By Jaylen Cavil Lawrence, KS – Communications directors from the four gubernatorial campaigns shared their candidates’ announcement videos and participated in a press conference on March 28 in Wescoe Hall. The press conference provided an opportunity for the campaigns to outline their policy focuses and answer questions from the media.
At the press conference, the two Free State campaigns shared an optimistic vision for the future of Kansas. Garrett Miller, Communications Director for the Brandon Boyce campaign, and Anil Bhandari, Communications Director for the Jack Griswold campaign, said that their candidates would be focusing on criminal justice reform. They both called for reducing punishments for non-violent drug offenders in Kansas. Griswold’s campaign said that they would push for Kansas to de-criminalize marijuana and eventually move towards full legalization. Boyce’s campaign said that they would like Kansas to immediately legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes, then went further to address those Kansans who have been affected by the current laws. “We feel that if you have simple marijuana or drug charges, if it’s been non-violent and it’s not a distribution charge, your record should be expunged,” Miller said. Boyce’s campaign also went further in their criminal justice reform plan by calling for the end of private prisons. “We are going to really push the state legislature to end private prisons,” Miller said. “We feel that people should not be able to profit off of the mistakes of others.” Unfortunately, it did not seem like the Sunflower Party campaigns shared this interest in criminal justice reform. Much of the policy that was promoted by these campaigns would only worsen the problem of mass incarceration. Josh Hughes, Communications Director for the Isabella Southwick campaign, called for an increased police presence in Kansas. Hughes would not give a definitive answer when asked if the campaign is accepting corporate PAC money or if Southwick supports the private prison industry. Voters should question the intentions of a candidate who calls for policies that would lead to more Kansans being incarcerated, while also not disclosing if they are taking money from the private prison industry. On the issue of gun control, Griswold’s campaign said that they were in favor of “common sense” gun control legislation. “We want universal background checks,” Bhandari said. “We want things that make sense. We don’t want people having assault rifles in our communities.” Other campaigns positioned themselves on the other side of the gun control debate. Gabe Mullen, Communications Director for the Sebastian Uriarte campaign, said that Uriarte was a supporter of the controversial law that allows for the concealed carry of firearms at public universities and colleges in Kansas. “We believe that it is important for every individual to keep themselves safe from harm,” Mullen said. “Inherent in that is being able to actually defend against someone else.” Supporting the “campus carry” law may not go over well with Sunflower Party voters. According to an opinion poll done by Kansas Debates, less than 35 percent of Sunflower Party voters believe that concealed guns should be allowed on college campuses.
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