By Jaylen Cavil Lawrence, KS - Jack Griswold won the Free State primary election on May 2 after receiving 61.5 percent of the votes. He will now face Isabella Southwick in the general election next week. Mrs. Southwick won the Sunflower primary with 73.7 percent of the votes. Although Mrs. Southwick had a large victory over her primary opponent, she will now face a much tougher opponent in Mayor Griswold. Kansas voters are going to choose Mayor Griswold because he is serious about strengthening public schools and ending corruption.
Mayor Griswold has effectively positioned himself as the anti-corruption candidate. In both debates, Mayor Griswold has not held back when speaking about the immense influence that corporations have over policy decisions. He was the first candidate to swear off corporate PAC money and has openly questioned other candidate’s motivations. “I think they chose me because anti-corruption resonates, no matter ideology,” Griswold said. “I’m someone they can trust.” The other three campaigns spent their time back-peddling on their positions in an attempt to keep up with Mayor Griswold’s rhetoric. This was apparent at the debate on Tuesday, when Mrs. Southwick announced that her campaign decided not to accept PAC money. Why did her campaign just now come to this decision? Probably because it knew she would be facing the anti-corruption candidate in the general election. Voters will also choose Mayor Griswold over Mrs. Southwick because he is actually serious about improving Kansas’ education system. Mayor Griswold has repeatedly said that his focus will be on public schools, unlike Mrs. Southwick, whose only interest is in private education. Mrs. Southwick’s signature policy proposal is a “choice education” plan that would financially benefit private and charter schools, while hurting our public schools. “Our public-school system is being destroyed,” Griswold said. “Anyone promoting choice education is being paid to lie to you.” Mayor Griswold said that he will not allow any tax money to go towards private education once he is elected. This is the complete opposite position of Mrs. Southwick, whose husband is currently working at a charter school in Topeka. A politician pushing for policies that would financially benefit her family is the exact corruption that Mayor Griswold has been trying to expose. Public opinion on education policy heavily favors Mayor Griswold. When asked for their views on public vs. private education, over 73 percent of voters agreed that “ensuring every Kansas resident has equal access to quality public education is a fundamental part of the American Dream, and any threats to the institution of public education are wrong and un-American.” I cannot imagine the majority of voters supporting a candidate whose signature policy is viewed as un-American. The future of Kansas education hangs in the balance. Voters are tired of corrupt politicians and empty promises. That is why Mrs. Southwick will stand no chance when she is forced to go head-to-head with Mayor Griswold.
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By Jaylen Cavil Lawrence, KS - With the gubernatorial primaries quickly approaching, a new opinion poll shows that Jack Griswold has a comfortable lead over his opponent Brandon Boyce. About 71 percent of the Free State voters polled said that if the election were held today, they would vote for Mayor Griswold. The wide margin in the polls may explain why the Free State primary has become more contentious. State Senator Boyce’s campaign has been increasingly open to attacking Mayor Griswold. I think this new strategy may be necessary for the Boyce campaign if it wants to have any chance at winning. At the press conference on April 23, both Free State candidates spent a lot of time talking about criminal justice reform and the scandals of their opponents. State Senator Boyce used his opening statement to speak about police brutality and lay out specific reforms that he would enact. One of these ideas was to require mandatory body cameras for all police officers in Kansas. “There is no overnight fix to this issue,” Boyce said. “But, implementing mandatory body cams for police forces in Kansas seems like a good stepping off point” Mayor Griswold seemed to downplay the effectiveness of this policy during his press conference. “That would be a great idea in like 2012,” Griswold said. “Anyone with a Twitter account can tell you that if an officer today decided to abuse their authority, putting it on camera doesn’t do much to change the situation.” When asked to respond to Mayor Griswold’s criticism, State Senator Boyce said, “Jack didn’t do his research on the issue.” On this situation, I have to say that I find Mayor Griswold’s cynicism worrying. State Senator Boyce was not suggesting that body cameras would be a magic fix. He said that this would be a starting point on a long road to improving our criminal justice system. State Senator Boyce cited multiple studies proving the correlation between body cameras and a reduction in use of force. Free State voters should be open to any and all ideas that can help fix our broken system. When it came to speaking about their opponents shortcomings, neither candidate held back. Mayor Griswold questioned State Senator Boyce’s motives for running in light of the recent news that Boyce was previously a member of the Sunflower Party. “When you’re willing to switch your party membership based on whichever one looks easiest to win an election, it’s because you’re in it to further your own career,” Griswold said. State Senator Boyce attempted to downplay the scandal. “People switch parties all of the time," Boyce said. "I vote on behalf of my constituents.” Based on the recent opinion poll of voters, it is likely that Boyce’s scandal will not significantly hurt his campaign. According to the poll, about 71 percent of Free State voters believe that it is very important for a candidate to reach across the aisle and find bipartisan solutions. The Boyce campaign went further than offering disapproving statements in regard to the revelations that Mayor Griswold had been previously arrested for driving under the influence. In a press release they wrote that State Senator Boyce is filing a Kansas Open Records Act for documents related to Mayor Griswold’s arrest. “Brandon is also calling on the Kansas Attorney General to allow the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to investigate the Griswold case,” Garrett Miller said. The major differences between these two candidates is becoming more obvious as the Boyce campaign is increasingly being more aggressive. This is a good thing for the Boyce campaign, which has struggled with voter support and awareness. The Boyce campaign should be careful, however, because too much negativity could end up turning voters off. By Jaylen Cavil A Kansas Debates investigation has discovered that one of the candidates running for the Free State Party nomination is not even a member of the party. We have learned that State Senator Brandon Boyce is currently registered as an Independent, and before that was a registered Sunflower Party member. Why is Boyce pretending to represent the values of the Free State Party when he has been dedicated to the Sunflower Party for most of his life?
Boyce’s attachments to the Sunflower Party run deep. In fact, Boyce was a member of the Sunflower Party until his first run for state senate. When he was in college, Boyce was the president of the KU Young Sunflowers and attended the state Sunflower Party convention. Boyce went as far to actively campaign for current Sunflower Party Governor Bradley Smith when Smith ran for state senate. Boyce’s support of Governor Smith is especially surprising because his campaign has previously tried to position themselves in opposition of the governor. During their first press conference, Garrett Miller, Boyce’s communications director, took the time to directly call out Governor Smith. In light of this recent discovery, Boyce’s opposition to Governor Smith feels like he is just saying what he thinks Free State voters want to hear. After analyzing Boyce’s voting record, it is clear that he is not loyal to the Free State Party. As a member of the Kansas House of Representatives, Boyce voted with the Sunflower Party 72 percent of the time. When he was in the Kansas Senate, Boyce voted with the Sunflower Party 57 percent of the time. If Boyce continues this pattern as governor, Free State voters can expect about a 50/50 chance of him siding with their values. Boyce’s political track record suggests that he is the definition of a political flip-flop. It is common for politicians to change or slightly modify their positions on some issues. But, for Boyce to be so committed to one party, and then suddenly switch parties when he wants to run for a higher office shows that he has no real convictions. Boyce’s campaign now seems like nothing more than pandering. Luckily, I know that Free State voters are smart enough to not fall for political pandering and posturing. Did Boyce really go through a dramatic change in his policy positions, or did he just decide that it was more advantageous for him to run as a Free State candidate? Either way, Free State voters cannot trust that Boyce will stick to any of the positions that he is currently running on. This is a very interesting campaign ad featured on Isabella Southwick's website. Maybe the "choice education" that she is promoting doesn't include spelling classes.
By Jaylen Cavil Both Sunflower Party gubernatorial candidates, Sebastian Uriarte and Isabella Southwick, participated in their first debate on April 9 in Wescoe Hall. The debate was moderated by the Kansas Debates team and only lasted about 30 minutes. The conversation covered a wide range of issues and included plenty of questionable statements from the candidates. Of these statements, what Senator Uriarte had to say about education surprised me the most. I have chosen to fact check three questionable claims made by Senator Uriarte in the debate.
Claim: “When it comes to schools, competition drives excellence” - Senator Uriarte This claim was made by Senator Uriarte when he was discussing his support of private education tax credits. It is true that competition might result in some schools benefiting, however public schools in Kansas are already severely under-funded. Kansas’ public schools may need between $1.7 to $2 million in new funding, according to a 2018 study commissioned by Kansas legislators. Adding financial pressure to these already under-funded schools will only make it more difficult for the schools to improve the quality of education. Competition in education may lead to excellence for some, but it will not be for the majority of Kansas children who attend public schools. Claim: “As they say, if you want a private education, at least a Catholic private education, they can’t say you can’t have an education” - Senator Uriarte This claim was made by Senator Uriarte when he was speaking about private school accessibility in regard to his education tax credit plan. Here, the Senator is incorrectly claiming that private Catholic schools do not turn away students who wish to attend. Some Catholic schools may offer a lot of financial assistance. But, religious private schools in the U.S. are free to discriminate against LGBTQ students because they are exempt from the gender and sexuality rules of Title IX. This exact kind of discrimination occurred in Kansas just last month when a Prairie Village Catholic school chose to deny enrollment to the child of a gay couple. Senator Uriarte would like voters to believe that Kansas Catholic school are accessible to all students, but that is absolutely untrue. Claim: “At the end of the day, evolution and all that stuff is based on personal opinion… If they don’t believe in evolution and they want to send their kid to a private school, that’s their right” - Senator Uriarte This claim was made by Senator Uriarte after he was asked if his education plan would include tax credits for private schools that do not teach evolution. It is true that there is not a complete consensus on the topic of evolution. But, this statement from Senator Uriarte is misleading because he is making evolution seem more controversial than it actually is. Almost all (98 percent) of the scientific community believe that humans evolved over time, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. When it comes to public opinion, 81 percent of U.S. adults believe that humans evolved over time, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center study. This statement shows that Senator Uriarte does not care if private schools included in his tax credit plan are even meeting basic educational standards in their curriculum. Sunflower candidates should find some relief in the fact that one of their candidates was able to give a good answer to this question. “I believe in evolution,” Southwick said. “This is something important that we must teach our children about.” 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,” Garrett 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,” Garrett 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, only 33.3 percent of Sunflower Party voters believe that concealed guns should be allowed on college campuses. By Jaylen Cavil With election season quickly approaching, Kansas voters will soon be faced with an important decision as to who their next Governor will be. Although there has been no official announcement from potential candidates, both the Free State and Sunflower parties have released their platforms. These party platforms offer voters a stark difference in the future they want to see for Kansas. One of the biggest differences in these platforms is the stance on education that the two parties take.
The Free State Party is clear in their support for public education, while the Sunflower Party supports unpopular changes to the Kansas Constitution that would only do more to hurt our public schools. This difference in education policy will be the reason why Kansas voters will elect a Free State candidate as their next Governor. Voters in Kansas are tired of the education debate. They are ready for politicians to stop arguing and finally provide the necessary education funding that the Kansas Supreme Court and Constitution requires. The Free State Party understands that this is not only what the voters want, but what is also necessary. That is why they write in their party platform, “We support adequate and equitable funding for K-12 public education as required by the Kansas Constitution.” The Sunflower party, on the other hand, has outlined a much different vision for the future of public education in Kansas. Instead of supporting a plan that would adhere to legal standards for education funding, they would rather change the Kansas Constitution. Sunflower politicians want to give the Kansas Legislature the power to decide which schools are funded adequately and which schools have to suffer. In the Sunflower Party platform they write, “we support amending the Kansas Constitution to give the Legislature exclusive authority in deciding what constitutes adequate funding for public schools.” This language may prove to be a mistake by Sunflower Party officials. Amending the Kansas Constitution so that K-12 funding is determined solely by the Kansas Legislature is an extremely unpopular idea. In fact, when this exact question was asked in a poll done by the Kansas Policy Institute in September 2018, only 16 percent of Kansas voters said that they were in support of the idea. Due to the vast unpopularity of the Sunflower Party’s education stance, this gubernatorial race may be decided by who wins the Free State primary. While there have been no campaign announcements yet, there is plenty of speculation. One of the candidates who are rumored to be running for the Free State Party nomination is Lawrence Mayor Jack Griswold. Mayor Griswold said that if he were to run, “the main focus of my campaign will be public education.” This policy focus by Mayor Griswold’s potential campaign suggests that he also believes that public education will be the deciding issue in this election. The Free State primary will come down to more than just education, as Mayor Griswold will likely face a primary opponent with possibly the same campaign focus. But, once voters in the general election are presented with a choice between the two parties’ education plans, the Free State candidate will have the advantage. |
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