Republican candidate for Kansas treasurer attacks Democrat over bill they both voted for
The Republican nominee for Kansas Treasurer attacked his opponent in a new ad for voting for a 2017 tax increase that both candidates supported as members of the Kansas Legislature.
State Rep. Steven Johnson, a Republican from Assaria, is challenging incumbent Democratic Treasurer Lynn Rogers to be the state’s top financial officer.
An ad Johnson’s campaign released on Twitter Thursday calls Rogers a “lifelong tax hiker” citing the former Wichita state senator’s 2017 vote to overturn former Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax cuts, which Johnson’s campaign blasted as “the largest tax increase in Kansas history.”
However Johnson, who has served in the Kansas House since 2011, voted yes on the same bill.
When reached over the phone, Johnson declined to comment.
Johnson’s campaign manager, Rob Fillion, defended the ad, which will begin airing on Monday.
Fillion said in a statement that Rogers’ “tax hiking record is clear and voters deserve to know he is a big taxer and a big spender before they go to the polls,” without acknowledging that Johnson voted for the same bill the campaign is citing in the ad.
The ad is the second Johnson’s campaign posted to Twitter Thursday. According to screenshots provided to The Star by Rogers’ campaign, an original version of the ad referenced a 2015 sales tax hike as the largest tax increase in state history.
Johnson also supported that bill. Rogers was not yet in the Legislature. He was first elected to the Kansas Senate in 2016.
“I guess Steven forgot to check his own record while lying about mine,” Rogers said in a statement.
“Steven is right, the Treasurer’s office requires trust. He has majestically broken the trust of the voters by running these ads, sending extremist spokespeople out, and failing to even remember his record.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2022 at 6:30 AM.
