Note: The Lawrence Times runs opinion columns and letters to the Times written by community members with varying perspectives on local issues. These pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Times staff.
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Kansans fit the mold my dad used to define as “independent as a hog on ice” — an analogy dear to my farm-kid heritage.
So, no surprise, I could vote (D) for Kathleen Sebelius for governor but, upon seeing former Kansas Secretary of State Kris “Machine-gun” Kobach (R) aiming to become governor in 2018, switched to (R) in the primary election to vote for his opponent: Kobach out.
Then back to (D), for Bernie in 2020, and once again (R) in the 2022 primary, trying to toss Kobach, yet again (though he snuck by on a three-way split).
Now, 2020 election-denier Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt (R), who filed suit to decertify Biden’s election, covets the role of governor, importing autocratic supporters Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz to amp up his campaign aspirations. The horror! And Kobach is salivating anew over his now 2022 Kansas attorney general quest, hoping voters won’t recall his mean-spirited past political excesses.
So, before I voted last week against Skeksis-like Kansas GOP powermongers, first I switched my party affiliation again: to Independent, where I belong. And I feel so much less slimed now. Freedom, thy name is Kansas.
— A. Reed (she/her), Lawrence
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More Community Voices:
Max Kautsch: Kansas Legislature’s supermajority makes mockery of open records law over efficiency portal messages (Column)
“This iteration of the Legislature seems to think it is entitled to redact information that could traditionally be found in a phonebook, and that it may do so in a futile attempt to shield the identity of a handful of powerful Kansans but not the rest of us,” Max Kautsch writes in this Kansas Reflector column.
