3rd District Panel, Progressive Black Democrats

[TOM AVERILL AS WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN OLEANDER]: Well folks, people are always asking, "Where is Here, Kansas?" I'll tell ya. It's real close to the Highway 81. Why I can walk from Elmer Peterson's Drive-Thru Pharmacy and Car Wash at the corner of John Brown and Kansas Streets down to the co-op at the corner of Wyatt Earp and Kansas Streets and feel like I've moved from eastern to western Kansas. You know, U.S. 81 gets blamed for dividing this state, eastern from western Kansas. Folks west of Concordia, Salina, McPherson, and Wellington are thought by eastern Kansans to be out there. In fact, one Kansas historian named his book, "West of Wichita," because he thought the experiences west were so different from those east of Wichita. Of course, there were divisions long before Highway 81. Geography started it -- prairie to the east, plains to the west. Thirty three inches of rainfall to the east, 14 to the west. Bluestem grass to the east, buffalo grass to the west. And experience continued it. Eastern Kansas was settled before the Civil War, and the

politics of North versus South were embedded in the eastern Kansas mind. And what was embedded in the western Kansas mind? The cattle drives, the sod house, the windmill, barbed wire strung to stone fence posts, buffalo dung for fuel, and wind. Economics continues it. Suburban Johnson County is not like Johnson, Kansas, though they are both wealthy because of where they are. Johnson County is near industrial-service-laden Kansas City. Johnson, Kansas is above the world's largest natural gas field. Here, Kansas, being near U.S. 81, is full of those differences. The eastern half of Here wears overalls, work boots, feed caps, shirts we button to the collar for warmth. We drink water and we eat fried chicken. Our heroes are John Brown, William Allen White, Dwight David Eisenhower. Our women quilt, read from the Bible, and save their egg money. The western half of Here wears Levis and pointy-toed cowboy boots, ten gallon hats, pearl-buttoned shirts

open at the collar with a handkerchief at the neck. We drink whiskey and eat bloody steaks. Our heroes are Wyatt Earp, the Dalton Brothers, and Mike Hayden, who brought western Kansas speech back to the statehouse. Our women drive pickups, throw darts, and know how to dance in high heeled boots. The eastern half mutters, while the western half curses, each at the other. You know, in Here, Kansas, we're stronger for our differences. Back in the '40s, Milton Eisenhower wrote a piece he called, "The Strength of Kansas." He felt our state spirit came from the interaction between New England and the South, Puritanism and the Wild West, thus producing what he called, "hybrid vigor." He ended by saying the Kansas spirit is a unique mingling of Puritan morality, southern chivalry, and western individualism. He claimed that no state is more accurately representative of America as a whole than Kansas. And while we're bragging, let me say this. No town in this state represents Kansas more

truly than Here. So, goodbye, "y'all." I'll see some of you at church, some at the rodeo. And God bless some of you, and to hell with the rest. ***** [TONE] [TONE] [SILENCE] [MARY WHITEHEAD]: This is Morning Edition. I'm Mary Whitehead. Last night, public radio stations broadcast an election forum held in Topeka for candidates in the 3rd District Congressional race. Kansas Public Tadio Statehouse Bureau Chief Tama Wagner moderated the forum and joins us now to talk about what happened. Good morning Tama. [TAMA WAGNER]: Good morning Mary. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: Let's start off by getting some background on the 3rd District race.

Who are the candidates? [TAMA WAGNER]: The incumbent is Jan Meyers, she's a Republican from Overland Park. Ms. Meyers began her career in politics as a member of the Overland Park City Council, she moved to the state legislature, and has been in Congress now for seven and a half years. Challenging Ms. Meyers are Tom Love, he's a Democrat from Kansas City, former state legislator, he rehabilitates old houses for a living. And also Frank Kaul, a libertarian from Lawrence -- he's a political newcomer, but pretty much follows the Libertarian philosophy of less government. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: How did the candidates fare last night? [TAMA WAGNER]: Well, it was an interesting debate. I think the Democratic challenger Tom Love started out hitting pretty hard. He'd like nothing better than to have his campaign focus on PAC contributions, contributions from political action committees. Tom Love doesn't accept PAC money, and he contends that such contributions, i.e. special interest dollars, taint a politician's focus. And he says, you know, once you begin accepting campaign contributions then you lose sight of who you're really working for.

And he likens political action contributions to little more than political bribes. [TOM LOVE]: We need to be more like judges. If a person walked into a judge's chambers and laid down $5,000 on the desk and said to them, "I'd like for you to vote such and so a way," they would be probably in jail the next day for bribery. [TAMA WAGNER]: Long and short, because his opponent was accepting these kind of contributions, meaning the incumbent accepted PAC dollars, he said that she was somehow beholden to these special interest groups. When asked, he could not pinpoint a vote or a series of votes that illustrated Meyers' allegiance to these so-called special interests. In a broad sense, he said, well perhaps because Congress hasn't solved the healthcare crisis and the S&L crisis and Ms. Meyers accepts money from them, perhaps that's part of the reason. Unfortunately, it took Meyers until her closing statement to finally respond to Love's attacks about PAC contributions. [JAN MEYERS]: First, I'd like to clear up something. There's been some kind of an inference here that I take a lot of

money from people or go out to dinner with them or- I do not do that. Second, I would like to say that of my PAC contributions, more than 50 percent comes from individual contributions from my district. [TAMA WAGNER]: As for Frank Kaul, the Libertarian, his reason for not accepting PAC contributions pretty much stays within the Libertarian line. His statements were to the effect of if you have less government then you have less need for money and especially special interest money. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: Apparently, Tom Love managed to put Jan Meyers on the defensive when the issue of pay raises for members of Congress came up. What happened during that exchange? [TAMA WAGNER]: It was interesting, because Jan Meyers has kind of an unusual way to justify accepting a pay increase. She says that when Congress initially comes up with a pay increase, she doesn't accept it -- and she waits until after an election year. And if the voters then return her to office, then she considers

that they're okay to take this pay increase. [JAN MEYERS]: I have voted "No" on all of the pay raises, and if one happened in spite of my vote I'd gave the increase back until after the next election. And the reason I do that, is because I feel very strongly that the salary for this office is a contract between me me and the voters of this district -- and they should have a right to vote on me knowing what the salary for the office is. So, I always return the full increase until after the next election, and I am very open and very honest about that with all of my constituents. [TAMA WAGNER]: Tom Love said he would return the $25,000 pay raise, because he doubts voters in this 3rd District knew that Jan Meyers was holding their vote as a contract, that they were saying she deserves this pay increase. He doesn't think voters make that analysis when they go into the voting booth. [TOM LOVE]: This $25,000 pay raise -- when I talk to people out in the public, they don't accept

this political response of, "I always vote 'No,' on pay raises and then turn around and accept it." They do not accept that explanation, and I intend not to accept it, and I intend to sponsor legislation to do away with it, because I want to represent what people want us to do. And they don't want that raise. When Congress gave, you know... just recorded the highest deficit in American history, and turned and gave themselves a $25,000 pay raise, it was like a slap in the face to the public. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: Did Frank Kaul have anything to say about the subject? [TAMA WAGNER]: Frank Kaul was able to remain above the fray in this back-and-forth skirmish over pay raises. He did say that he thought, in general, Congressmen or elected officials were overpaid, and it's something that should be considered again. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: We haven't really gotten a sense of who Frank Kaul is. What did he bring to this discussion? [TAMA WAGNER]: Perhaps the most interesting thing he said is during this election year, we hear so much about change, and everyone is calling for change -- and Frank Kaul says, if voters in the 3rd District are really interested in change, why not try a Libertarian? [FRANK KAUL]: Well, I think it's obvious that the election of a Libertarian candidate to the United States Congress would be sending a very clear message to the

people in Congress -- that the American people want a lot less government, that they want to return to the role of a limited government, more in the mold of the Founding Fathers. I think that a Libertarian would be a strong force, you know, in pushing for those things. The... Our presidential candidate Andre Marrou was elected to the Alaska state legislature, and he had an effect far out of proportion to his one seat. He led the repeal for an income tax in Alaska, he was widely considered the conscience of the legislature by the people in the newspapers and such in Alaska... [MARY WHITEHEAD]: We've covered some of the subjects that were stressed last night, but we haven't really emphasized issues that voters have said are important. For instance, what about the candidates' stands on abortion? [TAMA WAGNER]: Jan Meyers, who has been an abortion rights supporter, kind of waffled on the issue and said, "Well, I suppose I'm pro-choice," and then came back later and affirmed that yes, in fact, she is pro-choice. Tom Love was equally interesting, because, as a Kansas legislator, he had always been an anti-abortion candidate. And when asked specifically, and when he was pressed a couple of times, he refused to say that. He said that

he would vote for certain restrictions, but would never come across with, "This is what I am." And as for Frank Kaul, he was perhaps the most forthcoming, and said, you know, just outright that he does support abortion rights. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: Healthcare has become a big campaign issue this election year. Did the candidates express their views on that subject? [TAMA WAGNER]: Yes they did. Jan Meyers supports a basic package of benefits that would be developed by consumers, doctors, hospitals, insurance companies -- it's basically the House Republican plan. It's the plan that President Bush supports. Tom Love, on the other hand, he was a little bit surprising in the fact that he said he didn't think repairing the healthcare system and providing low-cost, basic medical care would be that

expensive, which of course is contrary to what most people say. He supports incentives to encourage consumers and doctors to provide less-expensive medical care. And as for Frank Kaul, he said it was too difficult to go into the entire program in just a 2-minute time, but did say that the federal government should in no way be involved with correcting the current system, and in fact said, he believes that we're in the mess we're in now because government has too much control in the regulation of healthcare. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: Tama, we're out of time, but thanks for talking with us this morning. [TAMA WAGNER]: Thank you, Mary. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: Kansas Public Radio's Statehouse Bureau Chief Tama Wagner discussing last night's forum for the 3rd Congressional District candidates. This is Morning Edition. I'm Mary Whitehead. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: About two dozen people representing four different African American organizations met with Finney. The community leaders wanted the governor to explain why Azzie Young had been dismissed as KDHE's secretary.

Terry Crowder, the chairperson of the Progressive Black Democrats, says they simply didn't get an answer, and instead, Crowder feels the governor ignored their concerns. And he believes Finney could face serious repercussions from the Black community if she isn't more forthright. [TERRY CROWDER]: The very same people that put her in office could be the very same people that would keep her out of office in 1994. [TAMA WAGNER]: Crowder points out that in the 1990 election, many people in the Black community had a lot of faith and trust in Joan Finney. Finney would not answer specific questions about the meeting, but does say it was productive. [JOAN FINNEY]: I listened to them, and I urged them to take a positive, constructive approach to the problems of the minorities in Kansas. [TAMA WAGNER]: Young was dismissed earlier this month. Finney

says the firing was the end result of longstanding problems within the state Health Department that Young could not resolve. Young was replaced by Dr. Bob Harder. Young is the latest casualty on a growing list of ill-fated appointments that have plagued the Finney administration. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: To fully understand this race, the political climate in South Central Kansas must first be examined. In Sedgwick County this year, it's volatile. Christians who view themselves as conservatives have made huge gains in the Republican party and have virtually taken over at the precinct level. The newfound power has prompted this segment of the population to call for what some political analysts describe as "extreme changes" in government. Kenda Bartlett with Concerned Women for America says the Christian Right agenda is clear -- they want less government and a national return to traditional family values. [KENDA BARTLETT]: ...can't accept that there are alternate family styles, to include same-sex

families and same-sex couples, that would want to adopt children and those kinds of things. We just feel like...that it's...you know, that the traditional family has been the strength here, and that the government needs to stop intervening in families. And the government needs to -- if it's going to be working in families at all -- it needs to be doing things that would strengthen families. [TAMA WAGNER]: Because of this Christian Right movement, there is a political struggle in Sedgwick County similar to that on the national level. House Speaker Marvin Barkis, a Democrat, last session championed many of the programs that Bartlett and other conservatives find intrusive. Barkis maintains the current call for conservative family values simply isn't realistic for today. [MARVIN BARKIS]: I think we don't see government as taking over parent responsibilities. We think that we're realistic about what's going on in our society, and we say that schools, government,

the community has to step in and help parents. [TAMA WAGNER]: The opposite positions of Bartlett and Barkis almost illustrate the extreme differences in the two congressional candidates. The Conservative Right, namely anti-abortion groups and Evangelical churches, are squarely behind the Republican Eric Yost. Yost is anti-abortion, and he also supports a voucher system that would allow parents to send their children to private schools at state expense. However, Yost has stayed pretty clear of these themes on the campaign trail. Critics say Yost is campaigning as a moderate in an effort to be more widely appealing. But Yost says he's simply campaigning on the important issues facing voters in the state's 4th District. [ERIC YOST]: I think, uh, family values is very important. I think getting off the backs of families, letting them keep their own money to spend the way they want to spend it is very important. And I've said that all along. But I also think that dealing with the deficit, while it's not a great vote-getter, is something we all need to step up to. [TAMA WAGNER]: Yost says Congress has spent too long promising everything to

everybody, and he says it's got to stop. Yost believes everything, including entitlement programs like Social Security and welfare, should be on the Congressional cutting table. The incumbent Dan Glickman, a Wichita Democrat, also supports budget cuts to balance the federal budget, but he says he'd start with defense spending. While Glickman says his polling shows him safely ahead of Yost, he does say the past success of the Christian Right must be considered. Glickman says it should be an easy choice for voters this election year because of the sweeping differences in the candidates. [DAN GLICKMAN]: Well, I don't think there's any question that my opponent has been identified with folks who are on the extreme right. And one of my themes is that there is a clear choice in this election between the voice of moderation, which I think I represent, and the voice of more extreme politics, which I think Senator Yost represents. [TAMA WAGNER]: Glickman's positions are virtually opposite of Yost's. The incumbent supports abortion rights and public education. In fact, Glickman's campaign

manager is Kay Coles, a lobbyist for the Kansas National Education Association. Yost has, in the past, referred to public education as, "the beast," and has encouraged his colleagues in the legislature to stop "feeding the beast." While Yost may be playing down the family values theme, he is playing up the anti-incumbency theme, and he says he's within striking distance of the liberal Dan Glickman. For Kansas Public Radio, I'm Tama Wagner in Topeka. ***** [SILENCE] [ROB HILTON]: Janet Curry is a slender, 29 year old woman with short dark hair who is studying to be a massage therapist. She grew up in Kansas City, and is remembered by her mother as a studious and nearly perfect child. Janet says that for most of her life, she was close to her father and was committed to making him happy. But ever since she was 13, Miss Curry says she suffered from constant bouts of depression and the eating disorder bulimia. Finally in December of 1990, she quit working for her father in Washington, D.C., and

moved to Seattle. It was there, after receiving massage therapy, that she began to believe her father had molested her. [JANET CURRY]: One minute, I didn't have any idea, and the next minute, I *knew* that my father has sexually abused me. I was on the floor, I was hyperventilating, I was sobbing, and I heard myself say, "No! Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" and I just knew. [ROB HILTON]: Miss Curry is one of thousands of people nationwide who claimed to have recovered lost memories through massage therapy and counseling sessions. What makes her case unusual, is that she went public with her allegations at a press conference last summer, where she said her father had abused her as recently as two years ago. The allegations raised serious doubts in the minds of some people. They wondered how Janet Curry could have forgotten abuse that occurred so recently, and why no one in her family would provide circumstantial or physical evidence supporting the allegations. Miss Curry's mother, two sisters, and one brother believe the abuse occurred, while Mr. Curry, his current wife, and Janet's stepsisters say the

allegations aren't true. Recently, Mr. Curry took and passed a lie- lie-detector test concerning the charges. He says the real perpetrators in this case are his daughter's therapists. [CHARLES CURRY]: What I'm finding out is that there's just many, many increasing numbers of cases where, under therapy, the subjects remember things that their therapists have said, uh, they should remember. If you have any problems and you come to a therapist, you probably had sex abuse. And it's difficult for me and anybody else I've talked to to believe that that's true to that extent. [ROB HILTON]: Mr. Curry is just one of thousands of people nationwide who claim to have been wrongly accused of assaulting a family member. Some psychologists say Curry and others like him are casualties in an epidemic of false sexual abuse charges that's sweeping the country. Dr. Elizabeth Loftus is a psychology professor at the University of Washington, and has studied memory suppression for more than 20 years. She believes Janet Curry is the victim of overeager therapists. [ELIZABETH LOFTUS]: The therapists love to dig for memories, sort of "desperately seeking memories." And particularly memories of childhood trauma seems to

be a way that they go about their business. And some therapists have actually described it as downright thrilling when they can dig up some seemingly-buried memory. And if it fits with their idea of what might've caused these particular symptoms, they feel it's like a little, you know, therapeutic detective story that they've managed to solve. [ROB HILTON]: To prove how open to suggestion people can be, Loftus recently conducted a study, in which she attempted to plant false memories in the minds of participants. In every case, subjects in the study eventually believed the fabricated memories were real. Loftus isn't the only expert who has doubts about the proliferation of allegations based on suppressed memories. Debbie Nathan is a journalist who writes regularly for Ms. Magazine and the Village Voice newspaper, and has won numerous awards for her coverage of sexual abuse. Recently, Nathan has been attending meetings of adult incest survivors, which she

says are becoming popular around the country. During one such meeting, Nathan says women were ignored unless they told graphic stories of torture and assault. [DEBBIE NATHAN]: And there was a real palpable competition to tell a more and more grotesque story. Women who talked about their fathers fondling them got more attention, but then women who talked about their fathers sticking swords and electrical wires up them when they were four months old got more attention. And then twomen who talked about being in satanic cults and having swords put up them, but also having to kill babies and eat their livers got more. And then another woman would get up -- she'd talk about having to kill three babies and eat their livers. So it was just this competition, and it got just increasingly ridiculous. [ROB HILTON]: Nathan said many of the women had attended the meeting because they couldn't afford to see a professional psychiatrist. More reputable counselors say retreats like the one Nathan attended are a poor example of how most licensed professionals treat abuse survivors. Dr. Meredith Titus is a psychologist with the Menninger Institute in Topeka. She says she was shocked by the way the retreat was managed. [MEREDITH TITUS]: It's not

anything that I would've been professionally comfortable with, that kind of mass invitation to cathart feeling. When we try to help people recover and release strong feelings, we try to do it in the context of a trusting, caring relationship, and we try to do it at a pace which is manageable and not overwhelming. It felt to me as though they were inviting some of these women to be traumatized all over again. [ROB HILTON]: Titus says most qualified therapists take months or years to treat patients in controlled environments. She also says that most licensed counselors would never attempt to create false memories or manipulate their patients. Titus admits that when an epidemic like sexual abuse begins to gain awareness, some people will lie about rape and incest just for the attention. But, she says, such deception is rare and is no reason to discount the stories of most incest survivors. [MEREDITH TITUS]: I'm not seeing things that would raise my concerns about it. I'm seeing people who are suffering in their relationships,

suffering from symptomatic conditions like depression, dissociation, to, at the extreme, multiple personality disorder, who wouldn't be doing this for a lark or for fun. I mean, it is that way for a reason. Whether it's exactly the abuse as they remember it, I'll never know and perhaps they won't either, but it was something -- something that made them react in the way that they've reacted. [ROB HILTON]: But until more conclusive methods can be found to determine whether patients like Janet Curry are telling the truth, Dr. Loftus and other experts say hundreds of families may be wrongly accused, while numerous other legitimate child-abuse cases are ignored. In the meantime, psychologists like Titus will continue to struggle with who to believe. For KANU, I'm Rob Hilton. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: Joan Finney will not be in Topeka when members of several African-American organizations protest her firing of Dr. Young. The governor says no one from her staff plans to meet with the community leaders either. The governor has been

vague as to why Young was replaced as a cabinet secretary, and only says the firing was the result of longstanding problems within the department -- problems that she says Young could not resolve. Last week, Topeka's Black community leaders left a morning meeting with the governor angry and frustrated, saying Joan Finney had dismissed their concerns. Terry Crowder with the Progressive Black Democratic Caucus says the firing of Young is like a slap in the face to Blacks who supported Joan Finney in the 1990 gubernatorial race. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: Governor Joan Finney is again on the defensive over the way she is handling her administration. This time, Reverend Lee May of Kansas City, Kansas, says the African-American community simply wants to know why -- specifically -- Young was fired. [VOICEOVER OF REV. LEE MAY]: Governor Finney, we voted for you. We have supported you. We demand that you say to us why you fired Dr. Azzie Young -- and give us an audience, that we can share with you our disgust, our frustrations, our disappointments in you as the governor of the state of Kansas. [CHEERING/APPLAUSE] [TAMA WAGNER]: Finney did not meet with the protestors, but sent a representative from

her office. The group booed and heckled Bill McCormick, the governor's legal counsel, when he failed to answer their questions. The governor has now agreed to meet with protesters Monday. The governor replaced Dr. Azzie Young, who is Black, as KDHE secretary earlier this month, citing longstanding problems within the department for Young's dismissal. The firing of Young is the latest controversy on a growing list of ill-fated gubernatorial appointments. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: Wheat, corn, and barley will soon be exported from Kansas to St. Petersburg as part of the trade agreement. This agreement is the result of a trade mission the governor and state Commerce Department officials made to Russia last summer. Speaking through an interpreter, Governor Alexander Belyakov of the Leningrad region says the agreement is the first in what could become a long-term collaboration between the two states. [ALEXANDER BELYAKOV VIA INTERPRETER]: As, in general, because we

start just now, and we have very great possibilities to create such a good cooperation with both our states. [TAMA WAGNER]: It's not clear just how much Kansas taxpayers will benefit from this deal. Part of the grain will be shipped to the Leningrad region as humanitarian aid. The rest will be paid for with credits or barter, meaning either the federal government will subsidize the Russian payment, or goods produced in Leningrad like oil and wood will be exchanged for payment. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [MARY WHITEHEAD]: Every year, thousands of divorced couples remarry and attempt to bring together two separate families. Many times these marriages work, but occasionally they lead to disaster -- and most often, children are the victims. A case in point is the 1980 murder of Christen Hobson. The 13-year-old Overland Park boy had been missing for two and a half weeks when his bullet-riddled body was discovered partially buried in a field on the outskirts of Kansas

City. Police arrested Christen's stepmother Sueanne Hobson, his 17-year-old stepbrother Jimmy Hobson, and Jimmy's classmate Paul Sorrentino. All three were tried and found guilty of conspiring to commit first-degree murder and were sentenced to life in prison. Just last week, the victim's stepmother Sueanne Hobson had a parole hearing, and a decision on whether or not she will be released from prison is pending. This complex tale is the subject of a new book by University of Kansas English professor Thomas O'Donnell entitled, "Crazymaker." According to O'Donnell, Christen Hobson didn't know just how volatile his relationship with his stepmother was. [THOMAS O'DONNELL]: Christen didn't ever come to quite realize that she really hated him and wanted him dead -- that's what Jimmy said. You know, what's the matter with this? It's not about money, it's not about anything like that -- it's just that she hated him and wanted him dead. That's all. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: Family friends remember Christen Hobson as a well-behaved boy who was always trying to please people. He had a close relationship with his father, Ed Hobson, and like many kids his age had big emotional needs. He was in Special

Education classes, but worked hard. Before his murder, Chris was doing better in school. Unfortunately, he wasn't having as much success trying to fit in to his new family. From outward appearances, the Hobsons looked like a happy, middle-class Johnson County family. But like many stepfamilies, tension lay beneath the surface. Early in the marriage, Sueanne tried to cope with the problems by insisting on family therapy. O'Donnell says that the counseling sessions did little to help Chris, and were mainly used by Sueanne as a way to undermine Chris's already low self esteem. The therapy ultimately failed, according to O'Donnell, because it never helped Sueanne to resolve feelings she had about her own childhood. Sueanne says she was rejected and abused by her own mother, and O'Donnell believes that Chris came to symbolize that unresolved problem. It became so bad that O'Donnell says Sueanne developed an irrational fear of Chris. [THOMAS O'DONNELL]: She was terrified of him. That's something that I think other people didn't pick up on much. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: And why? I don't understand -- why was she terrified of him? Do you have any clues? [THOMAS O'DONNELL]: Yes. I think she thought that the boy -- that Christen --

reminded her of her own mother, and that she couldn't get control of her own mother. She felt she was abused by her own mother. I'm not saying this is true, I'm only saying that that's what she...that's what she experienced. And some way she called him a "crazymaker" -- that Christen was a crazymaker, he makes people crazy. When you look at the title the other way, you know, it's really that *she* seems to be the one who's crazy. And if she were alone in the house, she would be terrified of, of Christen. And apparently she would wrap a monkey wrench up and sit on the couch, waiting for him to come after her. Well, this is ludicrous, but there was just extreme tension between the two of them. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: Rather than cope with her own parents, Sueanne ended counseling sessions and came up with her own solution. She began to tell her biological son Jimmy and other family members that Chris was threatening her physically.

While Jimmy was eventually persuaded to believe his mother's claims, neither he nor anyone else saw any evidence to support the idea that Chris was dangerous. Yet O'Donnell says months of constant complaining and scheming by Sueanne convinced Jimmy to help his mother. To show just how much power Sueanne had over Jimmy, O'Donnell points out that the young man still doesn't know why he killed Chris that night in 1980. [THOMAS O'DONNELL]: He's very puzzled about it still. He still says, "You know, I can't believe I did it. I can't believe I actually went out and did that. I don't know what was the matter with me." And in fact, I think he was more or less coerced by Sueanne. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: After Chris's body was found, police questioned Sueanne about her role in the slaying. According to O'Donnell, Sueanne attempted to manipulate the police just as she had manipulated her son Jimmy. While she didn't admit ordering Chris's execution, she did tell detectives she wanted Jimmy to get rid of Chris. In his book, O'Donnell uses this conversation between Johnson County detectives and Sueanne. [DETECTIVE]: Did the mention of the words "killing him" ever come up? [SUEANNE HOBSON]: No. [DETECTIVE]: Did the mention of the words "getting rid of him" ever come up?

[SUEANNE HOBSON]: Probably. But not in that context. [DETECTIVE]: Well, what other context is there? I mean, how do you "get rid of" a 13-year-old boy, that's not getting rid of him and taking him out and turned out and blowing his head off? [SUEANNE HOBSON]: Yeah, that's so that he doesn't threaten me. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: O'Donnell says Sueanne used semantical arguments like that to control and abuse her family. But ultimately, he says, Sueanne's strategy failed. O'Donnell says that even people who are tempted to believe Sueanne's story found it impossible to ignore that she failed to tell anyone about Chris's murder, even after she knew he was dead. [THOMAS O'DONNELL]: For two and a half weeks, Christen Hobson was treated as a runaway, and she knew every day, every day that Ed was weeping over him, that Ed was anxious about the death of Christen, and she never said a word. And this, I think, was the worst crime -- she knew where

the body was, she knew how the body was half-buried in this grave, she knew all of these things. And yet at the end of this period, at the end of this two and a half weeks, she proclaims that she's guiltless in this. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: Neither the police nor the jury bought Sueanne's story, but Chris's father Ed has. While Mr. Hobson won't talk to reporters, he did tell O'Donnell that he believes Sueanne is innocent, and that he hopes the Kansas Parole Board this month will choose to shorten his wife's life prison term. As for O'Donnell, he says his book is less about whether justice has been served, but it is about how vulnerable all families are to abuse. [THOMAS O'DONNELL]: What's so powerful is that this is ordinary and then suddenly becomes extraordinary -- and suddenly becomes extraordinary in a way that, some way, we can identify with...the anger that we have, of the anger that we have daily, toward other people. And it just went over the edge. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: Writer Thomas

O'Donnell, talking about his new book, "Crazymaker," the story of the family conspiracy to murder Christen Hobson. The Kansas Parole Board's decision on whether or not Sueanne Hobson will be released from prison is expected later this month. KANU's series on child abuse continues this evening at six with an hour-long documentary called, "Little Secrets: Child Sexual Abuse in America." That's tonight following All Things Considered. For KANU, I'm Mary Whitehead. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: O'Dell unfurled a 15-foot-long printout from the Federal Election Commission. It detailed more than $160,000 in campaign contributions to Bob Dole from the Gallo wine family of California. O'Dell believes Dole traded his vote on legislation that benefited the Gallo family for those donations. The Gallo situation is the latest in a long list of criticisms leveled at the incumbent by the Democratic challenger. While O'Dell hits hard and often, Dole is still tracking far ahead of her in the

polls. But O'Dell contends those polls mean nothing. [GLORIA O'DELL]: The only poll that counts is the one on November 3. And the kinds of things that have been going on all across the country this year should make every poll suspect. [TAMA WAGNER]: O'Dell may have a tough time getting her message to Kansas voters. We have two weeks remaining before the general election. She is $75,000 in debt. Senator Bob Dole responded to some of O'Dell's accusations during a weekend debate, and he says he works hard for Kansas and believes he's been an effective senator. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [TONE] [ROB HILTON]: Every day, Barbara

Gay, who works for the Shawnee County Health Department, visits the homes of about a half a dozen new mothers in Topeka. On this stop, she's meeting with 19-year-old Tammy Bowers and her 8-month-old daughter Jessica. [BARBARA GAY]: Hi, Tammy. [ROB HILTON]: Tammy uses these visits to tell Ms. Gay about how hard it can be to raise a child. [TAMMY BOWERS]: She stayed with her grandma the other night, and she said it was a full-time job, and it was good to hear somebody agree with me for a change. [BARBARA GAY]: I'll tell you a number. I give some of my clients, Tammy -- and I don't mean that you have a problem. But there's a number called, uh, Parents Anonymous. And sometimes when you get real frustrated and you just need somebody to talk to and you can't get me on the phone, give them a holler. [ROB HILTON]: Ms. Gay is one of four para-professionals in Shawnee County who sees hundreds of mothers like Tammy each year. It's part of the state's efforts to target families with newborn children who are at risk of being abused. While all mothers are eligible to take part in the Healthy Start Program in Kansas, most home visitors say their clients come from poor backgrounds or have a history of drug and

alcohol abuse. Ms. Gay believes the project has been crucial in reducing the number of child abuse cases in the state. [BARBARA GAY]: It seems like every year we get younger and younger with the teenagers getting pregnant and caring for the babies. And ironically and surprisingly, so many of them elect to keep their babies that I think the rate of child abuse would be much higher if we didn't have programs like Healthy Start. [ROB HILTON]: But neither Gay nor other state officials can provide hard figures showing how much the rate of child abuse has dropped in Kansas as a result of the Home Visitor Program. The problem is that for the past 15 years, state lawmakers haven't invested the time or money needed to adequately monitor the project. To determine whether Healthy Start is effective, you have to talk with officials in Hawaii. In that state, the program has been used to completely eliminate child abuse among families identified as being at-risk. Between 1985 and 1988, federal studies in Hawaii showed a 100 percent success rate with targeted families. Hawaii invests more than $4 million a

year to ensure that all mothers who give birth in hospitals are interviewed to determine whether or not they're at risk of abusing their children. While this intimate approach might seem overzealous and invasive, few have criticized Hawaii's Healthy Start approach because, according to one of its founders Gail Breakey, the program is voluntary and designed to serve parents' needs. [GAIL BREAKEY]: Our workers very empathetically find out what's going on with the mom, and if there are severe problems, they're offering support and help -- someone to come in to talk with them about what's going on, to help them to get some of the services that they might need to make things better, and to talk with them about child development. And I think that it is the very sincere interest in the mom, and what's happening for her and for the family, and then the offer of help. People who are drowning usually reach out for the hand, and that's what's going on. [ROB HILTON]: Breakey, who runs Hawaii's Family Stress Center, says Healthy Start is also saving the state millions of dollars. [GAIL BREAKEY]: This program costs about $2,200 per family, per year.

Now, that sounds like a lot, but when you think about how much we're paying as states and as a society for the consequences of abuse, it becomes very, very little. [ROB HILTON]: Breakey notes that Hawaii spends $36,000 a year, just to incarcerate one child. That figure becomes important when you begin to look at Kansas, which has the nation's seventh-highest juvenile detention rate. That's costing taxpayers millions of dollars. James McHenry is the executive director of the Kansas Child Abuse Prevention Council. He says studies show that more than 90 percent of the prison inmates in Kansas were abused as children, and that it's time for state policy makers to recognize the cost-effectiveness of Healthy Start. [JAMES MCHENRY]: Hawaii took a hard look at some very disturbing numbers on child abuse, and they decided to go to the Hawaiian legislature and convince some key leaders there that if they ever wanted to get out of the business of building mental hospitals and prisons, they were going to have to invest

further upstream. [ROB HILTON]: "Upstream" means before children are even born. McHenry points to a recent report by a legislative committee which shows Kansas saves more than three dollars in social and medical services for every one dollar it invests in prenatal care. McHenry and some state officials believe that similar savings would occur if Healthy Start were expanded in Kansas. Robert Harder is Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the agency that administers Healthy Start. He says there's plenty of scientific evidence to show that Hawaii's approach to home visiting would help solve many social problems in Kansas. [ROBERT HARDER]: There was a study done, a scientific study done in Hawaii that actually had a group that was getting full services and then a control group that was not getting services. I think that kind of a controlled study did indicate that there will be a significant reduction in child abuse, there will be a significant reduction in problems related to the general health of the babies, and then, that then has its own repercussions in the sense of lessening the prospect of the

child not being prepared for school, it lessens the possibility of the child dropping out of school, lessens the prospect of the child being into some kind of correctional program. [ROB HILTON]: It's hard to find anyone who's willing to say negative things about Hawaii's Healthy Start. Opposing child abuse prevention programs wouldn't be politically popular -- but neither is raising taxes. Given the state's current tight budget constraints, it may be difficult to convince lawmakers to spend more money on social reforms. Like many others, Governor Joan Finney has voiced her support for Healthy Start. But Finney's press secretary Martha Walker says the program won't receive additional funds in Kansas unless the money comes from private donors or through reallocating existing resources. Walker says Governor Finney is opposed to any tax increase this year, even for a project like Healthy Start. But children's advocate James McHenry says one of the reasons political leaders are unable to hold down costs, is that they fail to see the value of prevention programs. [JAMES MCHENRY]: Prevention is usually the last funded, and the first cut.

And yet, we've known from the time of Poor Richard's Almanac, that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Unhappily, our society has taken the view of letting people drift into these predicaments, and so it's like we're standing on the bank of a river watching people float by us in distress and grabbing a few out as we can. [ROB HILTON]: While policymakers debate the merits of Healthy Start, home visitors like Barbara Gay say they'll continue to do the best they can, with limited resources. [BARBARA GAY]: I think if we had more people doing this job, and it was expanded for longer periods of time, I think that would make a big difference. [ROB HILTON]: For KANU, I'm Rob Hilton. ***** [STATIC] [STATIC] [TAMA WAGNER]: The Kansas Senate will likely look very different next session than it has during the previous decade. There will be more urban representatives, new leaders, and many

new faces. That's because during the 1992 session, 15 of Kansas's 40 state senators retired. University of Kansas political science professor Burdett Loomis says that fact alone will mean broad changes in the Senate. [BURDETT LOOMIS]: Just the sheer number of turnover is going to be tremendous, and I don't think you can predict easily what's going to happen. If Republicans retain control, for example, we'll have a new Majority Leader, all kinds of new chairs, so, uh, a tremendous amount of change. If the Democrats win the Senate, I don't think anybody's really thought through what the implication of that is. [TAMA WAGNER]: It's been more than 80 years since the Democrats controlled both houses of the Kansas legislature. This election year, they're hopeful the retirement of those longtime Republicans has opened the door for a Democratic majority in the state senate. Bob Martin is the administrative assistant to Senate Minority Leader Jerry

Karr. He says controlling the Senate is important because the majority party sets the policy direction for this state and controls the agenda. [BOB MARTIN]: It really is dependent on who controls the chamber, and I think we have at least...the Democrats have at least a 50-50 chance of still winning the Senate. [TAMA WAGNER]: But Republican leaders say Martin's prediction is a little too optimistic. They point out that six Republican candidates are unopposed in the general election. That's compared to only one Democrat who has a free ride. Some Democrats are counting on Bill Clinton's current popularity in the polls to help legislative candidates. The administrative assistant to House Republican Leader Bob Miller doubts Clinton's coattails are long enough to reach into statehouse races. Roger Aeschliman believes Kansas voters will, instead, stick by familiar incumbents like Senator Bob Dole and the rest of the Republican congressional delegation. [ROGER AESCHLIMAN]: There's a very good likelihood that most voters in Kansas will have thrown the black lever three times in a row for Republicans before they get to our race. That's what coattails mean to us.

[TAMA WAGNER]: The Democrats cite polls that theorize the poor showing of George Bush will actually keep Republican voters at home. Professor Loomis disagrees, and says the presidential race will likely have little effect on Kansas legislative races. [BURDETT LOOMIS]: If there's anything we know about state legislative races, it is that all politics is local. And the Senate and particularly the House revolve around local issues, shoe-leather kinds of things, that really can't necessarily be predicted. You may have people coming out to vote for Clinton who won't necessarily vote Democratic. [TAMA WAGNER]: Loomis says the new batch of voters in Kansas is the unknown factor this election year. Election officials are reporting huge increases in voter registrations state-wide, and they predict record turnout on election day. Loomis says those new voters may hold the key to deciding just how different the Kansas legislature will be next session. [BURDETT LOOMIS]: It may make things even more difficult for some of the incumbents who are already out there, in that these folks don't have an allegiance to them, are new to the system, and may be coming to register some kind of

desire for change, either with Perot or with Clinton. [TAMA WAGNER]: Loomis says as a class, incumbents already have a lot to worry about this election year. He predicts that will continue. In the Senate race, at least four incumbents -- two Democrats and two Republicans -- are now in races that some political analysts say will go to the wire. For Kansas Public Radio, I'm Tama Wagner at the statehouse. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: Last week, dozens of African-Americans rallied on the statehouse steps. They angrily protested the firing of Dr. Young, criticized the governor's handling of the matter, and threatened to withdraw the Black community's longtime support for Joan Finney. In an effort to mend those relations, the governor met with protest leaders. The result of that meeting, according to Monique Pittman-Lui, is essentially, they've agreed to disagree. [MONIQUE PITTMAN-LUI]: I'm satisfied that we can go on and come up

with answers that, uh, the African-American community, that other people of color in Kansas can take and go forward -- even if we don't agree specifically on this one issue. [TAMA WAGNER]: The governor would not disclose specifically why Dr. Young had been fired, citing only policy differences. Pittman-Lui says Young's story is different than the governor's. Young could not be reached for comment. The governor admits this entire controversy could have been avoided had she met earlier with Black community leaders. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [MALE REPORTER]: What do Charles Curry, Anita Hill, and Woody Allen have in common? All three have recently been involved in highly-publicized cases of sexual misconduct -- and they all took lie-detector tests in an effort to vindicate themselves. Lie-detector tests seem well-suited to deal with cases of incest, child molestation, and sexual harassment. Typically, there are no outside witnesses. And it is not difficult to imagine why the

parties involved might not tell the truth. The great advantage of polygraph tests, it is claimed, is that they can cut through such dissimulation. By monitoring physiological processes that are largely beyond the individual's control, such as blood pressure, pulse rate, perspiration, and respiration, the polygraph machine bypasses efforts to conceal or modify the truth, and taps directly into the subject's unedited knowledge of what actually happened. As one polygraph examiner exulted, "The criminal can no longer hide in the deepest recesses of his mind." This alleged capacity to pierce through a subject's mental defenses is what fascinates people about lie-detector tests -- and that fascination is best described as pornographic. In ordinary interaction, people exercise some control over the impressions that others form of them, through a process of creative and selective masking and revelation of the Self. Depending on the circumstances, a person may present oneself as forthright and businesslike, Or playful, or threatening, or enigmatic,

or whatever. The whole point of lie-detector tests, on the other hand, is to deny people any control over how they are observed and known. Stripping away the subject's efforts to edit information, the test displays his or her mind to a pornographic gaze. The test givers inspect and probe where they like, satisfying their own purposes with no regard for the subject's sensibilities or integrity. Although polygraph tests do not actually succeed in penetrating people's mind to the extent envisioned in theory, conceived in this way, the tests represent the ultimate in degradation of individual dignity and invasion of privacy. Without commenting on the substance of the allegations against them, I am moved by the fact that Charles Curry, Anita Hill, and Woody Allen perceived the polygraph as the only avenue available to them for salvaging their reputations. That they felt it necessary to volunteer to undergo the pornographic scrutiny of the lie-detector lends additional pathos to their tragic situations. Most

lie-detector tests do not make the newspapers. Until a few years ago, ordinary people who were under no suspicion of wrongdoing, were often required to submit to the indignity of a test, simply to get or keep a job. Federal legislation in 1988 significantly curtailed the use of polygraph tests, but many companies have responded by making hiring contingent upon passing paper-and-pencil, "integrity tests." These, like the pornographic polygraph, claim to assess honesty by circumventing people's mental defenses, and penetrating directly to their innermost thoughts and beliefs. The tests get reported in the mass media only when they're involved in some famous scandal. But they are quietly and regularly used throughout our society, and they pose threats to everyone. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: In Kansas, women and politics seem to go together. Historians say the frontier experience, in which women played an integral part of survival on the Kansas prairie, can be credited in part for the state's acceptance of

women as elected leaders. In fact, women in Kansas were being elected to local offices even before they were allowed to vote. Pat Michaelis with the Kansas State Historical Society, says about the same time Kansas was in its infancy as a state, the suffrage movement brought new interest to women's rights. [PAT MICHAELIS]: And that's when you start having more women elected to public office. Like in 1887, is when we have Susanna Salter elected as mayor of Argonia, and she was the first female in the entire United States to be elected to the position of mayor. [TAMA WAGNER]: Kansas then preceded the rest of the nation by granting women the right to vote. But between 1920 and 1950, the number of women elected to office declined, and it was not until the 1970s that Kansas saw a resurgence in politically-active women. Representative Joan Wagnon says because Kansas voters have elected women to local offices for more than two decades now, women

today are taking the next logical step. [JOAN WAGNON]: When I was elected 10 years ago, everyone in Shawnee County declared it, "the year of the woman," because we had three legislative candidates who won. Since that time, the number of women in state legislatures has doubled, and so there are a lot more women who have been in the pipeline, who are now running for Congress and for the United States Senate. So it's visible, but at a different level. [TAMA WAGNER]: About a quarter of all Kansas legislators are now women. That percentage may change because of the November general election. Kansas is also one of only two states in the nation represented by a woman in the U.S. Senate. Governor Joan Finney is one of only three women governors. Kansas also has a woman in the U.S. House and in the State Treasurer's Office. Wichita State University political science professor Mel Kahn says it looks as if the rest of the nation is beginning to follow Kansas's lead, and he believes that simply means more women will be elected this

year. [MEL KAHN]: Not only the fact that more women are running, but there are likely to be many more women actually in the Congress. [TAMA WAGNER]: Some political analysts believe the single most important event that prompted so many women to run this year were the 1992 Senate Judiciary Hearings, in which Professor Anita Hill leveled charges of sexual harassment against Judge Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court nominee. That incident has added punch to the candidacies of Carol Moseley Braun in Illinois and Pennsylvania's Lynn Yeakel. But some question -- what does it matter if men or women are running government? Many women politicians say gender should not be the deciding factor, but add to fairly represent society, which is now about 51 percent female, women must be elected. State Senator Sheila Frahm -- who is given good odds at being the state's first female Senate Majority Leader next session if the Republicans retain control -- rejects the notion that women are better legislators simply because they're women. But she does

believe women see their role in government differently than their male counterparts. [SHEILA FRAHM]: I think I look at things differently. Probably tend to be a little more, um, I'm going to use the word, "organized," tend to look at all issues in a more precise manner, perhaps. Sometimes I think that we as women have opportunity to hear more, because we sit down and give people time. [TAMA WAGNER]: Senator Frahm adds that voters grade women politicians the same as their male counterparts. She says what really matters is whether an elected official does their job, is available to constituents, and meets commitments. For Kansas Public Radio, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: It's not that the three finalists for the job are poor candidates, it's just that Joan Finney is attempting to mend tattered relations with the Black community. She told African-American leaders during a statehouse meeting that she had wanted to appoint a person of color to the high court. But Finney concedes, that's not going to happen this time. [JOAN FINNEY]: Uh, no names submitted to me are the type of person I had hoped to be able to appoint one to the Supreme Court.

[TAMA WAGNER]: If the governor does not choose from the list of three finalists, the court will intervene and make the selection itself. The finalists are Robert Davis of Lawrence, Mary Kay Royse of Wichita, and Franklin Theis of Berryton. The vacancy on the Kansas Supreme Court was created by the retirement of Justice Harold Herd. Herd will retire effective January 11, 1993. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: Kansas Secretary of State Bill Graves has released a list of candidates that Kansas voters will be allowed to write in on November 3. The 1992 legislature, prompted by an ACLU lawsuit, passed a law that allows more ballot access to candidates. Those candidates must file an official affidavit with the Secretary of State's office for their votes to be counted. The write-in votes for the presidential candidates will be counted even if voters do

not include the name of the vice-presidential candidate. The seven possible write-in candidates are Jerry Carroll of California, Lenora Fulani of New York, James Gritz of Nevada, Iowa's John Hagelin, Eugene Hem of Wisconsin, Howard Phillips of Virginia, and James Wright of Texas. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [MALE INTERVIEWEE]: I think Clinton's chances are around fifty-fifty right now. I think a lot of Republican voters will find it very hard to pull a Democratic lever or maybe pull the lever for Perot. At the same time, you have tremendous numbers of new voters in Lawrence and Douglas County, but across the state, across the nation as a whole, many of these people are uncommitted, have no long-term allegiance to the Republican Party at all. So you have two things operating -- the traditional Republican loyalties of Kansas, at least the presidential level, which are quite strong. Simultaneously, this surge of new voters who have none of these particular loyalties.

[MARY WHITEHEAD]: As election day draws near, I'm sure we're going to see a lot more polls coming out with varying results -- just how reliable are polls? [MALE INTERVIEWEE]: I think that as the election draws closer and closer, ordinarily the poll figures get stronger and stronger because people have made up their minds, they're *going* to vote for so and so, Candidate X, Candidate Y. This year, with Perot, with a lot of disaffection from the candidates, I don't think those choices are nearly so etched in stone. And so even as we get closer to the election day, there may be a lot of uncertainty. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: I can't help but think of the 1990 governor's race, and all the polls that consistently showed Joan Finney trailing incumbent Mike Hayden. What accounts for the pollsters' inaccuracy in said race? for the pollsters' inaccuracy in that race? [MALE INTERVIEWEE]: [MALE INTERVIEWEE]: It's hard to say [MALE INTERVIEWEE]: It's hard to say, exactly. I think you had a choice of two candidates who were not especially popular.

And you had a third-party candidate, an independent, who ended up with 8 or 9 percent of the vote. I think going in to that last weekend, you simply had a lot of people undecided -- they might have said "Hayden" or "Finney," but they really were not very solid in their assertions. My guess is also that state polls generally are going to be a little less accurate than large-sample national polls. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: You've mentioned Ross Perot several times, and I'm wondering what's happened to Ross Perot here. He had a lot of support in the state last summer, before he pulled out of the race... But this time around, we're not hearing much about him in Kansas even though he's gaining in popularity nationwide. How do you account for that? [MALE INTERVIEWEE]: I think there's a regional thing going on. Uh, I think that Kansas, generally speaking, is not so bad off. I think that the disaffection of Kansas is not as great as it is some other places. And, you have a situation in which,

for one reason or another, the people who Perot might have loosened up, have moved over -- if they didn't move over to Clinton they've stayed. Perhaps because Clinton as a moderate, even moderate-to- -conservative governor of a small neighboring state, is not too much dissimilar from the Dockings, the John Carlins of the past -- people that we're reasonably comfortable with. Kansas is very comfortable with moderate to moderate-conservative Democratic governors, and certainly, regardless of how the Republicans want to paint Clinton, that's the way he's operated in the past. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: How would you characterize the state election campaigns? I know some people have criticized the races for what they see as mudslinging. Do you think there's more negative campaigning this year than in the past? [MALE INTERVIEWEE]: I honestly don't think that things have been too negative. I think it's perfectly legitimate, for example, to bring up Bob Dole's campaign funding, where he gets his money, things of that

nature. I also think it's perfectly legitimate for Bob Dole to talk about his clout, his ability to make things happen in Washington, as opposed to the abilities of a relative neophyte. There has been in Kansas, one absolutely fascinating example of, if not negative campaigning, a kind of bizarre campaigning, and that is in Dan Glickman's House race, in which you have the cable television company coming on -- providing hundreds and hundreds of ads on a minute-by-minute basis, almost -- attacking Glickman based on, initially at least, his vote against...uh, in favor of a cable regulation bill. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: One trend we've witnessed this year is an anti-incumbent movement, and yet with the exception of Dan Glickman, none of the incumbents in Kansas seem to be in trouble. Is Kansas different from other states in this respect, or is the tide turning back nationwide? [MALE INTERVIEWEE]: I think you've got to go- almost go district by district. In general, all four of the incumbent

representatives have generally been in tune with their districts. So, I really think that Kansas is a bit of an exception, in the sense that the anti-incumbency really hasn't come home to roost. But also we haven't had quite the dislocation that some states have had -- the economic situation isn't so bad -- and so there may be good reasons for us to be reasonably satisfied with our representatives. [MARY WHITEHEAD]: So, are we in for any surprises in Kansas come next Tuesday? [MALE INTERVIEWEE]: I think there's no question that there will be some surprises. My guess, they'll be at the state legislative level. There will certainly be some incumbents who lose...And the other thing to look for, is will Bill Clinton win Kansas? If Bill Clinton wins Kansas, it probably means that he would do very well in lots of traditional Republican strongholds. If Clinton loses Kansas, it's more like a traditional presidential race, and it would denote a much tighter race

nationwide. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: By now, most of the presidential and even local candidates for office have become familiar because of the publicity, yard signs, and campaigning. But a couple of ballot issues have virtually been ignored this campaign season. For example, two new constitutional amendments will appear on the ballot, and also a slew of Kansas judges are up for re-election or retention. Court Information Officer Ron Keefover says, unfortunately, it's pretty easy to see why these retention votes get little time in the limelight. [RON KEEFOVER]: There's normally not an organized campaign, either for or against, a judge standing for retention. And because of the lack of controversy, I think, the media tends to ignore the race. [TAMA WAGNER]: Only one time in recent history have voters tried to oust a sitting supreme court justice. In 1988, a loosely-organized group, dissatisfied with

the court's ruling on a medical malpractice issue, attempted to throw out Justice Bob Miller, who has since retired, and Justice Donald Allegrucci. That effort failed. In 1958, Kansas voted to remove the supreme court from the political process and adopted instead the so-called Missouri Plan, which is designed to be a bipartisan way of appointing justices to the court. Voters are then asked every six years to reaffirm support for those previously- appointed justices. But this method is not without its critics. Perhaps the most vocal and most noticeable is Kansas Governor Joan Finney. [JOAN FINNEY]: The people were duped into giving up control of the supreme court, and all of the court system -- most of it -- has been taken from their control or direct accountability. [TAMA WAGNER]: Keefover argues, because sitting judges are rarely challenged, this method actually allows voters more input, by asking whether a justice should be retained. One supreme court justice, Bob

Abbott, will be on the ballot this election year and three court of appeals judges. Now Kansas trial judges will, too, appear on the ballot, but they're handled a little differently. About half are on the merit or retention system. The other half, namely rural, plus Sedgwick and Wyandotte County judges, are involved in the political process. Six judges out of 109 are challenged this time, and 57 out of 109 are in the merit pool. On those, Kansas voters will simply be asked to vote, "Yea," or "Nay," on the retention question. Like the judges, the constitutional amendments on this ballot have received little attention -- except for the advertisements in local newspapers and broadcast outlets that have been sponsored by the Secretary of State's office. [ADVERTISEMENT VOICEOVER]: Please take the time to study these questions, and exercise your right to vote November 3. [TAMA WAGNER]: Essentially, that commercial explains what the amendments do. The first revises the current tax system by changing the way property in Kansas is valued.

The big winner in this are fraternal and nonprofit organizations, who will see their property values cut in half. Small businesses and residential taxpayers see slight decreases, but state business analysts call the breaks, "a wash," because taxpayers will now pay higher sales and income taxes because of legislation passed last session. And because anything to do with property taxes in Kansas is volatile, State Attorney General Bob Stephan is fearful this first amendment may jeopardize the second amendment. [BOB STEPHAN]: Well, we have to remember, there are two amendments on the ballot, and one has to do with classification and property and taxation, and I'm not sure how people feel about that. And I want to make it clear that there are two separate amendments, and one deals with the rights, the victims, and fundamental fairness in the criminal justice system. [TAMA WAGNER]: The amendment Stephan is working for guarantees a victim of crime the right to be informed and be present at public hearings, or be heard at sentencing. It does not provide monetary damages. Critics of that amendment are concerned it may hinder

the Constitutional rights of the accused. Stephan and other supporters disagree, and are currently on a statewide swing through Kansas urging passage of this amendment. Both constitutional amendments and the justices will appear on the November 3 ballot next Tuesday. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner for Kansas Public Radio. ***** [ADVERTISEMENT VOICEOVER]: Please take the time to study these questions, and exercise your right to vote November 3rd. [TAMA WAGNER]: That is about the only publicity that two proposed amendments have received this election year, and it's from the Secretary of State's office. The first amendment on the ballot changes property values. The big winners are fraternal lodges and nonprofits who will see their property values cut in half. Small businesses and residential payers see slight decreases. The critics say the tax breaks are a wash for most Kansans, who will trade lower property taxes for higher sales and income taxes passed last session by the legislature. The second amendment guarantees the victims of crimes some rights, like to be present at public hearings, and the right to be informed during the court

proceedings. Its critics fear that amendment may jeopardize the rights of the accused, but supporters like Attorney General Bob Stephan disagree, and say it simply offers victims basic rights in court processes. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: While the presidential and even local candidates have been soaking up the media attention, the slew of judges up for retention this election year have virtually been ignored. Court Education Officer Ron Keefover says the lack of media interest in the judges' races is, unfortunately, understandable. [RON KEEFOVER]: There's normally not an organized campaign, either for or against a judge standing for retention. And because of the lack of controversy, I think, that the media tends to ignore the race. [TAMA WAGNER]: This year, Kansans must decide whether to retain one supreme court justice, three court of appeals judges, and 57 district trial judges. Governor Joan Finney is an outspoken critic of Kansas's method of appointing and retaining judges. She says the

people have given up control of the courts by removing judges from the political process. Only half of the state's district judges are elected, and most of them are facing challengers this year. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: More than 1.3 million Kansans are now registered to vote -- that's about 75 percent of the entire state's eligible voting population. Secretary of State Bill Graves says those numbers are a new high for Kansas. [BILL GRAVES]: We are able to report that we have not just, you know, just slightly broken the record -- but that we have shattered the record in the state for voter registration. [TAMA WAGNER]: Graves credits the supporters of independent candidate Ross Perot, state redistricting, and the abortion issue for encouraging Kansans to register. According to newly-released statistics, about 25 percent of the state's voters are unaffiliated; 31 percent Democrat; 43 percent Republican; and less than one percent registered Libertarian. Graves says 100,000 new unaffiliated voters who have no party allegiance could hold the key to just how this election turns out. At the

statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [VANCE HEINER]: The most dramatic testimony so far during these hearings, occurred several weeks ago when a female law school graduate accused Professor Emil Tonkovich of pressuring her into performing oral sex on him in a campus parking lot when she was a student of his. Yesterday, two other graduates of the law school testified that the woman making the accusation had openly flirted with Tonkovich at a party shortly before the alleged incident. They also testified that Tonkovich did nothing to encourage the student's behavior. Tonkovich used this testimony to support his claim that the woman accusing him of sexual harassment is seeking revenge, because he rejected her advances. But the case against Tonkovich continued later in the day when university attorneys put a current U of K Law School student on the stand. She accused Tonkovich of making jokes about giving grades in exchange for oral sex and claimed that Tonkovich once told her that he had a policy of dating students who showed an interest in him. The five-member faculty panel that presides over the dismissal hearings revealed yesterday, that testimony in the Tonkovich case will continue

well into 1993. For KANU, I'm Vance Heiner.