Submitted
Eber Phelps, candidate for 111th State Representative, greeted a large crowd of supporters at the home of former Senator Janis Lee, in Hays, with news about the upcoming campaign, at a gathering on Sunday.
Phelps, who is seeking the 111th seat – composed of Hays, Victoria and rural Ellis County – spoke to a group including Republicans, Democrats and Independents from Ellis County. He was introduced by the guest of honor, Paul Davis, the Democratic candidate for Governor in a close race against incumbent Sam Brownback in 2014. Davis reminded those present that the “incumbent 111th Representative, Sue Ellen
Davis reminded those present that the “incumbent 111th Representative, Sue Ellen Boldra and Brownback worked with other far right Representatives and Senators to implement unwise tax policies and reckless spending which has left the State of Kansas reeling financially while neighboring States have reaped the benefits of Kansas’s failures,” Davis said. “While Missouri, Colorado, Oklahoma and Nebraska have had healthy gains in jobs, Kansas has fallen woefully short of Brownback’s and Boldra’s promise of 30,000 new jobs.”
“I served in the Kansas House with both Eber Phelps and Sue Boldra and I can tell you that Boldra is incapable of telling Brownback and his handlers ‘No’ for the remaining two years of Brownback’s term. Eber will fight for his constituents, not for a deluded Governor and his failed experiment,” Davis said. “Boldra and others spent the last few elections running with Sam Brownback and now I expect to see them run from Sam Brownback, but Kansans are smarter than that and I believe that we have turned a corner. The pendulum is swinging and it needs to sweep fickle office-holders like Boldra out of the Statehouse,” Davis said.
Phelps told the gathering that he is proud of having voted against Brownback’s tax “experiment” and that he will have no problem joining with moderate Republicans and Democrats in restoring fairness to the tax code and bolstering education at the local and state levels. He said he will seek the advice of Duane Goossen, the Budget Director for the three Governors preceding Brownback, in crafting immediate solutions to the crucial funding of highways and education and programs for the elderly.
“I had no intention of running for this office until I saw the deliberate sabotage of our State’s finances by Boldra and others when they were given a clear opportunity to start fixing the problem at the end of the 73 day session. When I saw them pass a law that turned the problem right back to the creator of it, Sam Brownback, I knew that things won’t change in Topeka unless we change our representation there. My service on the City Commission has reminded me that it is important to keep our infrastructure maintained and to use a balanced tax system to do that. Brownback and his followers, including my opponent, have stripped us of the ability to fix our streets and highways and have taken needed money from our universities, including Fort Hays State. They have put a band aid on the unconstitutional funding system foisted off on the taxpayers. She had numerous chances to do the right thing for us but instead waited to see how the political winds were blowing to cast “safe” votes when they didn’t hurt Brownback’s foolish policies and voted the other way when Brownback told her he needed her vote,” Phelps said. “Neither Ellis County, Hays ,Victoria, nor the State can afford those kinds of games in these serious times,” he said. “We definitely cannot afford two more years of Brownback and Boldra.”
Phelps announced that he has selected a Treasurer and that he considered all in attendance at the event to be among his policy advisers and asked that his supporters help him wage a grassroots campaign.
“I anticipate that Ms. Boldra will once again rely on campaign money from Brownback and others who have unfairly benefited from the shift of taxes from large corporations to people at the grocery store and while I can’t expect to raise that kind of money from Ellis County, I can outwork them, with your help,” Phelps told the group.