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Signal: What steps have you taken thus far toward running for governor?
Thornburgh: I’ve put together a campaign committee and have been busy fund raising. I’m really building on the former campaign organization I used in being elected to this office four times.
Signal: What prompted this decision to try to succeed Sebelius as governor?
Thornburgh: I look at what’s been happening in Topeka and I’m not happy about what’s been going on with the single largest issue, which is state finances. We’ve seen an annual increase in spending of around nine percent a year over the last seven years, while there’s been an increase in income of only one to two percent a year. Now that we’re in an economic downturn this is even more serious. In 2007 Kansas led the nation (among the 50 states) in government created jobs per capita, while being in the bottom five in terms of privately created jobs. That’s a problem.
Signal: Speculation has Dennis McKinney (current state treasurer), Jill Docking (investment banker and state university regent) and Chris Steineger (state senator from Kansas City area) as the leading prospects on the Democrat side to run for governor. Which of the three right now appears to you to be the most formidable opponent if you were to get the GOP nomination next year?
Thornburgh: I’m not prepared to answer that at this point. It’s too early for that.
Signal: You and US Senator Sam Brownback are cited as the two Republicans most interested in the 2010 race. Brownback obviously has the greater name recognition because of his time in Washington. What can you do to overcome that advantage?
Thornburgh: A couple of things. In my previous campaigns I’ve always been the guy with the least name recognition and least amount of money, but I was the leading vote getter on the ballot last time out (2006). I have a lot of grassroots support and I’ve done a lot of travel all over Kansas. I’m not just the Secretary of State for northeast Kansas, but all of Kansas.
Signal: How would you characterize relations right now between Governor Sebelius and the legislature’s GOP leaders?
Thornburgh: Horrendous. They don’t do a good job of communicating with each other. They seem to think it’s more important their opponent lose than policy win. That’s both sides, but it’s a responsibility of the governor to lead the state of Kansas, even when communication is difficult.
Signal: Which side do you hold as being more responsible for the standoff and especially for the recent, short-lived threat of State employees not getting paid and state income tax refunds not being sent because of the confrontation between the governor and legislative leaders over whether or not she’d sign the budget bill meant to remedy this fiscal year’s shortfall?
Thornburgh: There’s enough blame to go around. There was political posturing on both sides. I don’t think there was ever a real chance the employees weren’t going to get paid. It became a political battle more than a policy battle. The legislature looked at this (refusing to sign off on borrowing money from other State funds to bridge the gap) as a way of holding the governor’s feet to the fire on signing the budget bill.
Signal: What’s your thumbnail evaluation of Sebelius’s first six years as governor and how does her tenure argue for a GOP successor in 2010?
Thornburgh: She’s spent far too much money and reached the regulatory arm of government into areas it didn’t belong. She’s practiced grabs for authority that are unprecedented. For instance the KDHE (Kansas Department of Health and Environment) Secretary (Rod Bremby) didn’t have the authority to do what he did (in derailing the process of Sunflower Electric building a new coal-fire power plant near Holcomb). That was just a power grab that never should have been allowed.
Signal: With Sebelius’s apparent ties (as documented by such watchdog groups as Operation Rescue) to Wichita late-term abortionist George Tiller, it would appear she’s no ally of the pro-life movement.
Thornburgh: How’s that for an understatement?
Signal: Understatement or not, what’s your overall stance on abortion on demand?
Thornburgh: I’m definitely pro-life. I want to see limited abortions in Kansas. I’d like to see steps taken to ease the effort it takes to adopt. Arranging for adoption of children who’d otherwise be aborted is so less costly on every level.
Signal: Sebelius is also known to have vetoed the comprehensive energy legislation that was put forth a year ago by the legislature, a veto they couldn’t quite override. That legislation, in part, would have allowed for the coal fire plant in Holcomb to go forward. Would you have signed that legislation, and if so, how is the governor’s thinking on energy and coal fire generation in particular not in line with your own?
Thornburgh: We’re in need of efforts to create new energy sources, but we have to have a plan in place first to efficiently produce energy from known resources as a base that will give us the time we need to develop energy from alternative sources. Without that kind of base in place we don’t have the ability to reach out to renewable energy sources being developed in a realistic way. The two power grids in Kansas don’t even talk to each other now. Building that plant in Holcomb would have created the kind of economic vitality it takes to put up new transmission lines at a cost of $1.6 million per mile. When you create energy you have to be able to move it, and having that plant would bring about the need to put up the lines to move energy whether produced by coal or wind, or something else.
Signal: Any other issues that are particularly important in your view as we head toward the campaign of 2010?
Thornburgh: The three big issues for me are fiscal responsibility, energy and transportation. We’ve failed to build on the last transportation program, and since there’s not a new transportation plan to succeed this one when it runs out of money this year—a year early—it’s now going to be another two to three years before we get the next one in place. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to travel up and down US 54 and see there are pressing issues of congestion and safety in play every day. There’s just been a real lack of leadership from the governor on this matter, though the legislative leadership isn’t completely without blame. But again, leadership comes from the top down.
Signal: What steps have you taken thus far toward running for governor?
Thornburgh: I’ve put together a campaign committee and have been busy fund raising. I’m really building on the former campaign organization I used in being elected to this office four times.
Signal: What prompted this decision to try to succeed Sebelius as governor?
Thornburgh: I look at what’s been happening in Topeka and I’m not happy about what’s been going on with the single largest issue, which is state finances. We’ve seen an annual increase in spending of around nine percent a year over the last seven years, while there’s been an increase in income of only one to two percent a year. Now that we’re in an economic downturn this is even more serious. In 2007 Kansas led the nation (among the 50 states) in government created jobs per capita, while being in the bottom five in terms of privately created jobs. That’s a problem.
Signal: Speculation has Dennis McKinney (current state treasurer), Jill Docking (investment banker and state university regent) and Chris Steineger (state senator from Kansas City area) as the leading prospects on the Democrat side to run for governor. Which of the three right now appears to you to be the most formidable opponent if you were to get the GOP nomination next year?
Thornburgh: I’m not prepared to answer that at this point. It’s too early for that.
Signal: You and US Senator Sam Brownback are cited as the two Republicans most interested in the 2010 race. Brownback obviously has the greater name recognition because of his time in Washington. What can you do to overcome that advantage?
Thornburgh: A couple of things. In my previous campaigns I’ve always been the guy with the least name recognition and least amount of money, but I was the leading vote getter on the ballot last time out (2006). I have a lot of grassroots support and I’ve done a lot of travel all over Kansas. I’m not just the Secretary of State for northeast Kansas, but all of Kansas.
Signal: How would you characterize relations right now between Governor Sebelius and the legislature’s GOP leaders?
Thornburgh: Horrendous. They don’t do a good job of communicating with each other. They seem to think it’s more important their opponent lose than policy win. That’s both sides, but it’s a responsibility of the governor to lead the state of Kansas, even when communication is difficult.
Signal: Which side do you hold as being more responsible for the standoff and especially for the recent, short-lived threat of State employees not getting paid and state income tax refunds not being sent because of the confrontation between the governor and legislative leaders over whether or not she’d sign the budget bill meant to remedy this fiscal year’s shortfall?
Thornburgh: There’s enough blame to go around. There was political posturing on both sides. I don’t think there was ever a real chance the employees weren’t going to get paid. It became a political battle more than a policy battle. The legislature looked at this (refusing to sign off on borrowing money from other State funds to bridge the gap) as a way of holding the governor’s feet to the fire on signing the budget bill.
Signal: What’s your thumbnail evaluation of Sebelius’s first six years as governor and how does her tenure argue for a GOP successor in 2010?
Thornburgh: She’s spent far too much money and reached the regulatory arm of government into areas it didn’t belong. She’s practiced grabs for authority that are unprecedented. For instance the KDHE (Kansas Department of Health and Environment) Secretary (Rod Bremby) didn’t have the authority to do what he did (in derailing the process of Sunflower Electric building a new coal-fire power plant near Holcomb). That was just a power grab that never should have been allowed.
Signal: With Sebelius’s apparent ties (as documented by such watchdog groups as Operation Rescue) to Wichita late-term abortionist George Tiller, it would appear she’s no ally of the pro-life movement.
Thornburgh: How’s that for an understatement?
Signal: Understatement or not, what’s your overall stance on abortion on demand?
Thornburgh: I’m definitely pro-life. I want to see limited abortions in Kansas. I’d like to see steps taken to ease the effort it takes to adopt. Arranging for adoption of children who’d otherwise be aborted is so less costly on every level.
Signal: Sebelius is also known to have vetoed the comprehensive energy legislation that was put forth a year ago by the legislature, a veto they couldn’t quite override. That legislation, in part, would have allowed for the coal fire plant in Holcomb to go forward. Would you have signed that legislation, and if so, how is the governor’s thinking on energy and coal fire generation in particular not in line with your own?
Thornburgh: We’re in need of efforts to create new energy sources, but we have to have a plan in place first to efficiently produce energy from known resources as a base that will give us the time we need to develop energy from alternative sources. Without that kind of base in place we don’t have the ability to reach out to renewable energy sources being developed in a realistic way. The two power grids in Kansas don’t even talk to each other now. Building that plant in Holcomb would have created the kind of economic vitality it takes to put up new transmission lines at a cost of $1.6 million per mile. When you create energy you have to be able to move it, and having that plant would bring about the need to put up the lines to move energy whether produced by coal or wind, or something else.
Signal: Any other issues that are particularly important in your view as we head toward the campaign of 2010?
Thornburgh: The three big issues for me are fiscal responsibility, energy and transportation. We’ve failed to build on the last transportation program, and since there’s not a new transportation plan to succeed this one when it runs out of money this year—a year early—it’s now going to be another two to three years before we get the next one in place. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to travel up and down US 54 and see there are pressing issues of congestion and safety in play every day. There’s just been a real lack of leadership from the governor on this matter, though the legislative leadership isn’t completely without blame. But again, leadership comes from the top down.
