The four candidates vying for two Lawrence City Commission seats shared their views on diversity, equity and inclusion in the face of changes at the federal level, the city’s budget and more during a forum Saturday.
Mike Courtney, Bart Littlejohn, Kristine Polian and Bob Schumm all advanced from the August primary and will face off in the Nov. 4 general election.
Littlejohn is the sole incumbent in the race, though Schumm previously served on the commission for 12 years, and his most recent term ended in 2015.
The forum, hosted by the Lawrence Branch NAACP, League of Women Voters of Lawrence-Douglas County and local chapter of Women for Kansas, was the last in a series of forums ahead of the election. Dustin Stumblingbear served as moderator.
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Learn more about the candidates and read more forum coverage in our articles at lawrencekstimes.com/election2025.
Find info about the candidates’ experience and the issues that motivated them to run in our candidate questionnaire.
Diversity, equity and inclusion in city policy
Stumblingbear asked whether, “given the political climate and budget issues,” the candidates think the city should hold fast to the diversity, equity and inclusion commitments in the city’s policies and strategic plan, or make revisions.
Littlejohn said that as a person of color and seeing what other people of color and marginalized people are dealing with, he definitely wants to make sure that “that we retain who we are as Lawrence, and that means looking out for each other.”
He said the state and federal governments are making that more and more difficult each day, but the city is trying to navigate that while still doing what the community needs.
“Ultimately, we don’t want what is coming down from up above on both the levels to go ahead and change the way we do business and the way we provide for each other,” he said.
Polian said she didn’t understand why DEI was “such a triggering word for some people, but we will always be inclusive.” She said that’s Lawrence’s history. She said she thought it was reprehensible that the state would adhere to what the feds do.
As far as whether the city has to take DEI out of policy and the strategic plan, “I think we can work around it and still provide protections.
“But really, what it comes down to is this is a community of great people, but some people don’t do the right thing, and we know that, so we want to keep it in policy as much as we can,” she said, “but we can’t lose federal funding. So you know, we’re going to work around it, but we’re always going to be on the right side of history. That’s who we are.”
Schumm said the question hit a hot button with him, and folks will see him at noon each Sunday waving a Ukrainian flag downtown, referencing recurring protests against federal government overreach. “If you don’t stand up and resist, they’re gonna roll you every time they get a chance,” he said.
“We’ve always prided ourselves as being individual and unique. Why the hell give up and roll over on that right now?” he said. “Therefore you can see I’m fine with staying with the program. It’s our program, it’s our city, and we are the people who want to stand by that and make sure it continues the way it is.”
Courtney noted what’s been happening in Chicago, with immigration raids on apartment buildings targeting children. He said Lawrence is “a blue dot in a big red sea,” and eventually, “we will be targeted.”
He said the city should be reaching out to leaders in Manhattan, Topeka and Wichita and forming a coalition of people who are willing to fight back. He said he doesn’t want Washington bureaucrats “coming here and treading on us at the local level.”
“The only thing this administration understands is power, and we need power to fight back, and to fight for the people in this community who don’t have a voice,” he said.
City budgeting process
Stumblingbear asked candidates if they think the city’s budgeting process is adequate to meet the city’s needs, and what changes they think need to be made.
Schumm said the budget seems to be written in code. He said he can’t understand the way it’s written, he didn’t think most people in the room could, and that’s not fair.
“I’m pretty much in favor of a line item budget where you can look at what it costs to run Sports Pavilion Lawrence or what it costs to run City Hall,” he said. “I mean, why can’t you walk through, right down the line, and look and see what each item is, and if it’s over budget or under budget as you go, all through the year?”
He said he’d hope to work with staff to suggest ways to make it easier to understand, and that it needs a lot of work.
Courtney emphasized how the city’s budget has increased over the past several years. He said that since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city has done “too much too fast.”
He said improvements to roads needed to be done but could’ve been spaced out to make them more affordable and to lower property taxes. He said there’s uncertainty with a longer-term capital improvement plan, but it would’ve made it more affordable for people to live in town.
Littlejohn said he’d heard a lot about cuts and poor services throughout the campaign, but he hasn’t heard about programs the city has had success in, such as houselessness and arts and culture.
He said he’d like people to look at the commission’s last meeting in which staff presented about asset management. He said the city is “up there with other places in Johnson County in terms of attractiveness to other companies and other people who want to go ahead and locate here. So we’re doing well.”
Polian said she felt gaslit during Tuesday’s commission meeting “because we’re not in a good position. So to hear me say that we’re not in a good position, and hear somebody else say we’re in a great position, probably feels like cognitive dissonance.” But she said she was bringing 20 years of financial expertise from cities in three states, and she’s concerned about Lawrence’s property tax increases alongside a multimillion-dollar deficit.
She said she’d want to change the format of the budget, and open it to the public much sooner in the process to give people a chance to comment.
“This is the single most important document that the commission passes every year,” she said.
Cast your vote
Just days remain before the deadline to register to vote or update your voter registration for the upcoming Lawrence City Commission and school board election.
Tuesday, Oct. 14 is the deadline to register to vote or update voter registration to cast a ballot. Douglas County voters can register quickly or update their registration online until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday at KSVotes.org.
Advance in-person voting will run from Wednesday, Oct. 15 through noon Monday, Nov. 3.
Douglas County voters can request an advance ballot to vote by mail online at KSVotes.org anytime through Tuesday, Oct. 28.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, which is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Visit the Douglas County clerk’s website for more voting information.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
August Rudisell (he/him) has been a photographer and videographer for The Lawrence Times since March 2021. He is a former dispatcher, he avidly consumes and creates local news, and he would love to meet your dog when out and about at a community event.
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