With Barbara Allen's recent retirement, the citizens of the 8th Senate District have a clear choice to make.
State Representative Tim Owens has a strong record of competence, principle and government reform. His work on behalf of all taxpayers to reign-in wasteful spending and carefully manage the state budget has not gone unnoticed.
On the the Sunflower plant in Holcomb, Owens wisely balanced competing interests and eventually sided with economic development. In a February floor speech he said, "The Sunflower project represents a revitalization of their economy, energy resource requirements, and sustainability of their communities. If we fail to help preserve the small communities, Johnson County will be called upon to carry more of the financial burden of the infrastructure of the state. This calls for compromise and balance. Therefore I vote yes."
The alternative choice in this primary makes the decision even more simple. With a stubborn commitment to confused priorities alongside a patented brand of intellectual/rhetorical gobbledygook, Ben Hodge is an unacceptable choice for town dog catcher, let alone State Senator. Our party, and more importantly, our state, have serious problems to address. Tim Owens is a solid first step in achieving those objectives. We therefore fully support his candidacy and hope the citizens of the 8th District will follow our lead.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
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31 comments:
Well done. It's nice to seem some common sense amongst Republicans. Owens is the best for that seat, no question about it.
It would have been nice to have a candidate who wasn't a current or former legislator.
If competent people can't run because of the economic hardship the low legislative pay puts on people, we will never get enough really qualified candidates to run.
As for your endorsement, that's fine. Owens is a decent sort. Ben Hodge on the other hand needs to go away. Thank god Schwab came back.
Hodge abandoned Holcomb. He should be ashamed. What a hack.
i was wondering...why aren't they endorsing blogger-boy Hodge? but then i remembered- Holcomb.
you are predictable...but this was a pretty thoughtful post- more of these and you might not just dry up and blow away.
The clear choice in the primary but your focus, as usual, on Holcomb shows you really don't understand Overland Park. Owens has a credible Dem opponent (former state rep) and she is already tying his coal vote around his neck. Owens acknowledged to many that his Holcomb vote was in conflict with his district's wishes. He will make a good senator but the general election will be tough.
We think that, based on Hodge's political skills and ability, as well as the way people normally react, that the "hodge effect" will have the most impact if he actually comes out and opposes his own candidacy, and then campaigns aggressively against himself.
Anon @ 9:51, you're right about legislative pay being very low. That's a problem across the board. But I don't think it's bad to have someone running for Senate who has 6 yrs under his belt in the House. House members often make the jump to the upper chamber.
Anon @ 10:33, the coal issue was not as big of a deal in that district, and it will be even less of an impact as time marches forward. Rs have a huge registration advantage in the 8th district, and I doubt that a 2 term House Democrat from 15 years ago will beat Owens. She could certainly beat Hodge, though :)
We are just looking forward to writing the obituary on Hodge's career once this race is over.
the democratic opponent in this race was actually a republican when she was in the House, i believe.
At least there is a good alternative in the general.
Wyatt's post on the "Hodge effect" is hilarious. Very clever.
Why thank you. I aim to please.
If more Republicans were still like Tim Owens, instead of nutjobs like Hodge or Lynn or Kobach, I'd still BE a Republican.
Good luck and warm wishes, Rep Owens!
Nice to know that we agree on Hodge.
Wyatt,
The sad thing for the Republican Party, and for you, is that Ben Hodge and his whack-job pals are your party's future. The proof of that is that good people like Barbara Allen and Tim Owens are being specifically targeted by the far-right crazies that have taken over your party's leadership.
Good luck taking it back.
miss A: I would not be so pessimistic. Johnson County especially has a history of rejecting people like Kline, Kobach, and soon Hodge. Most of the county (and the state, for that matter) tends toward more pragmatic representation.
If you notice, a lot of the ideological agitators tend to come out of Olathe for some reason. Hodge, Kiegerl, Kinzer, Julia Lynn...I wonder what's wrong with their water.
Amen, Ms. Anonymous. The Operation Rescue/Phill Kline zealot wing of the party cares only about one issue and doesn't care about the Republican party. It's just a convenient label for them in elections. I'd love to see them do what principled conservatives did in NY - create a Conservative Party that fields a slate of candidates each cycle. At least that would be more honest.
Miss Anonymous, I disagree. I think the folks like Kline, Hodge, and the rest of the nutters are finishing themselves off. Kline is an utter embarassment and will probably run as an "independent" which will cause his supporters, at least those with leadership roles in the Republican party, to be kicked out of the party by the loyalty committee they created.
Oh, and that will just be damn funny.
Owens voted against Holcomb, Wyatt.
No, Owens voted against the third Holcomb bill because Neufeld tossed all the eco-devo stuff in there. He supported the coal plants and voted for the first two bills.
The leaders in Garden City who were working on the project counted Owens as a "no" vote. He wasn't a friend of the Sunflower project. Owens voted against the economic revitalization of SW Kansas. He's anti-business. Why should we support another Sebelius clone? I think this blog is being deceitful by trying to repackage this candidate as a pro-Sunflower when his voting record says otherwise.
That's incorrect.
Owens voted YES on SB 327 and 148, which were the two main Sunflower bills.
He has said that he supports economic development in that part of the state and that's why he voted the way he did.
That's incorrect.
Owens voted YES on SB 327 and 148, which were the two main Sunflower bills.
He has said that he supports economic development in that part of the state and that's why he voted the way he did.
Why are you making endorsements before the filing deadline? What if other candidates enter the race?
We think Tim Owens is a solid candidate who deserves our support. I can't speak for the rest of the squad, but if some other random, but well-regarded conservative with a record of principle decides to toss his or her hat in the ring, I may petition to readjust our position. But that seems very, very, very unlikely at this point, and I've always liked Tim Owens. I was hungry, so why wait?
I think most important to this whole decision is that we will NOT be endorsing Ben Hodge, no matter what happens.
Great endorsement - with a small handful of exceptions, this blog is a very welcome "site" for many sore eyes.
Maybe I could offer some clarification when it comes to legislative process. It is important to understand Tim Owens' thorough and thoughtful approach to lawmaking. The final bill lumped half-a-dozen or so loosely related economic development bills into one bill, in an effort to offer sugar (eco devo programs) with the bitter pill (for Sebelius), which was coal, making it theoretically harder to veto. Kansas statute specifically states that multiple issues cannot be combined into one bill. Tim is very pragmatic when it comes to respecting the process and because the links between issues were so tenuous in the final bill, Tim opposed it, as did a number of others. It is very common for legislators to peel off when procedure or process gets muddy and the rules are bent or blatantly broken.
A mere 20 business hours before the filing deadline and it looks to be an exciting summer ahead!
Oops - many apologies if that was misleading. I haven't done anything with the blog account in a long time and did not realize it still said "Rep." when my service in the House concluded in January. Sorry for any confusion!
Stephanie,
You sure are missed in Topeka. Jill Quigley is a fabulous replacement, though. Thanks for all your service.
Owens is clearly the best choice in this race. He spent 20 years on the Overland Park City Council and has been in the House now for 7 years. He has a long history of working with government. Did you know he used to be General Counsel to SRS?
The problem is Tim is a bit on the lazy side. He hates going door to door with a passion and isn't much of a fundraiser (raised about $7,000 last year).
He had a pretty similar resume in 2000 (except for the 7 years in the House) and he jumped in to a 4 way primary for this same Senate seat and got...4th out of 4. Single digits, around 6% of the vote if memory serves.
Tim probably still wins this because we are talking about two former washed up state reps he's running against, but if he's never had a real race other than the 2000race for Senate and campaigning just isn't his thing.
Tim will be a good Senator if he can get there. Best thing going for him is Hodge is nuts. Problem is you have to go door to door and have cash to make sure people know that. Ben already is knocking on doors, Tim will be late to that effort.
Hodge already has signs up fyi, I would guess Tim hasn't even't designed much less ordered his.
8 weeks until election day. Tim will win this but there's going to be many folks carrying him across the finish line.
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