the idea of consumption taxes rather than income tax because it encourages savings and responsibility. “It shouldn’t matter what you make and how or where you make it,” he wrote. “People should pay for what they use, not earn.”

Dove did not respond to voice mails about the general election race, but he did talk to the Star for the primary. At that time, he said he’d be willing to take another look at the exemption for LLCs on income tax if they aren’t creating enough jobs, but also said the state should take a closer look at how it spends its money.

Education funding should be configured so money gets to the classrooms instead of overpaying top administrators, he said. Dove also said one of his goals in the next session would be to legalize the sale of industrial hemp so it could be a cash crop in Kansas. However he would not favor legalization of marijuana.

This story was originally published October 26, 2016 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Incumbent Willie Dove facing two challengers in House District 38 race."