An hour with Governor John Carlin

what you're looking at campuses past tell us about moving forward i'm kate mcintyre and today and katie are present former kansas governor john carlin on kansas out one fifty pearl and served as governor of kansas from nineteen seventy nine to nineteen eighty seven at the time he was sworn in at age thirty eight he was the youngest kansas governor of the twentieth century in nineteen ninety five president bill clinton appointed garland as national archivists a position he held for ten years after retiring as archivist parliament that the kansas where he teaches at kansas state university palin gave the kansas and a presentation at washburn university sponsored by the center for kansas and now here is former kansas governor john carlin i am honored and grateful to have been invited by my friends are or sperm the center for kansas studies to help celebrate the state's hundred and fiftieth birthday and knowing that previous speakers in the centers of the series included noted historians

former governor hayden and not wes jackson my friend from saliva on the land institute makes is a real privilege twenty five years ago i had a similar opportunities governor to speak on the occasion of the hundred and twenty foot anniversary as you can imagine the world has changed a few ways since since then in nineteen eighty six a postage stamp cost twenty two cents we were paying out raids is eighty nine cents for a gallon of gasoline ibm unveil their first laptop and i would have to be asked to turn off their cell phone or blackberry on the go from ronald reagan was president margaret thatcher prime minister we were dealing with iran contra and fears of a nuclear disaster chernobyl while things have indeed changed there are common challenges concerns as well as opportunities that transcended years entire experience is today back to nineteen eighty six

i've always believed we can learn much from our history and my ten years as archivist united states strongly reinforced this view and serving as archivist i appreciated the words of president franklin roosevelt spoke when dedicating the roosevelt presidential library to preserve the history of his presidency and the times he said and i quote the nation must believe in free sex it must believe in the past it must believe in the future and it must above all believe in the capacity of its own people to learn from the past that they can gain judgment in creating their own future unquote the past is prologue message has been a guiding principle for historians and archivists as well as his former dairy farm this is why i chose as my topic for today

kansas and a hundred and fifty are passive as prologue to our future how can we learn from our history and help guide our steps as we move forward and what i take away from our history is this and doesn't always face challenges that is where state motto is a master grass grow or to the stars through difficulty and we can't sense it always stepped up adapted and make recommended changes to ensure a better future for our children our state and for our nation and at sixty one kansas was literally born days after south carolina seceded from the union marking the start of the civil war leading dancers was the mantle for the states' opposition to slavery which ultimately led to kansas joined the union as a free state those dark days early as traister powerful images of figures such as john brown and of course abraham lincoln father of the

republican party morning the midst of controversy on state ballots where leadership a progressive and confident public servants and engaged citizens these remarkable leaders and our contributions to kansas have been examined in depth in horror so the law skews book on canada's governors and robert regimens book a land dances olin of contrast and i assure you it is both of these sources for some historical background now governor there'll be more challenges than our first ever charles robertson in an office with a sizeable bet no money in the treasury and the mandate to recruit crew quarters for federal service he rose to the occasion providing the executive leadership and i we made these demands but also in the formation of the first big government the judiciary anti state agricultural society in

the early twentieth century governors such as i recall walter stubbs legend paul implied rate move the state forward with the times of crisis and prosperity to make life better for the people of kansas these men emerge from the progressive wing of the republican party and inspired our citizens to support decisive action under terrible leadership the people amended the constitution to enact the first state income tax and to allow the state to receive federal funding this enabled us to invest in our highways and major infrastructure with the support of the legislature they establish commission government for towns and cities they reform a civil service to reduce partisan influence they provided for teacher training through the normal schools be an act of child labor laws and established juvenile court system as well as they got to the state tax support for public education all these bold

steps the session the state to move forward in the early twentieth century of course no discussion of kansas leaders would be complete without acknowledging the leadership of albert landon frank carlson land and again a product of the project progressive wing of the republican party responded to the beats of the great depression and other conservative budget approach creating the catch basins law his action movie kansas into a more fiscally sound status far ahead of many other states at the time he also advocated for federal programs and created the research arm of the legislature legislative council the first of its kind in the country dramatically increasing the efficiency and professionalism of that branch of government all lenin was clearly a believer and a strong free enterprise system he also believed in regulating the excesses of capitalism and supported organized labor frank carlson serving from forty seven to nineteen fifty provided the storage

shipped to wisely invest the sizeable budget balance after world war two in july when programs support for education and transformation or statesman hospitals he later remarked he considered a reformer the treatment of mental illness his major contribution in all of these innovative forward thinking initiatives that i've mentioned were championed by progressives who were all republicans now during that period there was an occasional democrat elected such as walter huntsman in the late thirties huntsman had a remarkable and it underlined remarkable experience of requesting the legislature approve a one percent increase in the sales tax by one percent increase in the sales tax and having a republican legislature gave him two percent and now i can think of a recent experience cements that

now continuing progress in initiatives have not been absent from our labor history has a stake here in my adult lifetime the state funded and implemented several new highway programs and past and security funding for a state water plan the state passed reform that led to the unified courses to raise taxes to better fund our schools and reorganize the executive branch including the four year terms for governors most recently the kansas legislature recognize the economic opportunities in the fields of bioscience and biotechnology and enacted legislation creating the kansas bioscience authority in two thousand for governor kathleen sebelius signed the law today the authority is a major force in the economic growth and kansas all were steps that will have a positive impact on kansas for years to come kansas is also historical relied on strong representation on the national stage our congressional delegations have long understood

the importance of federal dollars to many key areas of our state the efforts of our congressional leaders brought federal funding for all levels of our education system and for building our current systems of reservoirs water waste water and transportation without such support realistically these significant infrastructures would likely not have an attainable for kansas kansans can also be proud and grateful for our native son president dwight d eisenhower lead what has been called our greatest generation to victory in europe during world war two and lead the country in our post korean war years it was the implementation of his vision of a kansas in the entire nation the best interstate highway system that open up cameras and traveled across the country and those events and kansans have contributed to our benevolent almost all

aspects of american life and i'd be remiss not to recognize the transforming case of the nineteen fifty four brown versus a typical board of education it stands as a milestone in our nation's cause we're still right and here are a couple of kansans who are either outstanding or simply stand out how can we not mention carrie nation of medicine lot she led a national crusade for prohibition and succeeded and having cannes isn't that prohibition a full thirty eight years before the federal government passed the eighteenth amendment as an aside that you know dances that never ratified the twenty first amendment repealing prohibition then we had not rained like a goat gland doctor setting up shop in over the border wall the world as of this clinic and

listened to his radio station one of the most powerful in the world aside from the scandal in the forties not only because of the law and how the votes for governor in nineteen thirty were counted a race about wrigley probably one the state has been pretty free of corruption and record we can be proud of and acclaimed many states cannot mic throughout history you think kansans and the men and women elected in common was a believer in making changes that would help the state and the people they were willing to take marius you don't raise taxes when necessary they also reflected the pioneer spirit the people of kansas who when i personally presented itself you never considered a retreat but roll up their sleeves and found new innovative ways to make things better these leaders and the people are consistently serve your state lived up to the state motto to the

stars through the vehicle in which brings me back to the beginning of the speech and twenty five years ago on the day before kansas day everyone at the cap that was busily engaged in the plans you the hundred and twenty to celebrate the astronauts in kansas joining go ron evans and steve allen we're arriving to join in the festivities on television we watch in poor at the explosion of the challenger in space which killed everyone on board including christa mcauliffe the public schoolteacher who had joined the mission it was a tragedy that many of us still remember anna story was a solemn reminder of the many sacrifices americans make every day for the advancement and welfare of this country in my remarks on the capitol steps the next day i recognized the many benefits that we received because individuals like those on board the challenger were willing to texas writes i said and i quote those pioneers of an earlier

date to address and they knew the consequences of those rates we earn the label or bleeding kansas city before the experimental conclude was our mission to the union as a free state on january twenty nine eighteen sixty one in the process those who gave their lives and experience personal tragedy for a cause molded this stage character and it has that same character with continues to move the state forward today and for me those words are still appropriate today but certainly the last two years a broad great hardship to many kansans in the nation kansas has historically under extremely difficult times such as the great depression and the dust bowl days which clearly suppressed surpass our current challenges it is easy to be pessimistic today as we gather the financial recovery is slow and state resources are limited projections for a quick recovery or arabs not nonexistent

but i remain an optimist our last full not half empty and while the problems today may be more severe than those of the nineteen eighties there are many similarities to the ones we face during my tenure in office at that time the recovery from recession was proven to be very slow there were still lost jobs the federal government's cutting state supported individual benefits the economic kingpins of the kansas economy agriculture on aviation were in dire circumstances all this brought more and more pressure on families as well as state and local government and then there was the national debt over two trillion dollars the highest in the history of the country so unfamiliar so what did we do in nineteen eighty six our slogan for the ladder and twenty fifth wasn't hundred and twenty five and coming alive and it was

true and accurate reflection of the mood of the state the people and the leaders were anxious to get the state milling and if that meant making bold changes on all levels of government they were up to the task in the election in nineteen eighty six of people approve six amendments to the state constitution including a major change to our property tax structure establishing the state lottery in bermuda wagering and allowing for the county option for like or whether it again the laws were key to the funding of the new economic development in this the debts of the state including the creation of the department of commerce for the first time the state had a comprehensive set of tools a partner with the private sector for economic growth and here's the kicker this was all done by republican legislatures republican controlled legislature and this lame duck democrat illinois i know this was all before twenty four seven cable news internet blogs and entertain talk show host

masquerading as objective political reporters i admit it was easier to engage in practical politics at work for the people in our history so why is there a difference today senator bob dole often called eighteen months after an election before the start of the next campaign the window of opportunity he felt this was the time the people's business was conducted in the campaign was to be put on hold today that women doesn't exist it and one day was less months of time politics of black and what i write your own they work in a campaign but accomplished nothing in addressing the complex challenges of governing vicious personal attacks and automatic of years to ideology on the right or the left do not report any agenda but the agenda of defeat i

remember my days in government as a time when politicians could started a plane again record will spend a big grizzly debating the issues and in the data gathered for dinner on the economic front i was not that they weren't rich versus poor rhetoric that over simplifies are economic problems today i was more of an understanding that a strong growing middle class was built for the wealthy for state and for our nation was a win win proposition the feedback we receive from the people was on the right are topics not as wedge issues designed to divide us and it was also a real effort to inform not just inside voters to support a particular candidate or proposition eight the danger of continuing as we are martin was vividly brought home to us in arizona and journey where the nine when congresswoman giffords was attacked while meeting with her

constituents outside a grocery store six people were killed including a nine year old girl who had been elected to her student council and attended the gathering to see how democracy works well no one knows why the gunman targeted ms giffords i have to believe that the poisonous environment with much of politics is conducted today as lead to the rising level of threats to our public officials the moccasin cannot survive an environment in which public officials and their constituents cannot safely engage in on this debate an interactive the other so how do we get back on track not easily capture after i left office i was a busy professor whistles that what about our use of the time was in search of excellence by peter zamora better both a simple one two three system to succeed want to establish your values

to many here to those values and three b willing to change everything else to succeed too often we confuse tradition the way we've done things in the past with values this confusion interferes with our ability to see and act on necessary changes and to our detriment we certainly don't have to change everything but we must be willing to make the changes needed to progress and enable our children and grandchildren to compete in the new world a reality in the past kansas were ready for that challenge the question is will we be ready as we move into our next hundred and fifty years as always the foundation for progress will be the attitude of the people and our leaders with that as a given and like to spend a few minutes talking about some of the areas that i believe

on balance record of the future of our great state first long term vision that short term fixes our citizens and our leaders must work together to maintain a long term view of today's actions and not limit our chances to just short term fixes we must be willing to make investments that allow us to progress and compete the reality is that we no longer just compete with missouri illinois our main competition today is china india and the rest of the global markets and yes these investments require the use of tax dollars and i know today cutting taxes is a popular and common political they would take a moment to look back at our history where would we be if our earlier leaders have chosen to take it easy and popular route and failed to invest in our infrastructure and education

i can remember sitting in a successful recruitment of an out of state companies move to kansas and one of the primary issues was finding a location that offered a strong special education program business does not always located to the area with the lowest taxes the reality is that most businesses just wanna be attacked fairly recognizing the need for supporting education an infrastructure next education the importance of education cannot be overemphasized that's always been the case but today is more true than ever our children grandchildren future generations do not and will not just compete with the state of our nation they are and will continue to be gates' intense worldwide competition an excellent educational system is paramount to their success in the past the public is against education system isn't frugal many ways including school consolidation in the school

finance act that works to make sure that the quality of a child's education is not determined by the wealth of the district where he or she resigns well additional funding decisions will no doubt be require the excellence of the kansas education program located twelve and higher requiring more than just land changes in structure and policies are at issue we cannot let the traditions of the past that's the way we always done that stand in the way when so much is at stake we have to separate the permission from the values and put everything on the table for discussion just as important if not more so is the role of education in the viability of our democracy stronger democracy relies on educated electorate the public education that empowers our children and our grandchildren with the skills of critical thinking will strengthen our gender our nation for generations to come their collaboration and

partnerships to take water to relationship between all levels of government is essential lasting washington has become a popular battle cry but it simply does not make good sense anymore than the state of doping responsibilities arbitrarily back to local government and susan for that matter many other states do not have a sufficient tax base particularly with infrastructure to financially do the job by themselves in addition the competition around the world is investing heavily in research and future jobs will go that way the fact is that this country is need for more basic research is at a crisis stage and depending upon state by state and the cities are corporate funding will not meet that need a partnership between kansas and the federal government has and will continue to benefit the state economically and strengthen the

nation on many fronts to raise an example of how this kind of partnership can work as this into the bill kansas national bio agro defense facility in manhattan i we're partnering with washington does not mean we must always agree with federal actions we should always be advocating for states' interests of offering constructive alternatives but the actor is if we don't need or want a federal partnership is against our best interests finally the current political climate one thing i know is that politicians react of the political environment there again and will change if they sense a new wave or direction from the people our elected officials on the other hand it must be willing to take the issues to the people provide critical information and gain their support all of these politicians and citizens alike and be willing to have a positive exchange of information

and sincerely listen to each other as president obama said recently at a tucson memorial how we treat each other is entirely up to us and the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us without question i acknowledge that we as a state are facing very complex challenge is even more complex political environment but i have played in kansas and its people on january fourteenth nineteen eighty six i made my last state of the state address and twenty five years ago and the words i spoke then to my fellow kansans idly were still relevant today i said then and i quote i want the legacy of this generation of kansans to be one of you in progress as a never ending process i want us to be able to show that we recognize those things it must remain unchanged and we preserve them and that we

had the foresight to determine what needed to be altered and we did it others take our allies among other generations of kansans who make decisions not just for today but for tomorrow and not just for ourselves but for all kansans you're listening to your presence on campuses a public radio host john carlin former governor of kansas speaking at washburn university in topeka carla now takes questions from the audience his first question comes from a former student of garlands from his days teaching at wichita state university he talked about president abraham lincoln's role in promoting the first transcontinental railroad in the eighteen sixties and asked about carla his views on the role railroads might play in generating economic development in this century well it's interesting as a question

because in many ways it links with whatever and talking about lincoln one believed in a federal government that would be supportive of infrastructure across the country canals early on for example we either mend our constitution so that we could help the railroad system existing one in the eighties that was still striding to survive so we've had some experience with that issue as kansans over the years i must warn don't know exactly what how we should proceed i know there are discussions now and the president is very supportive of an aggressive move in this area look around the world may certainly a center of the rail transportation high speed rail so i'd have to assume wisely done that it would be an incredible investment it would create jobs and should put us in a stronger position in the future to the bill a stronger economy wants to know where america is very pointedly

well isn't anyone honestly someone yes and my smartest it one that didn't want his now i'll i i i think it's a matter of balance is usually is the case if we if we start to think about we're going to you know i'm always amazed that some people say well government to operate like a business the government borrows money you know and and so the fact that we have borrowed money is not the issue we could not week we could have responded the other challenge is a world war to the other space age the pentagon putting resources into it yes we can go too far and we're close to that you know china as too much influence on what we're doing in this country a simple because that they felt as long as money but i've i stick with the balance it gone the other way and saying now are only focused

as a country is to deal with the deficit and they have to deal with the deficit i think we can guarantee a more difficult economy i think we can guarantee by those actions that we will be able to compete as we look to the future we need to bake yes where we can and there are some opportunities where we can take care of the deficit but we've got to be invest in education we got to be invested in infrastructure and protect your basic research we have had a huge decline in our investment in the basic research in this country for thirty years or so an andean and enjoy not know because we we haven't been doing like we're done before in producing new concept new technologies that you're not only advances in improvements to our lives but there are great help to the economy yes the next question is from a young man whose father was recently laid off from his job in the aviation industry in

wichita he asked governor karlan about the role the kansas bioscience authority may play in the future of the aviation industry that's an excellent question the potential for the biosciences is huge but it's not huge in terms of this year or next year or were building another major league your economy when it's gonna take and sustained investment and follow through wise decisions for many years ok the linkage to the aircraft industry is that one of the areas that we are trying to really invest in for that future is taking advantage of the sort of the advanced technology in composite materials for billionaire going and using it in building new innovative medical devices and they were a pretty significant investment and when i say

that the bioscience authority is putting significant money into wichita and was just a universally and some partners taken advantage of that and possible pension what to say this is going to have a dramatic impact in the next few years no significant yes dramatic know yes the number of people attending carlin's talk at washburn were given an article about the former governor published in the spring two thousand at issue of kansas history magazine the next question comes from a man who ran through the article and came across a statement from parliament in which he praises the use of phone banks in campaigning to look a lot worse that's the problem with

writers been kept you know i mean i would say this isn't what i don't waste is one somebody of my age you know many years removed from their real choirs of campaign should not be trying to teach them exactly what the technology that should be using when i make it very clear technologies is and will continue to have a huge impact but anyways the time even if somehow i could suddenly comprehend the technology they might spring last wintertime two thousand twelve units or something else so the key thing is you know to stay up with the times are very young team within any campaign they can quickly adapt and move forward because i think that president obama demonstrated in two thousand at that technology can make a huge difference and they and two dozen ten everybody was basically using it probably some more successful than others but when you talk about social networking in the capacity of that to really i don't know that

social network and reaches out directly and its many votes but it gives a lot of people plugging in as part of the team who can really do great things about giving more votes yes the next question we have a tremendous bureaucracy in this country especially in the internal revenue service what are your views on simplifying the bureaucracy and streamlining government well as the president said this at any he would like to bring about significant reorganization of the federal government and i think it is certainly something that should be done an observation i made when i spent ten years back there is the archivist in and one of the things i shared with david broder the interview lunch on my way out was that as the archivist i came in i said i would be your running about ten years the muscles are taking a serious look for a while a few

people thought well i was just this was just a holy place to do something else but once they understood that i was going to be there we've made dramatic changes at great great people help but we were able to do it but it was tied to some ten year on my part one that they promise of federal government and his tenor for a tenure for a gas sectors like twenty two and three years they're not there long enough to get the job and i suggested that david that are there broader that day is that there'll be some mechanism put in place obviously with the support of congress that would allow each agency to aside from the cohen a political and media policy agenda be in charge of an agency for a period of time to get things straightened out there are a lot of things that need to be changed at the same time i would say there are a lot of wonderful bright talented people working for the government at all levels including washington and so i'm always reluctant to do is make a broad

rights that you know if we just get rid of them now things would be better and that's not the case we just need to find a way to more efficiently organized and deliver the services but it's very difficult in the system in which we're it's going to take some extraordinary creativity and some strong bipartisan leadership yes for anything a single thing that i learned is argo says they will want it certainly reinforces my belief that records were important now as if you were in this audience will probably remember when i was attacked and understandably so for my diary as the new background i i reminded my wonderful friends in history that i took records more seriously at a younger age than they probably did because i grew up on a writer joel stein farm and records were our lifeblood

in terms of genealogy and in terms of actually measuring how much milk was produced and making sure they could be back up when those records were kept from ok so it was a reinforcement and a broader understanding why those records were you know one of the things you know you will always associate records with history but one of the things i worked on was to expand the understanding that the entire village for example art only depended on robert you write we lost our records and going through we were what i think always spoke of military records are veterans and their services the payment on the archives to produce the writers to confirm they were they were discharged honorably and and then obviously accountability how we all government accountability accountable if we don't have records and the answer was that it was a real education for me to develop a much

broader appreciation of the necessity that we keep the right records the right length of time to preserve them appropriately and make them accessible there was a there was a ball game and it was a marvelous ten years that i thought or at least i had the opportune yes you are the next question for former kansas governor john carlin what book or books are you currently reading you know this is the kind of question will live be prepared for a question book or you're reading right now well i like to say is the bible it and pull it out this morning and i must admit in terms of real currency is that they owe it to class and practical politics might fall classes on executive leadership and there've been a couple books thrown at me wanna adaptive leadership that seems to be kind of a new plan and i'm trying to get caught up on that and then there is why know

when you might have to help me ryan's book on the importer is in the end is that they're all sort of ideas peter send me a lot in my classes and that discipline block and supposedly this influenced her book is both a bigger the next stage of sophisticated approaches to leadership and right now i'm when i have twenty eight very bright students and for somebody my age to stay up with that i don't have much time to focus on anything other than no no you're listening to a former kansas governor john carlin taking questions after a recent talk at washburn university the next question what do you think of a current proposal to give tax breaks to people who moved to western kansas and other areas of the state that are losing population

is this the proper role of government or should we let nature and economics take its course well thought they'd majors maintains course regardless what we do remain until more or less depending on some of the steps we take that some of those changes over a long period time every understandable i think the other thing we are to my ears are still only people out there i mean it's not like we can write although far west where the state is going to close it down not worry i mean we got a huge economic engine out there that's doing a lot of good for producing resources for this day my preference would be at it i think one of the necessities of but this way for anybody in any rural area will work we will take it for granted that eliminating close to an urban area that you have broadband access in that this modern technology

you can use and i'm a great believer that that small rural community can still survive and thrive if it's got that because if you have that capacity who can access a lot of educational resources without hiring more and more teachers to teach more more classes again a poor and even bring a lot of classes in officially and dramatically to the internet business i mean there's already a business and i'm in a farmer today is the bandit the ranchers depend upon technology to stay in touch and have access health care i mean for a long time we were out we get doctors out there well we're not i mean we don't have enough money to pay him to be out there to take care of a few patients but technology can allow a physician's assistant or a young doctor would like to be in a rural area for a while to be comfortable out there if technology is available so as somebody at the mann center and a consultant or at one of our more regional centers

a tv got that you've got potential out there now for many growth i don't think so when it could be a community in which people and dr economically and enjoy that life at that lifestyle as something that attracted to them but they were a drive out there if we don't provide that yes the next question speaking of drying out what are we doing to preserve our water resources well clearly it is a crisis that now if you're looking for some way to feel better it's actually even worse in other parts of the world but that really isn't a solution in any way shape or form in the late nellie five eighty six i work with the republican legislature will pass a state water plan late in his term funded the water plant i don't think it's been as aggressively implemented as maybe some of us wouldn't would've

liked we still have huge water problems were still depleting our our groundwater faster than we should not serve some serious environmental issues in terms of contaminated our groundwater that needs to be addressed so clearly it's a big it's a big issue for us but it's a big issue for the country and it is like a lot of the issues we have we get are significant it is but between now and the election in november two thousand twelve was a lot easier to split things off because probably weren't out about resources and politically the direction we want right now right now as i said in my remarks i believe they can change i believe people can and will change and i believe a lot of officials are

candidates can change as well people turned one elected and the people start looking more forward and once again be willing to invest officials i think for the most part not all will follow that really one more question yes last question for john carlin what are your thoughts on bipartisanship was a serious problem we can all agree is leon that we see it on television all the time but as i said in my remarks i think as long as we tolerate as a people as long as we may be going all around the table to take cheap shots at it but don't really register the kind of response that would tend to bring about changes like change and he's been driving this way for a long time now without partisanship for a long time i mean you know it's like yeah some of the campaigns we have the same sort of below the belt well he read about early history in this country lincoln went through a few

races where things weren't exactly above board and something we'd only comparable with supporting so it isn't like this is something totally new one is totally new ways when i said my speech we used to have a period of time in which we are more focused on the nation's campaigning now is literally all the time every decision and every thing that's thought about communicated is thought about in a political light and that makes it very very difficult and the answer is the public to say we're fed up and you start electing people who promise and the liver but they're gonna be saying and sensible and anna rodriguez kennedy yeah strong on the issues i have a hard time communicating is to have with the press but with my students can understand negative campaigning you know there's nothing wrong with the issues being discussed in a strong powerful white with specific details it's it's when it's not accurate one is personal and totally irrelevant that

if there is a problem a concern as far as i am or is it with that i thank you very very much for somebody a lot of friendly places out there we've always just a little bit more frequently communicated what i thank you very much for coming out i enjoyed the opportunity and let's be proud kansas but let's recognize as we look to the future we have to make some changes you've been listening to john carlin former governor of kansas from nineteen seventy nine to nineteen eighty seven ireland spoke at washburn university on january twenty eight two thousand eleven will not turn to bob beatty professor of political science at washburn who interviewed karlan and other kansas governor's for a series of articles in the publication kansas history those interviews were also part of a documentary on campus governors that aired on katie daddy you and two thousand five but take us back to nineteen seventy nine when john

carlin took office he was only thirty eight years old making him the youngest kansas governor in the twentieth century what did he bring to the governor's office were think when you look at governor karlan and even before he became governor you see i'm a man of great energy and they're on the move and governor carlin himself said and i believe in that they're one of the reasons he ran for governor was that he didn't seem self staying in one place out for a long time he said that he saw some legislators who'd been there twenty thirty years and he felt like he'd it's time to move on and it's interesting because a lot of politicians it's we see politicians think about running for president they want to sit around and sort of picks a perfect time when all the stars align

the what's interesting about governor karlan is actually the year he ran which would have been nineteen seventy seven and in nineteen seventy eight when he ran for governor it didn't look like it was a good time for him to run because he found out as soon as he has said himself that are being hurt in a legislative leader basically means a very few people know you throw out the state budget people who people know or the statewide elected officials secretary of state her treasure especially attorney general we've had a number of attorney generals in kansas be elected governor because the enormous crime fighters and so when when cohen decided to run over is a man named kurt schneider who was the attorney general that a lot of democrats had picked as the man to run against bob bennett and carla still ran and it looked like it was going to pretty tough tough the race to overcome schneider's name popularity and other

factors but he ran anyway and know what ended up happening is scheider had some personal scandal and involving am detail possible marital infidelity and a it became easier for carlin well that was the primary and then colin had to go against an incumbent republican governor bob bennett who had really done nothing wrong hundred and not scandals and other been no major problems and then carl and had to use underfunded and had to put together a campaign in which he could somehow her surprise basically establishment pull out a victory and that's exactly what he did i think it's not talked about it that probably enough but in kansas history his upset victory abandoned is one of the most surprising victories for for a governor to

win and it's become somewhat famous and you see when you see that an insight into carlin's a character i think in his style as somebody who didn't always play it safe and was on the move and was willing really to take some risks and some gambles to move forward because in his mind he only had a certain amount of time to get things done and that's reflected in spin his own his decisions to run for office and then the style of campaigns he ran especially the nineteen seventy eight campaign in the primary and the general the article that you wrote about governor karlan is entitled be willing to take some risks to make things happen but can you give an example of a risk that karlan said in order to make something happen i gave you several examples i mean one is related to his campaign actually he decided to seize upon her the utility bill issue

and as he is basically pretty much is only issue in his campaign he ran that only three television ads and then he also did a number of other things associated with utility bills that ended up being very successful but it very well could have not ants and then later people could've said well throwing all your entire campaign and one issue probably not a good idea but it ended up catching on the idea of utility bills too high and urban voters rewarding carlin for the you know for the possible anger at an advantage over that issue but as governor one great example is the death penalty issue colin stated that he had been against the death penalty as a legislator but during the campaign for governor and he was not a big issue for him and he didn't know he's he had said that if he got a desk owned the bill he probably would just sign because he had really campaigned against it but then as governor he he did receive the death

penalty bill and he then it sort of were shocked him into really having to think about where he stood on the issue and he thought about it too you know but a lot of time alone on it and he vetoed it and this is very important and it's a big risk because there's several things about kansas politics and one is as that fighting crime and the death toll is part of that is very popular in the state of kansas because in many states and we have had previous governors especially governor john anderson campaign specifically for the death penalty and do very well and so this was his first term and to veto a desk how the bill could have been them it made him a one term governor the second thing in terms of taking risks and really an insight into his style was something called the severance to severance tax

which was essentially a tax on no the gas oil companies it or in kansas that took out the resources from kansas and then took them under a fried refineries are a trip and other states and many states had a severance tax and kansas that not an governor carlin had gone to the legislature asking for a severance tax a republican legislature had said no and so karlan said well i'm on the run for reelection and that's going to be when i'm in a runoff now again it it is unusual in politics to run on one specific issue because if you're if you're from it's calculating if that issue doesn't catch on or people are not happy with that that's the issue that can blow your whole campaign and carlon molly ran on the severance tax think about it he ran on a tax now it's true that the tax was on companies' businesses

and maybe it's difficult to imagine now because now in kansas any sort of tax is considered really really awful and bad in and especially taxes on businesses because it might scare them away but even then in the nineteen eighties texas of course were not popular so to actually run major in here basically entire campaign on attacks are still a bit of a risk and if you listened to john carlin and one of his nineteen eighty two reelection adds it's not all sweetness and light he's got an edge to his voice it saying that listen i'm campaigning and a severance tax and vote vote for it or against it but that's what i'm for an it's a bit of a fighting type stats and bits of rem listener nineteen seventy eight when he ran when he said at a utility bill issues cutting edge to his voice and so this this is a combination of sort

of where the issues and style this was a governor who had a clear idea of what he wanted to accomplish and had a little bit of a pit bull mentality in that he was going to get it accomplished and that's where i get the sense that he felt you know i had a certain amount of time to do it and he was going to get those things done in the time here but what's the legacy and john carlin in terms of his governorship i think that the legacy of john carlin is that he'd be very much fits into the modern legacy of the kansas governor which has been a hardworking honorable politicians who buy large do what they think is best for the state and by large are willing to fight for and the reason i say this is when you look at kansas in the modern era you see governor should

governor's office that is largely scandal free largely amazingly him human to some of the bizarre bizarre happenings ago on him in other states across the nation and also both republicans and democrats seeming to to not want to advance their careers but spend their time in office with his four years or years trying to do what's best for the state i'd been visiting with bob beatty professor of political science at washburn university bob thanks for visiting with me today schumer spoke before that former governor john carlin who spoke at washburn university on january twenty eight two thousand eleven and k macintyre kbr present is a production of kansas public radio at the university of kansas