From the Alvin and Rosalie Sara Check studio.

PBS Kansas Presents Kansas Week, six hour waits and massive frustration at the Sedgwick County tag office.

We look into the proposed fixes to repair a broken system, plus a sudden end for a third political party in Kansas.

Why?

Campaign leaders are officially pulling the plug.

But first, the race for Kansas governor hits high gear as a crucial deadline approaches.

We'll break down the latest high profile running.

Made announcements right now on Kansas Week.

Welcome to Kansas week.

I'm Jared Cirillo.

The race for Kansas governor is hitting high gear now as the June 1st candidate filing deadline rapidly approaches, Democratic State Senator Ethan Corson, backed by Governor Laura Kelly, has now officially named his running mate.

He has chosen Rene Dux Lower, the president and CEO of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce.

Raised in Hays and McPherson, dux, Laura brings strong central and western Kansas roots.

A background in social work, and extensive economic development experience to the ticket.

Her selection joins a wave of recent running mate disclosures already, Democrat Cindy Holsinger has teamed up with Wichita State Representative Casey Harbison, while Republican Vicky Schmidt is running alongside Jo Newland.

With 11 weeks left until the August 4th primary.

The remaining major candidates are expected to lock in their tickets within the next few days or weeks.

Here to discuss this, and some of the week's other big news is Democratic State Representative John Carmichael.

Sedgwick County Republican Chair John Whitmer and community activist Brock Booker.

Thank you all for joining us.

I'll start with Representative Carmichael here.

What do you think about these running mate choices to Democrats here?

So you're you're also a Democrat.

What are these good choices or are they or they, strategic choices?

Well, in the lead in we actually had three big announcements this past week.

And I think all three of those gubernatorial candidates are trying to do the same thing, and that is to add some geographic, diversity to their, tickets.

Kansas has increasingly become a state where outcomes in statewide elections are determined by the five largest counties.

And so there is at least some wisdom or what people think is wisdom, to having someone from the metro Kansas City area, having someone from the Wichita area.

And I think Ethan Corson thought that he could probably have the best of both of those worlds.

Miss Duck, sailor does have connections to Wichita.

What I think is the more significant announcement, though, is Jo Newland as Vicky Schmidt's running mate.

Joe's a former legislator.

Well.

Sort of.

He is the outgoing president of the Kansas Farm Bureau.

That gives him strong credentials.

In the agricultural community.

So I think that's the biggest announcement of the last ten days.

Interesting.

Brock Booker, what do you think about these choices?

And do you see any others coming down the pike here for maybe some Republican candidates?

Absolutely.

You know, I'm watching whether any of these tickets actually speak to working families and kitchen table issues.

Jared.

Very excited about, of course.

Representative Keiko Harbison joining up with Senator Cindy Holzer.

Rene Dux for joining Ethan Corson is, the representative indicated, she does have ties to Wichita as a small business owner.

Also in social work.

And, very exciting as well.

Jill Newland, who is no stranger to, the Kansas scene and with the Farm Bureau as a representative indicated, and just the fact that they're really trying to go for that Republican base with the rural areas.

But they don't want to blindside the urban area, necessarily, the Republican base.

But maybe the in the middle crowd, the in the middle Republican crowd is that is that I don't want to put words in your mouth, but yes, more or less.

More or less.

Yes.

John Whitmer, what do you think Will?

Do you agree with that?

I don't think either of these tickets are going to appeal to the Republican base.

I will say Casey is a wonderful guy.

I mean, I knew him from the legislature when I served in the legislature.

I think, I think he's just a stellar candidate.

I'm sorry to see that.

He was, you know, tied himself to Cindy, because she's just a raging liberal.

It'll be interesting to see how that balances.

Maybe that's why he is on that ticket to balance her out.

Rene Dexter is an interesting choice.

She lost when she ran for Sedgwick County commission against Pete Meissner.

That that's an interesting choice as well.

As for Joe Newland.

You know, I think that's also a balance, choice because he is, perceived, you know, and he's a classy, very classy gentleman.

I got to know him as well when I served in the legislature, and he is seen as a conservative, can bring some, you know, interesting, western Kansas and farm agriculture background.

But you know what?

Here's also the bottom line here.

Nobody picks their gubernatorial choice based on who the lieutenant governor is.

Nobody voted for Laura Kelly.

Because who is it?

Nobody.

No.

I bet you couldn't tell the average voter who the lieutenant governor is.

So, frankly, who your lieutenant governor choice is is irrelevant.

And I don't think any of these choices really are going to make any difference when it all comes down.

But there'll be more to come, whether they're whether it's irrelevant or not.

Are there any names that you're hearing from the Republican side being floated?

About I am aware of a number of choices.

And because I'm aware and privy to multiple conversations.

I will plead the fifth.

Okay.

All right, so, you know, Kansas has typically gone back and forth in the we've had Republican governors.

We've had Democratic governors.

It's kind of a surprise that, you know, Kansas being such a Republican state turning more purple, I would say in the main, you know, Wichita, Lawrence, Kansas City areas.

But we've elected Democratic governors.

Do you think that will continue with this, with this race, or are we going to flip back to Republican?

It's tough to say.

It's still yet.

It I think many things are still in play with everything that's going on on the federal level.

It's trickling down to the state level with, people are still undecided and making up their minds.

So it'll be interesting.

The race is still a long way away.

The filing deadline was June 1st, I believe.

Representative, do you think we're going to stay Democratic?

On on the governor side or.

You know, honestly, I think it's too early for any of us to reasonably predict.

But what we do know is that historically, Kansas has been a state which has changed their governors every eight years and has changed the party and Cedar Crest every eight years.

So, I mean, if that's the sole criteria, then it's John and his friends turn.

But I think what happens that frankly allows Democrats to be elected governor in a predominantly Republican state is because the Republican primary process filters out, if you will, the middle of the road Republicans and tends to nominate those who are on the farthest right side of their party.

And that's why Democrats have an opportunity to win in a Republican state.

There are candidates out there right now.

And Vicky Schmidt, I would say is right there.

Who if they were to receive that Republican nomination, I think the Democrats time in Cedar Crest is very limited.

But if the Republicans turn toward, for example, President Masterson from here in Wichita, then it may well be a very good year for Democrats.

All right.

You know, labels Kansas political party has officially folded, formed in 2024 solely to field centrist candidates for president and vice president.

The party ultimately failed to meet that goal.

Now its own leaders have pulled the plug.

Secretary of State Scott Schwab officially terminated the party on Monday and has reclassified nearly 6000 No Labels voters as unaffiliated.

The dissolution also puts a sudden end to recent attempts by political operatives to hijack the party's name to run their own candidates in state level races.

What do you think about this one, Barack Booker?

I honestly don't even know.

I think I'd heard about it a few years ago, but it didn't ever gain any traction.

You know, I was quite shocked to see that there were some people that had filed under this label recently and, those people that they're trying to attract or voters who didn't feel at home, of course, at either party, major party.

So the question becomes, Jared, is which candidates are actually speaking to them now, those voters.

So I, I really don't know who has the clear direction or answer.

Yeah.

And we've quite we've heard that so much in the past decade, really that, every day voters on the street seem to be not affiliating or not wanting to affiliate with either Democratic or Republican Party.

Are you seeing that as chair of the Republican Party here in Sedgwick County, or is is there still strong support for.

No, we we did a voter registration drive recently at the at the open streets and no more registered over.

I think it was 300 new Republican voters.

I look at this party.

Let's just be honest.

It's a joke.

They don't qualify.

They failed to last time around the tail to even come up with a statewide a single statewide candidate.

I'm sorry.

We're a two party system.

The last time any party even came a close to coming up with a decent, viable candidate was Ross Perot.

So we are a two part, two party system, whether you like it or not.

That's the system that we have in place.

And if you don't like it, then get involved in one party or another and try and make those changes from within that party system.

And, you know, it's interesting to to add on what Brock said.

Representative Carmichael, I'll go to you.

You know, when I was I learned a lot about affiliations when I was running for city council in in 2021 and in the district that I live in.

Roughly 36,000 registered voters, 11,000 Democrats, about 9000 Republicans and more than 11,000, almost 12,000 unaffiliated voters.

That's a lot of voters in one district who haven't taken the initiative to join one party or the other.

The statewide numbers are essentially the same the Republican Party statewide.

And I don't remember the exact numbers, but somewhere in the area of 900,000 registered voters.

The unaffiliated are next was somewhere in the area of 600,000.

And the Democrats, just a little bit behind 340,000, if you say so.

The point, though, I think, is people like me who are Democrats would not be in office if we just relied upon people with D after their name to vote for us.

I feel, you know, in order in order for us to have electoral success, we have to have a more wide base, diverse base, if you will.

Whereas my friend John has some reliable rock ribbed conservative Republicans who are pro-life, pro-gun, don't want to pay any taxes.

It sounds like a great voter.

See you there.

We love those folks.

Yeah.

And and that, you know, that's a base that Republicans can turn to and count on in many ways.

Whereas those of us who are Democrats have to probably work harder to not only turnout the Democrats to vote, but we have to have unaffiliated voters vote with us in much higher percentages.

And at least in my district, I rely on a lot of Republican votes as well.

Yeah.

Are you seeing that as well in in your area of politics, where a lot of people are shying away from declaring one party or the other and remaining unaffiliated?

Very good question.

With young voters, younger professionals?

Yes.

And I think that if I'm not mistaken, on primary day, you get to decide which party you tag along with the leading opinion.

Right.

Yeah.

So a lot of people like having that choice of being able to shop around.

Yeah.

What they've gotta understand, though, is if you elect to be a Democrat on primary day, then you remain a Democrat.

Unless you reregister.

And then if you show up the next time and you want to vote Republican, you can't because you voted as a Democrat the last time around.

So that's just the public service announcement.

Correct?

That's right.

Anything else to add, Mr.

Whitmer?

No, I, I you know, I wasn't surprised by this.

And keep in mind, it was officials within the No Labels party that said go ahead and decertify because they didn't qualify in you.

Well, part of what we ought to add there is, as you mentioned at the outset, there was an attempt to, quote unquote, take over the unofficial, excuse me, the No Labels party by some what I think are you super youth surfers to the Crown if you were.

Many of whom happened to be Republican operatives or, former officers of the party.

But the bottom line is the party had fallen apart.

There was also an attempt by the fusion voting people to get involved with the No Labels, to try to put candidates on 2 or 3 different spots on the same ballot.

And that fell apart as well for good, good reason.

All right.

Frustrated drivers are now waiting up to six hours at Sedgwick County's only walk in tag office.

The county treasurer is blaming severe staff shortages and a broken virtual queue system for the massive delays.

Ksn's Jackson Ward explains her pitch to commissioners to fix the problem and speed up the lines.

30 minutes after the tag office opens at 7 a.m., they reach capacity nearly every day and a line forms out the door.

This is causing some to wait upwards of five hours or more.

On days of peak volume, they see over 1300 people.

Staff is overwhelmed and those waiting shared their frustration.

I waited here all day, almost all day.

They need to find a way to like, streamline the process or something and make it quicker.

The long wait times are also due to the faulty queue system, which gives those waiting a false sense of when they will be attended to.

Treasurer Bailey says the issue is a struggle, but acknowledges it needs to be fixed immediately.

People, like I said, they have an hour and a half wait time on their phone, but they're really waiting five and six hours.

When you start seeing that wait time, say ten minutes consistently, then you have about 45 minutes to start heading back to the tag office.

Then at the county staff meeting.

Treasurer Bailey said the office is operating at 70% staffing capacity, her main staffing priority, and hire director of tag operations.

Reclassify pay grades and add ten additional employees.

Tag office employees.

Starting pay is $17 an hour.

Bailey says there is a clear gap between what the role advertises and what it requires.

We are losing candidates to employers like QuikTrip and Chick-Fil-A, positions that require less complexity and less pressure for next steps.

The Tag office awaits Senate Bill 325, taking effect on July 1st.

It aims to improve efficiency while also allowing increased fees for Tag offices to cover costs or improve services.

Brock.

Is this just another reason for everyday Kansans not to trust to rely on their government?

That's one way to frame it, Jerod.

But I think it goes a little bit deeper than that.

You know, for instance, when someone has to choose between registering, their car and showing up for work, that's the government failure.

Yeah.

Losing tag office staff to Chick-Fil-A or what was it?

Quite a quick trip.

Thank you.

Because the state won't pay competitive wages.

Tells you everything we need to know about what we're not, how we're treating this situation is that do we need to raise the wages of these, either one of you?

Would that help solve the problem?

You're always in favor.

More money for public employee.

Go ahead.

I mean, my take on this is it seems like the system is very archaic.

And I'm curious why we're using the outdated system that we are.

I don't understand why they're using the computer system that they use, that they're using.

It just seems to me like in this day and age, you should be able to do all this online.

There should be a more streamlined, modern system.

And frankly, I don't know why we're not looking at what do other states do to modernize this, to streamline this?

Maybe we're not.

Maybe we're doing what every other state does.

But at some point, I think maybe we need to relook at the whole system in general.

And maybe it's I don't know if it's artificial intelligence, if it's moving to something that's less manpower and more computer based.

But so I don't know what the solution is.

But clearly the current system isn't working.

And I may be wrong here.

We don't we don't have anybody from Sedgwick County Commission joining us here today.

But I do believe county commissioners voted to close some of these offices and solid data on some of these.

But is is this why we're seeing this problem now?

Because offices were closed.

They said what they did six months ago was going to solve all the problems, and we still got problems.

I'll tell you, I hate to use the phrase, but I think we're caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

We have people who understandably don't want to see their taxes go up.

Meanwhile, we have employees who can make a better living working at QuikTrip or somewhere else.

And so we run out of money.

We then can't attract the best and the brightest to take these jobs.

Then we have the problem with the modernization fee.

It's $4 we pay.

That really doesn't go to the local tag office.

That goes for the computer system that we see how well it works.

We've had similar problems with the driver's license registration.

I mean, this is a continuing problem that has gone on for as long as I've been registering cars.

And that's 42 years now.

And so raising taxes, though, I mean, the general consensus, whether it's Republican or Democrat out there, is property taxes are out of control in this state.

I don't is raising taxes.

So it sounds like you're you're pitching raising taxes to help solve the what I'm trying to say is when you don't bring in the revenue in sufficient amounts to pay people competitive salaries and wages, they're going to go to work somewhere else.

My response now we can is they have sufficient revenue.

This is not a revenue problem.

It's suspending and suspending.

And we can and then we can look to our county and city officials for how do you allocate the available funds.

What do you spend your money on.

What do you short.

And sadly, I think the vehicle registration process, driver's license renewal, all of those things have been shorted chronically for years.

Yeah.

Go ahead.

Senate Bill 325 is just got to include a flow to directly to staffing instead of just overhead, you know, and I hope to lobby some senators and people in the House, to do just that.

What is Senate Bill 325?

Can you explain a little bit more?

Do you know the details of it?

It's modernization, a free increase, the authority, things that are in there and that actually has been signed.

I believe, if I'm not mistaken, the key here is priorities.

Yeah.

You know, it seems like government faces yet.

But again, it's we see to the city Wichita.

We see it here to County where their priorities are county Wampus.

You know where the county prioritizes things like elephant park, elephant barns.

The city prioritizes things like artwork, you know, plan treatment plants.

It doesn't deliver water is that's what you're talking about $700,000 on a on a bridge.

You know, lighting on the bridge, hundred thousand dollar porta potty, $600,000 porta potties.

I do I do need services like these.

Suffer.

Wichita is already the air capital of the world.

But Senator Jerry Moran says it could soon become the nation's law enforcement capital.

This week, the ATF opened a brand new forensic crime gun intelligence laboratory right here in Wichita.

The facility will process firearms, ballistics and shell casings from a crime scene across the entire country, helping local police track down violent offenders much quicker.

Federal leaders say the lab will also serve as a critical training hub and help to link local students with federal agents to address a nationwide shortage of forensic investigators.

As the new lab ramps up to full capacity over the next three years, it expects to triple its testing capacity and employ around 100 Kansans.

Tell me your thoughts on this one, John Whitmer.

Is this a good thing for Wichita in Kansas as a whole?

Sure.

I don't see how it couldn't be, you know, good use of federal dollars.

It's a good program.

I liked seeing the innovation campus grow, so it seems like a win win.

Yeah.

Actually, this facility has been there now for over a year, and it's been in operation.

They're just now had the grand opening.

I was out there oh, last fall, as I recall, and it's a fantastic opportunity for our community.

It's also a good opportunity for Wichita State University.

We have an Administration of Justice program there.

I'm a graduate of that program.

Proud to say, but having these additional opportunities for people with training and forensics to have meaningful federal employment, if you will, all the way.

I think some of the people who work there are actually contract labor.

But at any rate, this is an opportunity to create more jobs in our community, and there is room for expansion.

There is room for more of these types of educational opportunities to come to the innovation campus.

So it's a good thing.

Absolutely.

Brock, tell me, tell me your thoughts on this one.

This is a great, partnership, Jerod, for the city, for our state, and beyond, I think, of course, this is the third.

So Atlanta, Maryland, I believe, have the other locations.

And it's it's a great career path driver.

And, and we talk about often, in Wichita diversifying our, economy and our job corps.

So this is another drop in that bucket.

And where where is this I'm not familiar with where is it on the innovation campus, at the top of the innovation campus.

It's, about a two blocks west and two blocks south, pretty much in the center of the innovation campus.

But keep in mind, I think it's about 300 jobs and not the 300 jobs aren't important.

But this isn't on the same scale as aircraft manufacturing, for example.

Yeah.

And you know which WSU tech has done so much, not only at the innovation campus but in downtown Wichita as well, with adding all of those campuses, will that will this go to help this and add things that are, you know, able opportunities for people to learn?

We and we we have room at that innovation campus for a lot more things to take place there.

And while I may disagreed with the way it was paid for and who actually owns the buildings, the bottom line is it's a great opportunity for our community.

There is room to grow, not only for these forensic activities, but as you said before, all of the various things that are happening on the innovation campus, all of that's good for Wichita, but it also means that it may be harder to find people to work for $11 an hour, right?

That's true.

Tell me a little bit about things that are going on downtown, John.

You I assume you get downtown a lot.

Things are changing downtown, especially with WSU tech.

That seems like it.

I mean, I'd like to see, a little more growth in the downtown corridor, private sector growth.

I think we need to move away from government subsidies and let let the private sector take over.

I think that's the key.

I'd like to see a little more of that.

A little less frankly, a little less of of the government getting in and let let private development.

I was glad to see the message that taxpayers delivered with the sales tax vote.

I think that was a pretty clear message.

And I think that was a message and said, look, let let you know, let private sector do this, let the city get out of it.

And we'll hopefully that was a message delivered.

I'm curious to see what chase growth that work.

John Lewis, I was I tell you, we spend too much of our tax dollars on various types of incentives for businesses, many of which turn out to be pigs in a poke, so to speak.

I would like to see us attract and build business the old fashioned way.

Go to the bank and borrow your money.

Don't come with your handout to the taxpayer.

We just had a story last week about another star bond proposal for Hutchinson.

I believe a state issue that is a state issue, but it's tax policy drawn when it comes down to taxes, no matter what.

And while it was up to me, we wouldn't have star bonds, John.

But unfortunately, your party seems to still be addicted to them.

How did how did you vote on the chief's deal, I guess, right?

I voted against the chief's deal and I voted against the Panasonic deal, both of them for the same reasons.

And that is that right now, anybody wants to expand anything in Kansas, the first place they go for their money is the state legislature, the city commission, and that's the wrong place to go.

And a in a rare moment of bipartisan, John and I would agree, I would have voted against both of those deals.

So all right.

That is a wrap for this week.

Thank you so much to John Carmichael John Whitmer and Barack Booker for joining us today.

And thanks also to KSN and cake for sharing their video with us.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

I'm Jared Cirillo.