By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
The Kelly administration sees a bright future for Salina and its partnership with the community.
That's the word from Lieutenant Governor David Toland during an exclusive interview with Salina Post earlier this week.
Toland said the Kelly administration is proud of its partnership with the people of Salina. Toland noted not only the growth and vibrance of downtown Salina, but also the growth in local manufacturing and housing starts.
"We've been really proud, Governor Kelly and I, to have been partners with the Salina community in all of this growth, and we think that the future's very bright, and we're going to continue with the same approach and policy to economic development and to community development that we've had from the start," Toland said. "We think that that is going to continue to bring rich dividends for the Salina community."
School funding
Toland also talked about some of the accomplishments of the administration's first term.
"Since I work for the Education Governor, I would be remiss if I didn't start with fully funding our K-12 system for the last four years in a row and getting the state out of the cycle of litigation about underfunding that had really bedeviled us for over 20 years," Toland said.
"We're proud of the investments we've made in our K-12 system, but also in higher education, and that includes K-State Salina and the amazing programs that are happening there," he said.
Toland also noted new investments in the state's community colleges and technical colleges.
Economic development
At the state level, there has been more than $14 billion of new investment that has occurred since Kelly took office in January of 2019, including 52,000 new and retained jobs, Toland said.
"You look at Salina specifically, there have been over 1,300 new jobs created under the Kelly administration. That's 1,323 to be specific. And we've had $687.4 million of private business investment that has happened in Saline County since 2019," he said.
"When you look at the variety of things that have happened in Salina specifically, you know, from Schwans, where the largest frozen pizza plant in the world is going to open next week to Great Plains Manufacturing, which has taken over the Phillips Lighting facility, is just such a great opportunity to really grow the Kubota footprint in Kansas," Toland continued. "There's so much room for growth in that massive facility."
Toland also talked about 1 Vision Aviation at the Salina Regional Airport as an example of growth in Salina, noting how 1 Vision Aviation was able to utilize the assets of the airport in creating new jobs and new investment.
"It's so healthy to have this kind of diversity, from food processing to advanced manufacturing to maintenance, repair, and overhaul for aviation. It's really a good sign about the health of the Salina economy that you've had this kind of diversity of growth," he said.
Axing the food tax
Getting legislation passed to eliminate the state's sales tax on groceries is also listed among the Kelly administration's accomplishments.
"We're really proud that we were able to ax the food tax. And this is both an accomplishment and a to-do for January because axing the food tax got through, but it's on a schedule that takes it a couple of years out before it's actually eliminated, and that's because Derek Schmidt's allies in the legislature didn't want to give Governor Kelly a win in an election year, and so they were playing politics with people's grocery bills," Toland said.
"And so, Priority One along with Medicaid expansion in our second term is going to be immediately axing the food tax so that it takes effect hopefully in January, so that we can give some relief to families that are really struggling and seniors in particular who are on fixed incomes," he said.
Infrastructure
According to Toland, there are more than 1,000 highway construction projects that currently are underway across the state.
"You know, coming to Salina on I-70, there are an awful lot of orange barrels, and that's a good thing. It means that we've stopped the raid of the 'Bank of KDOT' that happened under the Brownback administration, all these transfers of money that Derek Schmidt supported, and we've been able to fully fund the infrastructure we need," Toland said.
Additionally, as part of the IKE Transportation Plan through the Kansas Department of Transportation, funding is available to increase broadband internet offerings in the state.
"We're really proud that there are 55,000 new households and businesses that have been connected to high-speed internet in the last 18 months," he said.
"When you think about those kinds of investements, and then you think about how Derek Schmidt says he wants to get in and start slashing and cutting, you know, he's going to be cutting broadband. He's going to be cutting economic development. He's going to be cutting the highway program. And these are things that the voters have made clear are important to them and they don't want to see us go down that road again," Toland said.
Republican support
As campaigning for the upcoming election has progressed, a number of well-known Republicans have come out in support of the Kelly-Toland ticket. Those Republicans include former Kansas governors Bill Graves and Mike Hayden, former U.S. senators from Kansas Nancy Kassebaum and Sheila Frahm, former U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister, former Republican National Committee Committeewoman Alicia Salisbury, and former Kansas Attorney General Robert Stephan.
"I think it reflects who the governor and I are as people. We are centrist, concensus builders who work to find common ground and who don't worry so much about party labels. We worry about getting the public policy right and doing things that not only help people in the here and now, but really set up the next generation for success," Toland said.
He continued, "Ultimately, I think the reason we've got such strong Republican support across the state is that folks see that Governor Kelly is a middle-of-the-road governor who works to craft sound public policy and isn't worried about party labels. She's worried about getting it right."
No drag party funding
Recently, the British tabloid The Daily Mail falsely claimed that the Kansas Department of Commerce and its Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission (KCAIC), provided funding for drag shows in Wichita. A poster for one of the shows included the Department of Commerce/KCAIC logo.
Members of the GOP, including Kelly's gubernatorial opponent Derek Schmidt, expressed outrage over the alleged funding, which the Kelly administration quickly debunked as false.
READ: Kan. GOP seize on false report about drag show to attack Governor
When asked about the issue, Toland said, "It's just flat out not true. It didn't happen," calling the incident a "classic, late October political dirty trick."
OpenStudios, the sponsor of one of the Wichita events, also noted that no state funds were to be used for the event. In a post on its Facebook page, Open Studios wrote, "You may have noticed we had to erase a few posts about the event because of some (frustrating) marketing miscommunications. After a few inquiries, we’d like to clarify that the KCAIC is not sponsoring this event. Their logo was placed on former posters because of their relationship with Fisch Bowl Inc., who hosts the OpenStudios spaces at Towne West. No state funds were used in support of this event."