By Don Hineman
Farmer and former Kansas House Majority Leader
Don Hineman served in the Kansas House of Representative as a Republican and in local government positions before that. He has been president of the Kansas Livestock Association chairman of the Kansas Alliance for Education, and sat on the board of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
By this point in the election cycle we are all fed up with the constant barrage of election messaging. We are ready for it to stop. We long to see ambulance-chasing lawyer ads on TV again. We want to focus once again on cute animal videos on social media. And we are even looking forward to the day when our mailbox will contain nothing more than bills.
In the Kansas campaign for U.S. Senator, we can judge incumbent Senator Roger Marshall on his record – by his actions and by his inaction. By that metric he has failed Kansas time and again.
Roger Marshall failed to speak out while the Trump administration’s actions dramatically diminished international trade alliances which Kansas consumers and businesses depend upon.
He has come to the defense of ill-conceived tariffs which continue to harm Kansas consumers and businesses.
He regularly shows up on cable outlets to preach about the threat of immigration but has stubbornly ignored the realities of that difficult issue.
He has enthusiastically supported tax policy which further enriches the wealthiest, while average Kansans fall further behind.
And he has remained in support of an ill-conceived Iran war which has proven to be very difficult to resolve, creating significant negative effects on the U.S. economy.
And finally, Marshall has turned a blind eye to overwhelming evidence of rampant corruption within the administration and has supported them in their refusal to bring justice to the victims of Roger Epstein and his associates.
Roger Marshall’s actions and inactions demonstrate his choice to ignore the needs and wishes of his constituents. He has chosen instead to do the bidding of his fat-cat donors and so consistently, unthinkingly, and obediently follow the wishes of the president.
If we allow Marshall to continue to ignore his constituents, we are telling him it is OK. We are teaching him that he can ignore us without consequence.
This is how representative government dies.
When we consider the alternative, Pastor Adam Hamilton, we can look to his well-respected and successful career as a church founder and pastor. That is a wonderful and inspiring story, and I have seen it firsthand by attending his church on a few occasions with extended family members.
But we can also examine his words during the campaign even as we acknowledge that he must prove those words once he gains office. Adam promises to lead and govern from the center, with compassion and understanding, or as he has claimed on the campaign trail, he will use his brain, his heart and his courage on behalf of all Kansans.
He has pledged to avoid extremes, and to be present and accessible to Kansas on a regular basis.
These are just words at this point, but I certainly like what I hear, and I believe it is time to give the new guy a chance.
As a twelve-year veteran of the Kansas legislature, I certainly understand how the system works. I acknowledge that the system can function only with a certain level of deference to, and support of, those in leadership. That is true, whether it be a House Speaker, a Senate President, or the President of the United States.
But I also earnestly believe that there will be times when a legislator must take an unpopular stand when it is of great importance to his or her constituents.
Failure to do so inevitably leads constituents to ask why the hell their representative is even in office, and for whom does he serve.
Increasingly, Roger Marshall’s constituents are asking exactly those questions.
It is time for Roger to go. It is time to put our trust in Adam Hamilton. I respectfully ask you to join me in doing so.
Don Hineman
Farmer and former Kansas House Majority Leader.