By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The 84 chairs originally set up for Wednesday night's 111th Kansas House District candidate forum between incumbent Barb Wasinger, R-Hays, and challenger Ed Hammond, D-Hays, weren't enough to seat the audience at the Rose Garden Banquet Hall in Hays.
Staff had to bring out more chairs for the audience, which eventually numbered approximately 130 people.
President and CEO Sarah Wasinger of the Hays Chamber, one of the event sponsors, said Wasinger/Hammond race has generated the "most inquiries" to her office she's seen in her three years at the chamber.
Moderators for the forum were Tim Carpenter of the Kansas Reflector, Topeka, and Pilar Pedraza of KAKE-TV News, Wichita. Both have spent numerous years covering the state Legislature.
Questions during the hour-long event came from the statehouse reporters along with written questions submitted by the attendees.
Both candidates are well-known to Hays voters and considered long-time dedicated public servants.
Wasinger, along with her lawyer husband, Tom Wasinger, owns Ellis County Abstract and Title. She has served two two-year terms in the Kansas House and is a previous Hays city commissioner and Ellis County commissioner.
Hammond is the retired president of Fort Hays State University where he served 28 years.
Guns, weed, abortion
The candidates basically agreed with each other on several issues, including support for legalizing medical marijuana in Kansas. Wasinger, though, said she has concerns on how it would be distributed.
They also support the Second Amendment and gun ownership. Hammond and Wasinger both said they would like to see tightened firearm regulations for someone who has been diagnosed with a mental illness. They also support increased gun safety education for young Kansans.
Wasinger and Hammond are both Catholics and said they are opposed to abortion.
Hammond, however, told a personal story of a close family friend, also a Catholic, in order to save her life made the decision to have a medically-recommended abortion in her eighth month of pregnancy.
"I do not want government to be involved in that process that I saw that family go through," Hammond said.
Wasinger said there is a need for abortion clinic inspections to resume.
"Right now, there is no Kansas law that says an abortion clinic has to be inspected for health standards," Wasinger said.
"I also believe with all my heart there should be no live dismemberment abortions," Wasinger added. "Right now, there are no laws that restrict abortion."
However, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a leading research and policy organization that advances sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide, Kansas currently prohibits abortions after 22 weeks.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion.
In August, Kansans overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to tighten abortion restrictions or ban the procedure outright.
A recount of the election votes was called for by a Colby woman; ultimately, the results stood.
Water rights, dwindling water supplies
The two candidates did not agree on how to resolve conflicting water needs of farmers and ranchers against community usage. The issue was the first question asked by Pedraza.
The entire state is in a drought and water supplies are declining.
The Kansas Water Appropriation Act is administered by the Kansas Department of Agriculture's Division of Water Resources, which issues permits to appropriate water, regulates usage, and keeps records of all water rights in the state.
Wasinger praised the city of Hays and its longtime water conservation program, including a project to move water from the city-owned R9 Ranch in Edwards County to Ellis County as a longterm water supply.
"The state needs to encourage everyone to be as conservative with their water as the city of Hays has done," she said. "I think the state needs to encourage landowners, agricultural owners, to change how they're watering and when they're watering."
She mentioned the success of LEMAs (Local Enhanced Management Area) in northwest Kansas.
"I think there's a really good chance for all of us together to figure out what's best. ... to discuss it and make sure we're all conserving properly. I think the state has a job in helping [us] do that," she said.
Hammond does not want to see the state further involved in water rights.
"I disagree," he said firmly.
"I believe the water is owned by a landowner, much like they own the oil under their land. And I believe very much in protecting that right those landowners have. I don't believe the state should be taking water away from them. They can sell it, just like they can sell their oil.
"I really see no need for a change in state water policy."
In his opening statement, Hammond said he is running on three issues he hears repeatedly from Hays voters — a need for Medicare expansion, more equitable K-12 state funding, and block grant funding for FHSU.
The local economy
Those three initiatives would have the "biggest potential impact" on the county's three major employers — HaysMed, USD 489, and FHSU — and help to improve the local economy.
"I hoping to go to Topeka and put together a bipartisan group of supporters for Medicaid expansion (KanCare). ... I believe we've lost about $100 million dollars over the last four years."
During her answer about how to improve the Ellis County economy, Wasinger talked about several programs already in effect.
"In the last few years, we made some incredible tax decisions about helping entrepreneurs do well in the state with help for funding resources," Wasinger said.
"I'm proud of all the things we've done to try to help rural housing."
When it comes to helping local governments lower property taxes for their residents, Hammond proposed reactivating the state's local ad valorem tax reduction fund, and at a higher rate.
He talked about the unexpected additional revenues Kansas has currently that could be used to reduce property taxes.
"That money comes to cities and counties and it has to be offset by an equal amount of property tax buy-down. It was the way in which originally the state of Kansas was trying to keep the local property taxes from going too high."
Wasinger said the Legislature has been "proactive," particularly for seniors, by freezing their property taxes at a level they can maintain.
She pointed out that the state "can't be spending every penny that we get. ... Every time you take money from one place, you realize we're going to have to take it from somewhere else.
"So do you want us to take it from mental health? Do you want us to take it from the schools?" she asked, looking directly at Hammond.
Education funding
The issue that sparked the biggest disagreement between the candidates was education funding, which is the biggest portion of the state's budget.
Hammond was critical of how the K-12 funding bill developed, and then the money for special education was removed, calling it "a shell game."
Wasinger countered that the legislature did fully fund K-12 education and said the Kansas Department of Education has $2 billion in federal COVID dollars that are unencumbered and could be used for special education funding.
"Why are they holding onto that?" she wondered.
Hammond also wants to look more closely at the state block grants awarded to universities.
He cited statistics from last year that showed Wichita State University receiving a grant more than twice as large as Fort Hays State University, even though WSU's enrollment was bigger than FHSU's by fewer than 200 students.
Other topics
Other topics discussed included working across the aisle with state legislators, energy resources, affordable housing, daycare shortages, and employee shortages.
During her closing statement, Wasinger touted her work in the statehouse to help Kansas pay down its debts and save interest.
"Titles aren't important to me," Wasinger said. "I want to work for the betterment of our community."
Hammond said he was not part of any special interest group. "I just want to be an advocate for you," he told the audience.
The forum was sponsored by The Hays Chamber and Fort Hays State University through The American Democracy Project, the Political Science Department, Docking Institute of Public Affairs, and Tiger Media Network.
It was live-streamed by TMN and made available to Hays Post. You can watch the hour-long forum here.