By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
To hear Dr. Jeff Colyer tell it, he was conservative before conservative was cool. Now he's counting on his conservative values to land him back in the Kansas governor's office.
Colyer, a Republican who served as the 47th governor of Kansas from January 31, 2018, to January 14, 2019, stopped in Salina Thursday during a campaign tour and spoke with Salina Post.
"We decided to join the fray and there's a very strong contrast, you know, with Laura Kelly. I'm running on my record," Colyer said of the 2022 governor's race. "What I handed over was more Kansans working than ever before in the history of the state. We had all-time personal income at the time. A $900 million surplus. We'd saved $2.5 billion on Medicaid expenditures by improving care. I think that record is something that, this is where Kansans want to go."
Colyer blasted the Kelly administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly the closing of businesses and churches.
"If you go and you contrast that with Nebraska, or Missouri, or Oklahoma, they're beating the socks off us, let alone look at what Texas, and Florida, and South Dakota are doing," Colyer said. "The way forward for us is one where Kansans, you know, we let small businesses grow and thrive, and we need to have startups. Making sure those jobs are available. That we don't have too much government intervention, and we're starting to see this massive intervention coming down from Washington, and being able to push back on it."
Colyer, a board certified craniofacial/plastic surgeon, has been making stops throughout the state to visit with Kansans.
"People want to talk. People are coming out. They wanna see what's going on," he said. "They're very interested, because I'm the conservative candidate in this. I was a conservative before conservative was cool."
Colyer said he started out in politics as an intern for former U.S. Senator Bob Dole. He also was a White House Fellow in the Reagan administration. More recently, at the request of Former President Donald Trump, Colyer chaired the National Advisory Commission on Rural Health.
"I'm running my race. My race is I'm the conservative. I have a proven record on this. Being a fifth generation Kansan from western Kansas, this is my DNA. I wanna see places like Salina and Hays and Goodland, and Scott City grow. To do that, you need a governor who's gonna be active, who's gonna enact conservative principles and that's what we'll do," Colyer said.
As Colyer sees it, Kansas should be a dynamic place and that starts with the governor.
"We have great talent here. We all know kids that we've lost to other states because they didn't see that opportunity here," he said.
Ways to increase those opportunities, he said, are to increase technology across the state and recruit more businesses to come to Kansas.
"One of the things we're doing is we're losing western Kansans. We're losing Kansans in general, and young people, because of no access to broadband and technology. We gotta build this out. That's got to be a priority and you gotta do it now. Having the technology so that you can you can reach out anywhere," Colyer said.
Increasing opportunities starts with the governor, he said.
"That means you're out recruiting businesses. You go to California, you recruit 'em. You recruit 'em from other places. But you stand by your local businesses. You work with local businesses so they can grow and thrive and make some of those international connections, those business connections, so we as a state can really compete," Colyer said.
"As I'm talking to folks, they want to do that, but they want a governor that's gonna make sure that there isn't going to be all these regulations coming down on them. Taxes, we need to make sure that taxes are low and simple and not intrusive. And we have to have good government services," he added.
The way to provide good government services while keeping taxes low is through government efficiency, Colyer said.
"Let me give you an example of that. When I was governor, we were the first state where you get an app where you can do your car tags," he said. "We could do a lot more things like that, where we minimize the bureaucracy and that's actually cheaper in the long run."
Colyer said that issues of conscience also are important.
"We're seeing lots of things happening from Washington. We're seeing, for example, President Biden last week proposed that for the first time in 40 years, that they use taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. That's not who Kansans are," he said. "You know, as Kansans, we value people. We value healthcare. But these issues of conscience are important to Kansans as well as good government."
Where does Colyer want Kansas to be in eight to nine years?
"I want Kansas to be the dynamic state in the Midwest. Low taxes, conservative values. This is the best place to have a small business and to raise a family. We can get there. We all see it. We're Kansans and we know. But, we're falling short" he said.
Colyer said Kansans were common sense conservative.
"What I hear from them is 'We want conservative values, conservative principals.' Sometimes you don't compromise. And other times, you take what you can get and we'll take the other half of the sandwich the next time and move forward," he said.
"So why I'm running is I am the conservative. I worked for President Reagan. I know how to do this," Colyer said. "And we have kind of a unique situation where we can contrast our record with Laura Kelly's record and that's why we're gonna win."