Greg Orman is the best choice for Governor and I am confident that the majority of Kansas voters will recognize that fact by the end of the summer.

I got to know Greg and his family while volunteering on his 2014 campaign, and I have formed a friendship with the Ormans.

Janice K. Lee’s op-ed on Feb. 28, 2018, was not only off the mark, it was filled with anger, and it was beneath the former State Senator. The personal attacks and negative assumptions of Greg Orman are the exact kind of politics that turns people off from the political process.

43% of voters preferred Greg Orman in 2014. That’s closer than any Democrat in Kansas has come to beating an incumbent Senator since 1974. Anyone who didn’t know what Greg stood for in that race was not paying attention. Many voters stuck with Pat Roberts because they were convinced his seniority in the Senate and a Republican majority benefited Kansas more than Roberts’ poor voting record hurt us. Other voters were persuaded by the unprecedented number of negative ads and postcards during the final month of the campaign, funded by dark money flowing from supporters of the national GOP who were desperate to keep a Republican in that seat.

Greg Orman ran a respectable campaign in 2014; he will use what he learned to win this race for Governor. He has excellent statewide name recognition, proven fundraising capability, and a vision for Kansas — to be revealed over the coming months — that is exactly what we need.
I don’t see any other strong candidates with real solutions running for governor. On both sides there are candidates who I believe to be good people for which I have respect, but I just do not have the confidence in them.

I noticed that former State Senator Janis K. Lee’s op-ed doesn’t name specific candidates she prefers. Her op-ed clearly is intended only to bash Greg Orman. She says there are “strong candidates,” but any candidate who can’t get elected due to lack of name recognition or lack of funding is not a “strong” candidate.

The gridlock in Washington D.C. exists in Topeka, too. When Kansans demanded change in 2016, Greg Orman was doing his part to help. I don’t know what Greg wants to share about what he did; like the support the rest of us gave to campaigns for the Kansas Senate and House, the work is behind the scenes and not the subject of news articles. Those of us in the trenches (beyond merely the Democratic candidates Janis K. Lee supports) are aware of the role Greg Orman played.

When Janis K. Lee touts the bi-partisan cooperation in the Kansas Legislature that reversed the Brownback tax plan and put our state on the road to recovery, she needs to take note that she is complimenting the vision of Greg Orman and other Independents who supported the campaigns of moderate Republicans and a few Democrats to make that possible.

The fight against the Brownback/Colyer agenda began after the 2012 election, for those who don’t recall. That’s when PACs dedicated to replacing reasonable, good longtime legislators with people who would toe the ALEC and AFP line got involved in the GOP primaries, and we ended up with a Kansas Legislature eager to rubberstamp Brownback’s policies which have been disastrous for our state. Grassroots organizations started springing up in 2013 as a response, and many of us rallied behind one Democratic ticket in 2014 in an effort to unseat Brownback. Greg Orman supported grassroots efforts in addition to running for U.S. Senate. I don’t see that kind of rallying happening now for any candidate but Greg Orman.

Greg’s book, A Declaration of Independents: How We Can Break the Two-Party Stranglehold and Restore the American Dream, is excellent and needed. Anyone wanting to know Greg’s background, values, views and vision should read it. As for his appearances on national television shows, which have been numerous since 2014, I’m sure the other candidates (except for Kris Kobach) only dream of such coverage. National media pay attention to Greg Orman because he is saying and doing things that are worthy of national attention. Fortunately for us, Greg is a much more positive representation on the national stage for Kansas than the reputation we’ve acquired since the Brownback era began.
Greg has been interviewed since January by the Topeka Capital-Journal, Kansas News Service, the Kansas City Star, etc. and has shared some details of his vision for Kansas and his stances on various issues, including an op-ed in the Hays Post. It’s only March; there will be eight more months of interviews, op-eds, announcements and many opportunities for Kansans to meet Greg Orman and ask him questions in person.

What I see in Greg Orman is a Kansan eager to find a way to do his part to make a difference. That started in his childhood, when Greg was raised in a single-parent household with 5 siblings, receiving free or reduced-price lunches while attending public schools, and continued as he worked his way through college with the help of guaranteed student loans. Greg developed his interest in business from his father, a small business owner who valued his role as an employer and contributor to the community. His whole extended family has shown a passion for public service and giving back. They are some of the most generous people I’ve met.

Janice K. Lee has made assertions about what Greg Orman wants. Those assertions reveal merely how little she actually knows about Greg Orman.

Cindy Kelly
Wichita