By NICK BUDD
Hays Post

Jill Docking, running mate for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Paul Davis, visited Hays residents Sunday at Hays Arts Council.

Docking talked about her driving force for running for office for the first time since her 1996 campaign, when she ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate. Her opponent in that race, like the upcoming, was Gov. Sam Brownback.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever been so concerned as a Kansan about what’s going on in Kansas,” Docking said.

Docking served as a co-chairwoman of the Kansas Board of Regents from 2007-2010. She also currently serves as one of the co-chairs, with her husband, Tom, of the University of Kansas Capital Campaign. With her strong educational background, she talked about some of the education cuts Kansas schools have endured recently.

“Education is my passion,” Docking said. “I’ve become very concerned when I see over the next five or 10 years, a systematic defunding of education with Gov. Brownback’s experiment — and that’s going to go all the way from K-12 through higher education.”

She said tax reform is one of the bigger issues for the Davis-Docking ticket.

“We are focused on the experiment of Gov. Brownback and the effect that has on taxation for average Kansans,” Docking said. “It’s going to continually become more burdensome for middle-income working families, young families and senior citizens because the burden is going to be put on property tax and sales tax.

“I think it’s important for Kansans to know that there is a team of candidates out there who believe, as they believe, that the Kansas we love is business-friendly, but part of that is to support education and the workforce,” she added. “If we don’t have a strong quality of life here, businesses won’t move here.”

Docking, Wichita, is the wife of former Lt. Gov. Tom Docking, who served in office with former Gov. John Carlin.

For more on the Davis-Docking campaign, click HERE.