And the Challenger is...

Blog: What's the matter in Kansas?

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Businessman Tom Wiggans (D), a native Kansan and University of Kansas graduate who has never run for public office, will challenge would-be governor, Senator Sam Brownback (R) for the State House in the 2010 state-wide elections.

Wiggan's statement on his candidacy (from his website):

Today I filed paperwork with the Secretary of State’s office establishing my campaign committee in the race to become the next Governor of Kansas.

Now more than ever as our state and our families deal with this difficult economic climate, we need a successful business leader in the Governor's office.

I have enjoyed a rewarding career starting and leading various bioscience and pharmaceutical companies, creating hundreds of jobs while developing new treatments for infertility, heart disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and kidney, liver, and skin cancers.

I have never run for political office before, but what I have done is started and managed businesses, balanced budgets and created jobs. This experience makes me the best candidate to lead our state through this financial storm, create economic growth and good-paying jobs and keep our young people in Kansas.

Our state needs a Governor who can speak the language of business, jobs and prosperity – not a career politician like Senator Brownback who's spent nearly 15 years in Washington, D.C. as Congress added over $7 trillion to our national debt.

Kansans deserve a full-time Governor – someone who will remain committed to the job. In 2007 while Senator Brownback was running for President, he missed thirty- one-percent of the votes cast in the Senate. Brownback had the seventh-worst attendance record of all one hundred United States Senators. If the rest of us missed work thirty-one percent of the time, we’d be fired. Yet, like too many career politicians, Sam Brownback thinks missing work ought to earn him a promotion.

I want to thank former Republican State Senator Wint Winter Jr. for serving as my campaign Treasurer. Wint’s been a long-time moderate voice in Kansas and I greatly appreciate his commitment and ongoing advice to my campaign.

The election for Governor is nearly one year away and I look forward to hearing from thousands of Kansans about their priorities and offering voters a clear choice in the race for Governor.

I'm a bit skeptical of a choice for the state's highest office never having held office himself, but considering the small number of Democrats that have such a distinction in Kansas, a businessman running as a fiscal conservative (and potentially as a moderate, politically), against a career politician, may be a smart pick. Then again, that strategy had little success for former Senate candidate Jim Slattery (D) when he challenged Sen. Pat Roberts (R) last year.

What do you think?

Comments

timeeeee (anonymous) says...

how about some, you know, actual politics? i dont care if he thinks he's a better person than brownback, i want to know what i'm voting for!

November 19, 2009 at 12:46 a.m. ( | suggest removal )