Letter to the Editor: Laura Kelly Doesn't Govern from Anywhere Near the Center

Representative Penn’s Letter to the Editor. Published June 7, 2022 in the Wichita Eagle

“Gov. Laura Kelly does not operate from the “middle of the road” of Kansas politics. In fact, she’s far from it. If the bipartisan persona were true, she wouldn’t have to be spending millions of dollars on television months before votes will be cast telling us about it. Kelly’s record paints a much different picture than what her focus-grouped and poll-tested ads would have you believe. For starters, she vetoed 13 bills this legislative session, which is more than any Kansas governor in nearly three decades. That’s after she vetoed 10 bills last session.

Setting veto records is hardly ‘working with both sides.’ Kelly’s vetoes, and her views on major issues of the day, are well outside the Kansas mainstream.

For starters, she believes women should be forced to compete athletically with men. She vetoed the Fairness in Women’s Sports bill which would have enshrined in our state law something so decidedly non-controversial until only recently — that women should be afforded an equal opportunity as men in athletics. Gallup polling found 62 percent of Americans agree. Thankfully, our Republican nominee for governor, Derek Schmidt, stands with Kansas female athletes and has pledged to sign the bill.

Kelly instead stood with President Joe Biden, whose radical executive order will force any school that receives federal funding to either ‘allow biological boys who self-identify as girls onto girls’ sports teams or face administrative action.’ So not only is she wrong, she’s willing to jeopardize school funding over her woke ideology. Does that sound “middle of the road” to you?

Kelly also vetoed legislation that would ensure parents always have a seat at the table when it comes to their kids’ education, saying that adopting the Parents Bill of Rights in Kansas is the ‘worst thing we could possibly be doing’…”