Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

TOPEKA — The remaining Kansas Republicans running for governor and Congress after Tuesday’s primary say they want federal health reform repealed or defunded.

But the outcome of state legislative races, at least to some, suggests there might be little appetite among the wider Kansas electorate for rolling back health reform.

Missouri voters on Tuesday approved a ballot measure intended to exempt that state from the reform’s mandate that everyone have health insurance by 2014. That has widely been interpreted, correctly or incorrectly, to mean that most in the Show-Me State oppose all of health reform.

But Kansas voters didn’t have a similar ballot question despite work by some GOP conservatives to advance a constitutional amendment exempting Kansans from the requirement to have coverage. That means Tuesday ended with no certain gauge of what most Kansas voters think about health reform.

What was clear from the legislative races was that some major efforts to chase GOP moderates from office largely failed.

Rep. Don Hill of Emporia, like most moderates who faced a conservative opponent, easily fended off the challenge.

Strong undercurrent

He said though voters were concerned about a range of federal issues, he thought it unlikely based on what he heard campaigning that there would be wide support for hamstringing health reform.

“There is a strong undercurrent of frustration and fear on national issues, primarily immigration, health care reform, the budget and taxes,” Hill said.

But he said when people talked about the particulars of health reform there was little specific about it that they wanted eliminated.

“I suspect we’ll continue to wring our hands and gnash our teeth,” Hill said. “But my hope is that we can start getting to all the things that need to be in place for health reform to happen. It’s the path we need to be on.

“When you look at what’s taken place since July 1,” he said, “and you ask people how much of it should be repealed, the answer is ‘not much.’”

Nonetheless, Hill predicted Republican gains in Congress would slow the pace of implementing health reform.

“I think the way the reform regulations are written will be undoubtedly be altered by November elections,” he said. “I think you’ll see the pace – the aggressive implementation – start to moderate. I’m not saying I think that should happen, I’m saying it’s going to be the natural outcome of the shift in Congress.”

The economy

Garrett Love, a 22-year-old political novice from Montezuma, may have pulled off the biggest upset of the primary by defeating former House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, a fellow GOP conservative.

Love said voters in the district were primarily concerned about the economy, though he also heard some talk about health care.

“Mainly, that there’s a problem with it in its current state,” he said. “Also, they don’t want the government controlling them.”

Love said health care “is not one of my big areas of expertise,” but, “I’m not much of a fan,” of federal health reform.

“I think the current path of our government is not good for our country and not good for our state,” he said. “My biggest thing is we’ve got to get our economy back on track.”

Love said he and Neufeld weren’t far apart philosophically.

Neufeld voted against the new sales tax increase and Love said he didn't campaign against him on that issue.

"I haven't looked at all of our alternatives. While it looks like a fair tax...it places us as the 8th highest sales taxed state in the country and also higher than all our neighboring states and I think it is not good for our economy."

But what about taxes?

Some legislators said they saw little evidence voters wanted to punish those who voted to increase the sales tax to help fund schools.

The Kansas Chamber worked against candidates who earlier this year voted to increase the sales tax.

“I think it’s interesting that three individuals who voted no on the sales tax – (John) Faber, (Deena) Horst, and Neufeld – lost, while, at the same time, Andover passed a 1-cent sales tax increase to pay for a new city hall,” Rep. Bob Bethell, R-Alden said. “What does that tell us? I have to wonder if the people of Kansas are as worried about the sales tax as the Chamber wants us to believe. It certainly doesn’t look that way.

“My concern is that I’m not so sure the Chamber is in touch with reality when it comes to the people of Kansas – and I’m a big supporter of the Chamber,” Bethell said. “I think I voted with them on every issue this year except the sales tax.

“I can tell you that I talked to a lot people in my district and none of them wanted to see the sales tax go up, but they recognized the need,” he said. “They thought it was the best way to spread the burden around and they sure didn’t want to see their property tax go up.”

Rep. Charlie Roth, R-Salina, another GOP moderate, said he didn’t see much from the primary that would result in major shifts in the Kansas House.

“I think it was pretty much a draw in terms of the shifting political seas.” he said. “I was saddened that we lost (Rep.) Jill Quigley – she was a health care advocate – but I’m heartened by some of the other things I see out there.

“I think it’s pretty clear that the Chamber spent a lot of money and didn’t get much for it.”

Roth predicted some legislators would try again to gain passage of a constitutional amendment to opt out of health reform.

Jeff Glendening, vice president of political affairs for the Chamber said he thought the primary made it clear that the Kansas House will likely be more fiscally conservative after the general, given the number of new conservatives who won in open seats. He said conservatives also had ousted incumbents Horst and Quigley in part because the legislators had voted to pass a budget that required the sales tax increase.

"I think it's pretty clear that overspending and tax increases were major issues," he said, "even for people who didn't necessarily vote against the (sales) tax increase. They talked about past tax cuts they had voted for."

He said the rhetoric of some successful moderates in the primary campaign hadn't matched their actions as legislators.

He said the organization looks forward to a Sam Brownback being the next governor joined by a larger number of conservatives in the House.

General election ahead

Some Democrats characterized the relative success of moderates in the House and Senate races where they were challenged as a sign that conservative Republicans are out of step with mainstream Kansas voters.

Moderate Republicans joined Democrats this year in approving the sales tax increase and budget in the face of opposition from House Republican leadership.

“The Republicans in Kansas have now nominated two of the most extreme conservatives in the country – Sam Brownback (for governor) and Kris Kobach (for secretary of state),” said Rep. Jim Ward, D-Wichita. “But when you step back and look at what happened to the moderates in the House races, you have to wonder if the top of the Republican ticket is out of step with the people of Kansas. I think the (moderate) coalition has a good chance to survive.”