By NICK BUDD
Hays Post
The Big First Congressional District of Kansas is one of the biggest agricultural districts in the nation. Due to the farming heritage along with several small business establishments throughout western Kansas, the anti-government and anti-tax sentiments of the Republican Party have blew through the western Plains of the First for 50 consecutive years. But there could be a spoiler this year, as Democrat Jim Sherow looks to steal the seat away from Republican Tim Huelskamp, who is seeking his third two-year term in the U.S. House.
Sherow made a stop Thursday in Hays for a candidate forum hosted by Fort Hays State University’s Student Government Association. One of the biggest issues surrounding this year’s election is the fact that the state of Kansas no longer has a member on the House Agricultural Committee for the first time in more than a century. Huelskamp was booted from the Ag Committee in 2008 by members of the Republican leadership, which cited his inability to cooperate with others on the committee despite holding an advanced degree in agricultural policy.
“Understand that there are only 35 congressional districts in the United States whose primary economy is agriculture,” Sherow said. “The First District has the third largest agricultural industry out of any of those. … If we do not have a voice on the Ag Committee, we are crippling our economic development in this district.
“My opponent found himself removed from the Agricultural and Budget committees by his own party leadership. So we have somebody here who doesn’t work well with his own party, he can’t work with members of the other party, which leaves us without a member on the Agricultural Committee.”
Sherow also told the crowd of about 100 that job creation is one of the biggest issues America needs to face, along with tax policy, in order to reduce poverty. He noted that “trickle-down economics simply aren’t working.”
“I have seen how middle income levels have remained flat and been eaten into by inflation and higher taxes for those of us in the middle class,” Sherow said. “Out of the economic prosperity that has occurred slowly since 2008, 90 percent of it has gone to the top 1 percent. That is not trickling down to the rest of us, and it hasn’t been a good job creator.”
Sherow continued to talk to the crowd about immigration reform, specifically about children who come to the United States from Central America without their parents.
“There is currently a bill in the house that improves border security and creates a path to citizenship,” Sherow said. “If you’re talking about children, that’s where amnesty should occur. Those kids who are brought here by their parents are young and they aren’t making those decisions on their own.”