Seven Things I've Learned - Ira Glass

if you listen to kansas public radio's saturdays at noon you know the voice to that issue which is a theme you a variety of different kinds of stories and it's ira glass host and producer of this american life ira glass is coming towards next weekend he'll be at the leed center at the university of kansas on saturday night november fifth he joins us from his studio in new york city welcome nice to be here you're so is entitled seven things i've learned and evening with ira glass without giving it all away can you give us a sneak preview of the kind of things how you learned it's a lake lake was a moving is there important things online and some of them are totally ridiculous things of wind and this committee when seven and out what happens is a area talk about i talk about things that i've learned about making stories but as a toddler things that i learned from the people in the stories and this show is a mix of like me standing on stage and talking and playing audio clips and then playing video visit there's a ton of video that i play in the show and a

quick animated cartoons that we've made in the past and stuff from our tv show and the stuff we never put on tv around an abundance of rich never put on the radio and then i and then that and then there's a story or two that are quiet little cups of that go on the air so many years ago when anybody would remember me i'm so so it's a mix of lake stories in the show and me talking about the show again the your show at the leed center is called seven things i've learned we put avocado or kansas public radio listeners seven things they would like to learn about ira glass ready so clever gesture of big questions one and two when you were a kid what did you want to be when you grew up and only question if you were producing this american life what would you be doing ok when i was a kid i'm the only the only job go i remember ever having is of being an astronaut i was a kid a grip and sixties i'm old and dumb and got and i very much want to be an astronaut i think i got rid of that goal when i was around eleven or twelve and down and then what i would be

doing if i were not doing this american life i mean if our store maybe i probably would be like one of the people working on all things considered morning edition which is the job that i did before that subject is interested in us money and our anger and love to join that and i won in radio i would probably be a schoolteacher and in this play was where was over a school reporter and and i really don't have very active daydreaming about about like glacial ice which and then what would it be like to switch this is when you were reporting on their chicago schools yeah yeah like i was a reporter for the chicago schools for it for a few years were active in the years right before strain of this american life mattered if he answers all time schools as a good teachers are bad teachers and and and really appreciated both the difficulty and the rewards that you pay if you could go back and talk to young ira glass what it fights would you give yourself

i think that it would have been comforting to understand that i am that i am that i would get better at my job hunt it is really bad for a long time it seemed really hopeless and ana took me a really long time before i had decent skills it was a decent reported it took longer to become a decent on air reporter than anybody could've ever met and radio and i say that it sounds excessive we're like reverse humble brag listening but it's that very much true in effect in the talk i play a symbol of a story that i did like a year and nine repeat of love of me trying to become a radio person and so it's not good the fact that he really good advice for most of us that work in the media here it's not to be back before you're good ok will then a related question what advice would you give to young journalists especially in this age when the media is changing so rap lee and you know just a distant make the stuff that you're most excited about lake

lake one of the advantages of living now versus when i started in journalism is that you can actually make stuff does get it on to the internet and you could just create things that are the most exciting version of the most interesting thing he won a creative you have to wait for the right job to two to make something that you are excited to make it i think with young journalist like people don't tell them to tell us and a former young lake it's important too to have fun and be in it for your own amusement and for your own curiosity and i think when you follow those things you end up you end up with the most interesting work and the most compelling work and i'm in and so i would say to start making that work now and i'm and that figure really do it if you have a job that i had the place we're working but it's not just start making it cause that's basically that's basically what i try to do an end to end only question for you are professional life is spent in the world of storytelling in your free time what kind of stories and books do you like to read or some your favorite authors i mean i'm reading solo i'm a sick as reading is so much more time consuming

than anything as it was when i'm reading i'm reading articles in the end you know stuff that i'm researching for the radio show i mean my favorite authors i was in my number one favorite authors michael lewis he can do is i think the greatest non fiction writer in the country a people i know he wrote moneyball he wrote the blind side which is a book that much but in the movies and the pa have everything he writes i really love an end and admire so much like he brings a real joy to the reporting and to his to observing people and just he's a very interesting observer of people and these books are funny addition to being like incredibly smart and staking out territory that nobody's staked out before so he's for sure my favorite pam and then after that michael refrigerate book now and then mostly like i'm reading i'm reading the paper memo say that i'm somebody who like on the moment i wake up i gone to twitter and end and then search for donald trump's hair and just to be perfectly my next question

this election cycle has really put a spotlight on the role of the media in shaping politics and political campaigns what lessons should we be drawing from the two thousand sixteen elections and i guess i can be both we as the media and we as citizens i don't know i mean that's such a good question i mean this is something that i'm actually reading about for this vote for this coming week's radio show the sexism in emerging about for the radio which you which is that i think that it was clear before this election but that the selection really drove the time how we live in two countries the two different sets of information and one is the people who listen to the mainstream media and the other people listening to the right wing media and it's completely dispiriting to see the lack of of of overlap between those two worlds and how and how we're all looking at at the same things in front of us and saying completely opposite things and ten it seems very

first run disheartening and second of all very dangerous for a country that for that to exist hand and i don't know what we do and say that for me that that's one of the most alarming things about this election cycle what kind of role do you think the media plays in trying to bridge that divide between people who see things one way and people who see things another emily when over on that i think i think that that the people who were a group who are interested in what the mainstream media have as to say go to the mainstream medium of people who think that the mainstream media is full of lies and they go to the right wing media they go there and end this is the problem is that we have two sets of people poured into two worlds and i think nobody is doing the job of trying to bridge the gap between the two and dom and i think it's a very high i mean honestly like you know you can save is somebody in the media i think about what will what's the next move on the chessboard of like every the last major move that changed the chessboard was roger ailes setting up fox news and then all the fallout from that and

then all the web sites that grew up in the last ten years the right wing websites creating an entire information world outside of the new york times and the media that springs off of kind of that world i will what's the next move on the chessboard if somebody wanted to say no no no we we shouldn't be too different world let's be one world i don't know what that has to really don't feel very i'm like alarmed about i don't know a person ok on the lighter side the last time you came to the lead firm or back in two thousand and we did a pre show interview much like this one and i asked you what would listeners be surprised to learn about you and you answered with this story about your dog you'd be surprised the amount of time spent cooking for a dog i'm surprised about it to my county would approve of people cooking for their parents you know those people are crazy that we have this four year old and rescue crew were due to his herbs massive stomach problems

to the point were like what about once a month to his stomach just completely shuts down his leg it is to an onsite visit did you notice is the justice system and he said the bombing of blood and we have to take in the series is that it's a very very bad seriously medical stomach problems and so we have to cook him food we cook at my wife and i answer this like a friend we take a while to prepare them for animal ma ia lot actually and so there's a lot of like peeling sweet potatoes in and others period where where where the protein you need to start in a protein there's period that the protein the new cd and amazon's harbach is rabbit and so and so he was eating raspberries a set the ball and says oh that he's so we were cooking like where we were cooking like e e cooking and then like taking them meet often abounds like eat rabbits a week and i always that i gave brazilian by making rabbits because really expensive with vineyard city really relate to me or hunt rabbits and like an end and end and say we know save as the radio show we move to europe to do the tv show and then does it seem that shuttle back to chicago so we hear new york city and they were

buying like eat rabbits which automatically like that's a really weird purchase at that butcher to start with an inane a minute it was on the rabbits prospective health well gobbling it would be doing the rabbits would know that because the rabbit you just think like you have that dog is cute but you give us in any ideas how we get his job in an electric universe between us putin that dog and they'd be right you know and they know that it is always seems like we're going to be cooking and animal bit cuter than your pet for your pet whose job is to be cute you know the ages religion has been very very rock that was back in two thousand ten it's now two thousand sixteen house and ongoing ah he's doing good actually get into two hours shockey so i think he's the survival of his various physical ailments and i'm the one sign of just how many times he's been to that that i am not that long ago that he did

i think the smartest thing will ever do as a creature on this earth and that is i'm upset my wife was taking him on a walk and he pulled her from the place and they weren't going to walk two he dragged her to the vet's office which is totally scared off which is a dog who regulating the vet's office and trembles with fear but he dragged her to the vet's office think brings up to the front door and she said we going in here is a very untenable going in here so she opens the door and goes at the front desk and they're like you would you know try you know i mean he'd like what's wrong honey and and she said i don't know they don't know it brought me here and then they're like ok like is to examine him and so it's one of the vets saw him i am amazed in it so many times and so when that summit and it had cracked his tooth and that was i go he's an incredible pain right now he cracked a tooth and i'm and willie by whether there's like shocks that like that he had somehow internalize the idea of like if you're in pain you go to this place that you hate and they do some stuff that you can't even explain and then eventually days later you feel about

or like somehow like that for that thought to have been processed itself in is a little buggy brain that's crazy i am but so that's that that's that was the smartest moment of her that's an incredible story was incredible the us so his fine so glad to hear that go back to radio so cross your experience with tv shape the way you do your radio show as an all has not at all i think that they're such different media and up and up and ever go into law by by doing tv but i learned a lot about telling stories of pictures and dom and ended did there are no lessons are that said i do think there's things in the structure of a television show that you can use for an all audio program for example siri all our spin off show was created with the premise of can you do a radio show that is structured and designed white one of the sort of big

television shows that people watch and binge watch on like the question was can you get people to binge watch on a piece of nonfiction audio journalism and other silly they figured we do that hugely successful an end and butt butt of a lot of things and the design of that show that actually not taken from radio but taken from tv including obvious things like you know the beginning of the show we do kind of previously on cereal but then their things and just literally of the way scenes are constructed in the pace of it in the way the stories are told that that that julie snyder who produce the show sir kenneth i'm totally lifted from to be severe structural think you can take from from family stories are told on tv about the debts about it ok some question you've done this american life for twenty years now you've cranston to television movies and books what's next for ira glass oh my god

you know i feel like in the last year we came out with a new movie we export to the sydney opera house and england with the day and show that even trying the country with which weren't telling stories and going on stage with dancers and we put a little movies on the internet and i don't know i think i am the thing about making the reveal shows that i am a staff really are just trying to look for stuff to do that we haven't heard of the people doing that we haven't done and that would just be seem new and interesting and exciting and i feel like you know we would just figure out the next thing and as we can that if they give it all on there's been no plan other than put to just wake up to to try to do a nice job and amuse ourselves and so and so that's where we are right so what's the big question that i should have asked you by stunted yeah i have no idea i don't know i don't it i'm sorry this glimmering the stairs but you're wearing these days idea

about is six or a weeks ago i decided that rather than wear a pair of jeans and a white shirt or a blue shirt every day which i've done for the last mill pre match my entire adult life or most of it anyway a minnesota where a suit to the office every day because as it as an experiment and i am in income stuck it's interesting to wear a suit to work every day is one person that works in radio yeah it ended as to wear a tie that was super are tired i am and and i think it's because i'm all the things and i feel better just kind of more covered up and it felt weird to be in my fifties and still be wearing jeans every day at some point i'm at your neighbor mary who's decided that are on the radio show she said she's just like his yeshiva very horizontal structure as it where did you get what how do you know that phrase horizontal structures like you know cause you all you know all at the same level mr weiner sued the country to like a boss and i am

and being the worst near accidents every cage under our governor accent but i am and our and as a non arab and then actually like nothing changes if you think of me any more respect for underserved on the stump so this is a sort of a momentary a gesture towards towards a certain kind of adulthood so i don't know for a half a stick on a flight you know that that it is predicted kansas and maybe maybe all stop for the kansas but but so far complete weeks and it's if it's going strong ok so there you have it will you be wearing a suit or jeans and a white shirt at the leed center it is different for easter speeches have always worn a suit so proudly wearing a suit and a reason but of the reason why we're says intimate of our citizens it felt like people paid money to see me talk and then i'm a middle class person or flight of people paid money then you need to wear a suit against the mistake of going on a job interview you know if some of this money you get is worse you dress up just so i always did wear a suit for free

speech as i think you can it's county wearing a suit by temperament guarantee all worse because when you do you are so like the one huge until you bleed center it's not a horizontal structure no it's not a very good point no read it i will be doing the talking about the war production facility if there's an excellent point again ira glass is common at the university of kansas leed center on saturday november fifth tickets are available at lead that hey you'd died edu iraq thank you for visiting with me today we'll see next week but i think so much then came an entire day you're listening to k pr presents on kansas public radio for the rest of this hour we turn to two thousand sixteen elections here in kansas the november eighth elections are right around the corner and this year for a former governors of kansas are taking an active role coming up we'll hear from kathleen sebelius bill graves mike

hayden and john carlin but first let's check in with k pr statehouse reporter stephen koranda welcome stephen kay thanks jeremy we'll talk about the top of the ticket in just a minute but let's start with kansas the big statewide issue this year is something bad many voters pay little attention to in most elections whether or not to retain kansas supreme court justices how we get here this has been something that some people have been looking at for several years specifically some of the groups that are unhappy would be for example abortion opponents they've been unhappy that the supreme court justices have basically blocked abortion laws that the legislature passed with their conservative majority's so damning happy with some of the supreme court justices they've wanted to change how the justices were selected but that hasn't been able to pass because not enough lawmakers want to change that so this is another kind of way to get the

issue is well we could maybe get rid of the justices if we don't like the way they are ruling one of the main groups working on this issue is a group called kansans for justice and they actually are not taking the abortion rights angle they are looking at it from the death penalty angle and they are unhappy that in several cases the kansas supreme court has effectively overturn death sentences they haven't for example the big one that everyone talks about the car brothers date in le carre brothers out they didn't say that our brothers are no longer guilty but they overturned a death sentences and said you have to do more work on this issue i can the supreme court was later overturned by the us supreme court and the death sentences were reinstated and since then again the supreme court i think one or two times has upheld additional death sentences but there's this group kansans for justice including some family members of the car brothers victims say in the justices four of them four who ruled in the carbon his case should be thrown out because of the way they've been ruling in these death sentence cases

the flipside of this now is this group kansans for fair courts which is coming out and saying look the justices over all are doing a very good job very few of their cases are overturned on appeal and it's not good to look at just a couple rulings that maybe you know white and say we should throw the justices out because of that they're basically arguing the justices have to look at a lot of information in every case a special these death penalty cases because death penalty cases you know the stakes are huge and the state has to make sure that every t is crossed and every high has died so they're saying the justices should keep their jobs so it's just it's this issue that's been bubbling under the surface and kind of has been interesting to political wars for a while but this year it's really come to the surface and there's been this big effort to throw out four of the five justices who are up for retention i'm a school finance figure into this debate that's another issue where specifically some of the more conservative members of the legislature don't like the way the justices have been ruling in the

past and they want to maybe get rid of some of them for that too or at least maybe influence them to not make those types of rulings on school finance a that's not an issue where necessarily i've seen people are making as many arguments publicly about that but i'm sure that the people who want to get rid of some of the justices i'm sure in their minds some rulings on a school funding are at least one of the things they're thinking about for former kansas governor's have been actively campaigning in favor of retaining those supreme court justices coming up we'll hear from kathleen sebelius bill graves mike hayden and john carlin that stephen just how unusual is their involvement in this issue what's interesting about this is for example i mentioned family members of a car or others who they feel have a legitimate grievance a lot of people would agree the family get immigrants are out campaigning say in the justices should be removed justices cannot campaign for themselves they

basically face a retention election where basically it ballot will say something like sharon justice so and so be retained and if more people say no then yes they'll be replaced what's so unusual here is the justice has never lost one of these elections but since they can't campaign out for themselves we have other people kind of coming to their aid and saying look we need to support them and we need to keep him in the job so that's why you have these for bipartisan governors coming together we just had also this week to attorney former attorneys general a republican and a democrat coming out and saying we should keep them on the job for the reason that these groups are coming together is because the justices can't campaign on their own and these are people who say well let's campaign for them cause we think they should keep their jobs another state wide issue constitutional amendment one what can you tell me about that this is a constitutional amendment that has to do with hunting and fishing and i didn't get a

lot of coverage in the last legislative session because there were some other big issues going on but it also passed you know all mo ost unanimously in both chambers so now it has to go before voters and basically what it says is kansans have a constitutional right to hunt and fish and restrictions on that i think if memory serves can only be put in place if animals are truly endangered that's the only way you could really restrict hunting and fishing to the people who are supporting this i basically saying you know we have this long history of hunting and fishing in kansas and this is kind of a preemptive way of saying you know whether it be gun control measures are animal rights issues they can't be used to infringe that unless there's you know this really important issue of animals becoming endangered by hunting some of the people who are critical of this now are saying that this would basically make it harder to put reasonable restrictions in hunting in place because if you want to for example say put some limits on hunting a certain animal even if the animal wasn't endangered or put limits on certain types of hunting you

probably couldn't because there would be this constitutional right to hunting and fishing in our state constitution leading up to this election there's been a lot of legal wrangling over just who is eligible to vote here in kansas depending on how you registered in the first place can you bring us up to speed on on that well depends how long you want talk about this and i'll give you the various grades of energy and i don't think we have all day here this has been incredibly confusing for both people like us who have been watching it but for average voters even more so that it's not their job to watch this basically the way it has come down now is of course we have these rules in kansas where if you're registering for the first time in the state's over someone who moved out for enough to kansas from out of state but he just turned eighteen you have to prove your citizenship when you register to vote which generally is going to be by providing a birth certificate or a passport something like that their list of documents he can use well obviously some people have not been happy with that and some people have been unable to comply

or unwilling to provide the documents couldn't give them whatever and so we've created the situation where thousands of people have run into problems you know the secretary of state who pushed for this chris kovach i use you know these people could complete the process they just need to get the documents and turn the man the state will give india for free if they're from kansas you know you get in from other states if you knew that voting rights advocates are arguing that this is effectively blocking people who are legal voters who should be allowed to vote so there's been these ongoing court cases various ones and where we are now is federal courts have ruled that he can't enforce our voter registration rolls on the federal voter forum so what that means is if you're registered to vote at the dmv use the federal form see a path you don't have to comply with that severe one of the people who was held up and was on the suspended list to you didn't turn in a document i you are now allowed to vote and you can vote in all races with a regular ballot won't be considered a provisional ballot but also if you register

using the federal voter registration form anywhere else you also will not be held to that proof of citizenship requirement so we've had this you know the de voter registration deadline just passed but it created this situation where some people were making sure to have both forms and telling people hey you know if you're going to be held up by this you can fill out the federal form and not have to be held to this requirement but the issue is now it's not clear what's going to happen after the fall election so if you're one of the people who were on the suspended list but she use the federal form so now you're going to be allowed to vote where what's not clear if you're going to be allowed to vote in the future after the fall election but the point is for now i you know you should check yemeni questions check with your local election office which is going to be the county clerk in most counties or by the election commissioner in the four most populous counties and let's turn our attention to the top of the ticket the past few weeks have been tough ones for donald trump and his campaign what effect has that had here in kansas is the race becoming more competitive you

know even with some of donald trump's sagging poll numbers it would be a shocking development for kansas to go to a democratic presidential candidate i still believe that that is very very unlikely hand but it's still making things tough for some kansas republicans could not aware of any of the big statewide republicans that have on endorsed trump there might be some that i miss but i haven't seen any and but they have been critical of him and they've been coming to the realization that it might hurt them down ticket for example i just saw an article with an interview with clay barker the executive director of the kansas democratic party saying you know they're aware that maybe this'll be a drag down ticket on some other republicans so it's not clear exactly how that's going away here in kansas in a lot of people don't as much split their ticket when they vote democrat and republicans of the concern from some republicans is if you're not happy with the things donald trump has been saying and doing at all vote for hillary clinton

at the top of the ticket in the navy when you go downhill we had some other democrats and vote for them on the way down it's not clear what exactly going to happen on that front it will complicate a little more is that we have a lot of moderate republicans running for the legislature now on our people didn't know that while they maybe don't agree with some things donald trump says so on the vote for them arriving in a vote for the democratic challenger i think there are a lot of questions but i think it can have an impact donald trump can have an impact on the race is here in kansas i didn't know exactly what it's going to be yet one thing it looks like donald trump maybe having an impact in races the kansas third congressional district around the kansas city area that's where our republican incumbent kevin yoder is facing this challenge from democrat jay saturday and you know yoda or has pretty easily won two years ago against a democratic challenger but this year the race is kind of tight knit up and it looks like it's because of donald trump's maybe sagging poll numbers in the area so that raises gone from one where it seems very unlikely that yoder kevin yoder the republican would face much of a challenge to one where the race is looking significantly tiger

donald trump has for heatedly said that if he loses it will be because the election as raymond how concerned should we be about that possibility here in kansas so this is an interesting argument because the elections are run by the states they're not run by the federal government and it for example hearing kansas the most outspoken supporter of donald trump has been republican secretary of state kris kovach so if the election were to be re state wide in theory it would be crystal about doing that right now i don't i would i would think that donald trump would probably she would ask i would probably say well obviously not in kansas because we're crystal but they're doing a good job but the reality is that there doesn't really seem to be evidence of this raid in that he's talking about for example a reporter asked governor sam brownback about this a brownback is supporting trump courts republican probably the most well known politician in kansas and he said that he doesn't agree with that rigged election theory that's been pushed by

trump brownback said you know he believes maybe there are problems in some places in the us but he's been on the ballot a lot and is the way he put it he thinks the election system works well besides that third district race what other races will you be watching on november eighth will be that i'll be in the basement of the statehouse probably i'll be watching the legislative races because they are it's very clear that there's going to be a shift in the legislature a significant one already because it's looking like a day is going to go from conservative leadership in both chambers after the primaries it there it's pretty clear that there's going to be a majority in both chambers made up of moderate republicans and democrats the question is how many i'm going to be moderate republicans and democrats for example if you look at the house or the senate if they're mormon of the republicans and that gives republican leadership a chance to you know keep them onboard keep them in the running on a lot of issues you know mara republicans and democrats could form a coalition on some issues to vote down certain things that conservatives might want

but there's a better chance for republican leaders to keep you know the republican caucus together and get things that they want if democrats pick up significant numbers of seats then that makes it even tougher for republicans to get what they want without getting the democrats on board so while it appears is going to be this majority of moderate republicans and democrats you know how that majority has made up can have a big impact here in the fall and we don't know what's going to happen but were already expecting a tough session i'll with big issues like fixing a budget deficit education funding is likely state supreme court ruling on education funding and how the two bodies are made up and have a big impact on that among the same lines just last week susan way girl appeared to try to reach position herself in terms of where she stands on the moderate conservative continuum how likely is it that she can do

so and convince her fellow legislators that this is the direction to go so republican susan wagle from wichita is an unabashed conservative i would say she always has been and she wants to keep her job what is interesting is the person who is going to challenge or another republican terry gross lost his primary election so it appears he will not have a challenger and she really has as you mentioned been positioning herself in a good way to keep her job she came out with his big republican policy proposal that kind of broke through in some ways from governor sam brownback they said everything is on the table when it comes to the budget including taxes even though i don't think he's in favor of a tax increase and she got a lot of the moderate republicans in the chamber and candidate moderate republican candidates for the senate to sign on so she's already been putting herself in a good position to get these moderates on board to

support her even if they don't agree with her on every issue so while she's still a conservative as she believes that she can hold the republican caucus together even with more moderate republicans and right now she's putting herself in a good position to do that and to keep her job lots to watch for november eighth yes thank you so much steven thank you that's stephen koranda statehouse bureau chief for kansas public radio i'm j mcintyre one of the big issues on the ballot november eighth will be whether five state supreme court justices should keep their jobs for a former kansas governors have taken a very active role in campaigning for the justices and against the effort to remove them democrat kathleen sebelius a republican bill graves democrat john carlin and republican mike hayden took to the road last month to talk about the issue we'll hear first from bill graves who served as governor of kansas from nineteen ninety five to two thousand three in the eight years i had the opportunity to go through the the the nomination and and the selection process

the number of times both for members of the supreme court the court of appeals and watching as i have from a distance i mean it's apparent to me the the effort underway to to not retain five individuals that i think have been properly vetted and selected through the merit system that has served this state so well for so many years it was always my opinion that it was an actual system representing your the proper way to find those individuals and and place them in in in positions of the public trust and i'm here ready because i simply don't see that this has broken it doesn't need fixed and i believe kansans oughta be made aware of how working out once they are to have a system that serve them so well and i hope that they'll love boat to retain those five individuals when they go to the polling place and then a little over a couple of months and clearly when you when you make the case that it's a system that's not broken doesn't need to be fixed you have in mind a system that you think is really

serve the people of kansas quite well tell us a little bit about how the system works for each of you is among the four folks are you for people among a very small group of folks we've had the opportunity and the responsibility to select somebody to serve as a member of the kansas supreme court tell us about that system and why you're so proud of it and why you think it should be preserved oh i would pay interns retention is part of a sense of what it was intended for extraordinary reading on those rare occasions when something must be done do not replay in particular justice democrat john carlin was governor of kansas from nineteen seventy nine to nineteen eighty seven this is going after five or up based primarily on one place which needs to be clarified for the public in terms of the facts but we evolved into a system where we routinely throughout the likeliest rollout

as a dramatically different situation you would have your quality lawyers have any interest in it into that situation you'd find justices away from their parents and the public influenced by a retention vote coming up winner mechanisms that would be an extraordinary change in our system if we went to work a rare it there were just categorically going five hours apart but if i'm right if it correctly a part of why we don't think that there should be this constant effort to non retain because we're proud of the system that produces their nomination an appointment in the first place is that is that something that you could talk about how the process works in and why does the system that gives rise to their appointment is so strong that effort not to retain them should be viewed with great suspicion of age of board ready to recognize our game in the air the wall republican mike hayden served as governor of kansas from nineteen eighty

seven to nineteen ninety one in the nineteen fifties we had about to use is how the himalayas area back he not only resigned from all that but then he had a poignant that you just can't win for a terrible terrible miscarriage of justice will the court to wait about why public and the breath oh great then the riff on but beyond that the other great fortunate thing is that it gave robert you are current selection our current mayor elect a huge importer remember that in the history that that's unlikely that everything will who is their importation has been replaying in other words week we read about politics and an n bomb on merit now there are some people who would take if i

would take it back to abortion the system and that's not the way people are our system working wrote it doesn't need fixing and and the people of kansas need to recognize that we we have done very very well ninety nine point five percent of the a field of a car or have been suspended that water right then and we've we can't be distracted why i want to patients because we all i disagree or be disappointed some of the passaic but when people come before the court they're entitled to a fair an important hearing and that's what they got from our current justices in the whole court including know the periphery and i get ready

in the in the non partisan non political judicial system that we have these individuals are or they're not going to show up in and hold press conferences they're not going to be on the campaign trail advocating that people retain them again bill graves but someone needs to speak for them and i think collectively the four of us felt it was our responsibility to stand up and say the camp since these are five individuals who deserve to be retained and in doing so you're also in effect join your support for the you know the merit nonpartisan system of selection of judges that serve the state so well thank you governor parkinson's in here a schedule conflict that we would have all five living former governors that's important in how they support for people to know is well over time and you made reference to to a particular criminal case that that is

already a part of a conversation as it relates to retention but you also noted that there's a need for some clarification and some facts related to that decision that needs to be put into this conversation as well could you talk about that case governors and an invention some light on the matter now it's part this conversation accurately were not well is because a lot of the stories that left the impression i don't pay and tentative it's left the impression that the car brothers were out running around wichita they'd never let prisoner in there and never leave prison they are still subject to the death penalty so that needs to be clear in terms of any discussion of that case in relation to retention it was a tactical issue foley there was a dispute between our supreme court and the us supreme court and they defer that happens rarely but it did happen but it didn't in any way in fact the car brothers they're in prison still will be on it and we talk

about that i don't know either we have five justices on the ballot for retention in november and six o'clock six court of appeals judges as well what happens if all five of those supreme court justices are not returning for the lead supreme court nominating commission will be very very busy because they'll have to come up with the recommendations three three year individuals for each of those five slots they'll be lots of background checks lot of work done by kb i assume another and ultimately a governor brownback would have the opportunity to work select five of seven justices of the supreme court that would be the sort of the practical process implications and i am not to mention these are five individuals that have had tremendous institutional knowledge

of cases that have come before the supreme court there they're very talented people of all members of the court you would see i think a sort of a step or two back in terms of the year the court's ability to probably grapple with in and deal with a caseload that is normally a part of their their daily schedule clearly you can call on others to come up in and hear cases but it's just not the same and i think sends a bit of a negative signal about this overall climate within our state of our judiciary and how it impacts everyone who lives here and does business here clearly we have a system in kansas that has given us fair impartial nonpolitical courts and non traditional non a non political judiciary anywhere where we're working to preserve that but in an interesting way that the state's governor is the one connection to the political system that new

supreme court justices are you made appointments to the supreme court then walked in terms of your relationship to that branch after those appointments were made well i think on the park boundary very well again mike hayden i know mark burns of the governor's your day that was at a point in may that person who's the point become independent answer and and that's where we are and it's inappropriate for the governor tried to employ a member of the supreme court even though they the point because it very clear these are illegal but that the rest of them

and that's a system the connection bow that provide the greatest safeguard free and that's the way we knew we would really that theme as evidence of our system work i know in my ears i think it's generally true for all of us and was hundreds and thousands of like a pardon requests never issued a home but arkansas where the system is political partisan and money and lawns huckabee i think of that way in ten thousand in his career pardons issues there was a quarter last resort not been critical of you know the system was too partisan and controlled by money and you get the result we got a great system and we can we can document that from a variety of perspectives that work and that you know we were where we were all went through it both republicans democrats and then and we operate versus the

role of ever reason to believe that your work and the beauty of this is that the fat that's mike hayden before he first governor of kansas before that we heard from former governors john carlin and bill graves are three spoke last month in topeka at an event moderated by reggie robinson former kansas governor and secretary of health and human services kathleen sebelius was also at that event due to microphone issues we were unable to use that audio however i reached kathleen sebelius by telephone last week to recap that conversation we have an advantage that has been played for a decade in america like come on the green court justices which actually has more extremely well through a republican administration and democratic administrations i think a lot of the country will get it in the

judicial with them with tom and the rabbit of the focus here in ghana that had not been on ardath than they have been in a and downtown that the catholic church or that it's really been a focus of governors to pick people who are educated a lot of our great public servant who have been the canary in the courtroom in a gray knowledge expert he and a desire to there and while we mention that have always been a part of them said that if there's an angry good and that occurred yours i read in that a judge needs to be remote camera way back in half an hour we have bad serenely that and then i do a good show and the man and the judges for a night they think the years

why is very alarming is that later gov i have been determined to eventually control the judicial selection process for the last three or four years there have been over fifty build an artist in the legislature to get additional fighter jets to change the way judges they're going and you eventually threaten judge if it's a riddle that certain way if they would have no finances through the courts and that most read the effort to defeat our identity war on the retention ballot that time it is the legislature actually refused to pass the change in our camper constitution which would have allowed to the happen so i i think about the social care if you do carry having

third branch of government and independent judiciary that actually rule based on the law and not based on partisan politics where people don't have to go ray vaughan they're not tried especially chairs are a lad door of opportunity for people who can't get their grievances heard elsewhere and i did i cannot imagine a more important effort then making sure we keep the current big thing which means retaining all five in your own time as governor of kansas what kind of relationship did you have with the kansas supreme court what's your own experience with the attention that often exist between the courts and the elected branches of government very period really and that was one of the five that opportunity that i had at the court level at the level and at the supreme court level

you look around they look at the three nominees anthony in each of the cases to make sure that we had a different court the court a core of expertise i critically interview ever won ever recommended to me and i think i should be we're about a married to a judge a federal judge my husband gary three billion practice law for thirty years and then had an opportunity to be appointed to the federal bench and they've been on the federal bench though i actually lived with the dutch and watch the unwritten rule on cases and know that kind of film are keeping the enemy after he makes inmates who is sure he is totally impartial if there's any question that he'd removed himself from the situation though i mean i've had a really wonderful opportunity to all ethan body at the crack of thing just day in

and day out and we had we had a convention that the jewish and when i was governor will find a formula with challenges oh yeah finance formula was unconstitutional based on the legislature's failure to provide adequate resources and five than in an equitable manner i frankly agreed with the ruling alliance members of the legislature did not and we had a lot of back and forth about well what we should do to get rid of all the candidates you know what how beer they tell us what to do i really fell they did exactly what they needed to do which is to look at the candidates and the children were entitled to fair and equitable funding for education and work out what the legislature was doing and make it if it was based on our

constitutional framework for education if exactly what the court has done with ethical line of formula one began years later they said you know this is now the eu backed away from a formula that would have been two thousand and five ten years ago you haven't updated if you haven't caught the resources adequate you need to go back and do it again but to me it's exactly what we want the court any moment and it is a word what happened i mean i never did and well ok with a name like the land in any way to reform try to influence them i they gave my god i could find and i would always have thought that isn't because they were always many talented folks who are willing to take if they can do this job because they webcam with and

i love a lot and they're willing to serve and then i basically let them do their job for why that if we had a you know daily dialogue i would invite them to come over and give me and the legislature an update on their education spending in that time our governor their budget was pretty much thought when they would propose what they needed and wanted to make sure that the court operate as well and it was my job on cue help out there but you're not to micromanage is not the candidate not a direct mom not to repeat it but to really give them every quarter they needed more well functioning judiciary opened all can be and i find that bag of this campaign and very troubling that like you're driving for judges it curtailed their budget tried to change appointment

or have the debt that we have to go after the war ended left they messages and i think this is a continuation of that effort and not only that which other problem is the recurrent dream corps division that the kansas school funding is unconstitutional for former kansas governors from both sides of the aisle coming together to campaign on an issue like judicial retention as far as i know that's unprecedented why is judicial retention different than so many of the other pressing issues that face kansas today well i think that you would also have found that you were part of the conversation and i think we all that this before about the four governors three republicans and three democrats that we thought that might rarely use of doorbell the ah the lead but rather that what is going on in kansas have been fairly broken and that we need legislators who actually are willing to

come together it can and look good day for him eric garner no i yeah what kind of talent and expertise came out to iowa as a possible candidate we watch the court in action for a potent personal we had an opportunity to interact with him and third branch of government in a way that most kansans will never pass and i think all that immediately recognized that any effort to or it can get you run an election and i have to try and ban they did that they made when they really can't campaign in the way that elected official cane and i am wiped it wrong we also what the merits of

them we think it's very very well there's no doubt i think bill gray former republican governor mike hayden former republican governor they have appointed a or john carle and other former democratic governor would've appointed an atlanta that make records talent that make war armed expertise in opinion that come forward when people or maybe look at the law but none of us wants it changed the narrative and that has actually their canvas belt well the years kathleen sebelius was governor of kansas from two thousand three to two thousand nine she and former governors bill graves mike hayden and john carle and join forces to campaign in favor of retaining kansas supreme court justices up for attention on november eighth earlier this hour we heard from this american life ira glass ira glass will be at the leed center on

saturday november fifth i'm kate mcintyre kbr present is a production of kansas public radio at the university of kansas