Johnson County commission is about to be shaken up. Will partisan divide grow?
The Johnson County Board of Commissioners has been increasingly divided in recent months, embroiled in debates over coronavirus mandates and shutdowns. The result has been closely-split votes and threats of lawsuits.
With three contested commissioner seats this year, the outcomes of the Aug. 4 primary and November general elections will play a significant role in how the county approaches the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. The results will also help determine whether the board — nonpartisan in name but less so in practice — will reach across party lines to do so.
Kansas’ most populous county will gain at least two new commissioners, as two incumbents step down. And no matter what, the seven-member board will gain a third female member.
Steve Klika, who has served two terms, is not seeking reelection. On Aug. 4, voters in the 3rd District — which covers southeastern Johnson County — will choose between three candidates. Stacy Obringer-Varhall, Pam Shernuk and Charlotte O’Hara are running for the seat.
The board was exclusively white and male for years until Commissioners Becky Fast and Janeé Hanzlick won election in 2018.
Commissioner Jim Allen, who has represented the 2nd District in northern Johnson County for three terms, also decided to step down. Jeff Meyers and Rob Patterson are running for his seat in the Nov. 3 election.
And Commissioner Mike Brown, one of the strongest opponents of coronavirus restrictions, who pled for businesses to open, personal freedoms to be preserved and for residents to have the choice to wear masks, has a challenger in November. Shirley Allenbrand said she would have voted to mandate masks and is campaigning on “being a voice for all constituents.”
Starting next year, the commission will oversee a county budget on the heels of a pandemic. It will determine whether the county increases services for its growing aging population and addresses an affordable housing shortage.
It will also have a say in whether changes are made to Johnson County’s charter, which is up for its regular 10-year review in 2021. Last year, Brown proposed making county elections partisan — an issue that failed to pass the board, but one that some commissioners promised to revisit. The push came shortly after Fast and Hanzlick, both supported by Democrats, defeated incumbents.
“I don’t want a partisan board. But what’s happened in recent years, and in the last run, there was a push by one party to promote a party agenda,” Klika said. “I’ve never promoted that I’m a Republican. And I’ve never voted based on partisanship.”
But he argued that if candidates are going to “use the elephant and the donkey to promote their agendas” without consequences, county elections might as well be partisan.
“Let’s stop lying to ourselves,” he said.
Party involvement has been apparent in county elections for years, with the GOP elephant appearing on yard signs in campaigns past. Allen said the commission traditionally had a “moderate to conservative split.”
Klika argued that the pandemic has deepened the board’s divisions, “more on the philosophy of how much government intrusion we should have on individual rights,” rather than on a partisan basis.
And amid heightened tensions, who is elected as Johnson County’s commissioners could be the deciding factor in whether the board becomes more divided — and whether party affiliation will be a part of its elections.
Primary race
The three candidates vying for Klika’s seat in the 3rd District — all registered Republicans — offer different views on coronavirus restrictions, partisan elections and county operations.
Obringer-Varhall, 47, is serving her second term on the Blue Valley school board. She supports ramping up mental health services, such as suicide prevention and combating drug abuse, as well as improving public safety and services for the aging population. A moderate, she said she would consider each issue “independent of politics.”
She would have voted differently than Klika on COVID-19 restrictions, she said, and supports requiring everyone to wear masks in public.
“As a current school board member who understands the importance of getting kids back into the classrooms, and a supporter of local businesses who knows the value they bring to our local economy, I want to avoid another shut down. I believe it is an easy thing to do to help us keep moving forward,” she said.
Shernuk, 63, also would have mandated masks, she said, adding that she is a strong proponent of keeping businesses open. She worked for the Blue Valley school district, including in the administrative office, for 20 years and is serving her third year on the Johnson County Commission on Aging.
She is advocating for a new department of aging — something that Klika also spearheaded — saying that services are not meeting the demand as the county’s older population quickly expands. Shernuk also calls for robust mental health programs and more affordable housing. She considers herself a moderate Republican, but a fiscal conservative.
“The pandemic has hit very close to home for us. My 97-year-old mother-in-law had COVID-19 identified in her senior housing facility. And now she’s home with us,” Shernuk said. “I feel like it’s our responsibility to take care of each other. That doesn’t mean we should close businesses. But I think wearing masks will help people feel more comfortable going out in public to our small businesses.”
O’Hara, 69 and a self-described conservative, does not agree with coronavirus mandates. A construction and development professional, she served one term in the Kansas House and ran for Overland Park mayor a few years ago, but lost to incumbent Carl Gerlach.
O’Hara is campaigning on the need to curb the use of tax incentives for private development. She believes the county should more frequently use its authority to override incentive deals. And she’s fighting against the “appraiser’s office using the automatic property tax increase machine,” as tax bills continue to climb along with home values.
“Mandates? Absolutely not,” O’Hara said. “You need to educate, not subjugate. You put your faith in the people that they will know what is best for them and their families. I trust the residents of Johnson County more than I do the government.”
O’Hara also believes that county elections should be partisan. Obringer-Varhall disagrees, and said that “local government works best without partisan influence.” Shernuk said the county should do its best to keep partisan politics out of decision-making, but would support the public’s decision.
Whether to make county elections partisan has been an ongoing discussion for several years, and many expect it to be a major talking point during the county charter’s review next year. The charter commission convenes every decade and recommends changes to the Johnson County Board of Commissioners, which can put the proposals on the ballot.
“Even if there is more polarization on the board, the majority of issues the county commission deals with are nonpartisan in nature,” Klika, the incumbent, said.
A switch to partisan elections would allow candidates to run with their party affiliation listed on the ballot. Political parties already are allowed to contribute to campaigns, though.
Contest in Brown’s district
Brown, 51, a contractor who lives in Olathe, defeated incumbent John Toplikar in November 2016 to take the 6th District seat.
During his first run, Brown, who is vice chair of the board, focused his campaign on spurring development and supporting businesses. He is also calling for the county to control spending and lower property taxes, as well as improving public safety, parks and libraries.
Brown did not return multiple requests for comment. But on the board, he has been vocal about his opposition to coronavirus mandates. After health officials extended the county’s stay-at-home order in May, for example, Brown moved that the board issue its own order allowing the county to reopen, then said a judge should decide which order stands.
Allenbrand, 63, a registered Republican, said she is on the “opposite end of the spectrum” when it comes to COVID-19 restrictions. She said she would have supported the mask mandate, arguing that it will help keep businesses open.
A member of the Olathe planning commission, Allenbrand works in architecture and design. She also has a background in the healthcare industry, and is a member of the advancement board at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
“I don’t think we should have leadership that creates chaos on our commission,” Allenbrand said. “And I feel like sometimes that’s being done. And that ends up misrepresenting our constituents. I don’t think we should make it a political agenda. It should be about what is good for our county.”
She is campaigning on improving public safety, promoting economic growth and increasing the affordable housing stock. Allenbrand said she is concerned about the commission becoming more divided, arguing that the increasingly political nature of discussions is “making a circus out of the issues.”
She does not believe that county elections should be partisan, unlike Brown. In responding to a survey on votejoco.com, Brown argued that commissioner races should be partisan, and that the offices of treasurer and recorder of deeds should be elected positions on a partisan basis.
“This would allow voters to understand the political ideology of a candidate which is far better than simply knowing what city a candidate is from. ... Which tells the electorate nothing but does give the advantage to whoever hails from the largest city — which is a terrible way to assemble a county commission,” Brown wrote.
Race in northern Johnson County
The two candidates vying for Allen’s 2nd District seat have different opinions on coronavirus mandates.
Meyers, 61, former mayor of of Shawnee, said he is a proponent of requiring masks until outbreaks of COVID-19 and rising cases are under control.
“I would be on the side of caution. I do think that (wearing mask) has a positive effect on keeping people from getting sick and preventing you from passing on the virus to someone else,” he said. “You have to be ready to make decisions based on the science and the data.”
Meyers succeeded Allen as mayor of Shawnee in 2004. He is a retired teacher and spent 32 years working for the Olathe school district, including as a teacher and head football coach at Olathe East High School. He is also a member of the Johnson County Parks and Recreation Board. Meyers is campaigning on maintaining and fixing infrastructure, improving parks and supporting public health services.
He believes that county races should remain nonpartisan. His opponent, Patterson, 51, said he will survey the residents in the district before deciding on the matter. Patterson is a Shawnee resident and president of a trucking company in Kansas City, Kansas.
Patterson said his top priorities are property tax reform, fiscal responsibility and economic recovery. He is pleased that counties have local control over COVID-19 mandates, and said, “I do not think that long-term lockdowns are the answer.”
“When it comes to masks, I would have preferred it stay at strong recommendations, or at least to limit the mandate to situations where the virus is most likely to spread, such as large crowds,” he said.
He argued the Johnson County Commission “needs voices that are not of politics, but of the community.”
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
