Nick Gosnell: Kevin Schwertfeger is joining us. He is running for the House District 114 seat that Michael Murphy has stepped aside from to run for the State Senate. Steve Schweitzer was with us earlier this morning, but Kevin is joining us now. And as I said at the top of my interview with Steve, the Republican side is really the only side with meaningful primaries, except for I think there may be one township where there's a contested race on the Democratic side in Reno County. But otherwise, it's all Republicans. And so that's why we have the Republicans in right now. It's not a, it's not a lack of balance thing. We'll have both sides in before the November election, but it's just, these are the ones that have the contested races right now that have, that have really folks have choices to make. And so that's why we're talking to the candidates we are this week. Good morning, Kevin. How are you?
Kevin Schwertfeger: Good morning, Nick. It's good to be here and thank you for the invitation.
Nick Gosnell: You bet. I just want to be sure everybody gets to hear from you at least once. They do have the public events that we've had with the chamber and so on that have happened, but they're kind of in the past. And so if people are saying, Hey, it's time for me to go into the annex and vote. I'm going to come to town anyway. We wanted to be sure to get you guys in to talk a little bit. So Kevin, why are you running for the state legislature?
Kevin Schwertfeger: Oh, I'm running to fill the position that Mike Murphy came to me and asked and said, I'm going to run for Senate. Would you consider running? And they were in the past, I've had several other people ask me to consider doing this. I'm about servant leadership. I've done a lot of volunteer things in the past.
Nick Gosnell: So give me an idea of some of the volunteer work that you've done.
Kevin Schwertfeger: I've been a volunteer firefighter for the last 20 plus years. I'm a captain in charge of safety and such for the Reno County Southwest district, which would be district seven. And I've been on church boards. I've done the job of the Miami township trustee for the last uh, 24 years and that elected position in the Southwest corner of Reno County, taking care of 50 miles worth of roadways. I've been on the, uh, USD three 10 board of education for a term. I was vice president on that. I was also president of the Kansas association of independent crop consultants, which is a statewide organization that involves, uh, quite a few members. I think 60 plus now, which involves management of high input agricultural acres of, uh, over a million acres in the state of Kansas. So I've got a good network of connections that are helpful to me. Uh, if I don't know something, I can try to put a person in play in the place of, uh, someone who does know something.
Nick Gosnell: All right. And what's the most important issue to you that the state of Kansas needs to address?
Kevin Schwertfeger: We had that question in the forums and there there's a multitude of issues that are important. It isn't just one issue. One of the main issues that you hear in listening to what people have to say, um, including, uh, older people, all ages, the, the idea that, uh, who's, where does your money belong? Uh, does, is it better in the government's hands or is it in your hands? We have a property tax issue that in the state we've got a surplus because they've taken too many taxes from us and there's work to try to, uh, have property tax, uh, restricted to maybe knock that back and help people out because we're having a hard time with inflation. You go to Dylan's or you go to any of the local, uh, Walmart, uh, groceries are kind of got out of hand. Uh, the Biden administration will tell you, oh, there's no inflation. It's 3%. But if you go buy something at the store just to eat, you'll find that it's maybe 40, 50%. And that leaves people with less money to try to pay for your taxes. And what does a person do if you're an elderly person on a fixed income for relief? Uh, that, that's a rather difficult, uh, pickle in the pickle jar, uh, to try to come up with extra funds from somewhere.
Nick Gosnell: All right. So it, uh, under the assumption that there are things that need to be prioritized, because that's what budgeting is, no matter whether you're on a church board or in your home or in the state of Kansas, what are the things the state needs to fund that are, that are the primary functions, so to speak, the things that come first?
Kevin Schwertfeger: Primary functions of the government, uh, education in the state of Kansas, I think is above 52% of the budget. People get upset if you cut education. There, there's, uh, you have to try to watch and have some balance there. And, uh, there's, uh, I had a couple other things in mind, if I can pull them out now. Roads and bridges, of course, and public safety. We've got a potential influx coming from down south on the border with our border being open and safety concerns with, um, and no regulation of people coming into our country at all. So we, we make the best of things with what we have.
Nick Gosnell: If you're going to cut a budget, especially with inflation, the way that it is, you have to decide that whatever it is you're cutting the budget for, that you're going to do less. What are some things maybe the state shouldn't do as much of, uh, in an effort to, to trim back expending? Um, me being a new person, we would have to take a look at that because that, uh, that question would fit easier for a person who has been an incumbent. Having said that though, there are some things that need to be looked at, uh, such as this crazed idea of continuing with the ESG issue within our government that hurts our local business, uh, ESG, environmental social governance, in which, uh, that falls within the social part, for example, of teaching the CRT, uh, theory, critical race theory in schools. Uh, perhaps any school that teaches that we could just cut their funding, uh, because it's, it's not right. Uh, we're all one race. Uh, we're here to, uh, glorify God and the idea that, uh, we, this critical race theory is nonsense and we can do better than that. Uh, every human life matters.
Nick Gosnell: So, I was talking about issues before the legislature, and this has been around for a while, and it got asked about on, at the forum as well, but is Medicaid expansion a good idea? Why or why not?
Kevin Schwertfeger: I had a person ask me that question at Pratt as I was making the rounds, and, and they made it a point to say, if you don't vote this way, um, I'm inclined to, uh, have second thoughts on you. And the, the, the problem is that the state is supposed to come up with an extra 10% of the funding for this idea of expanding Medicare. Our governor is promoting that. That's kind of a red flag. You need to step back and say, hmm, is this a good thing? Um, everyone is having a hard time paying their regular bills, their, their food bills, uh, medical bills increase. Things happen that people are, uh, surprised you get an, um, a, a huge medical bill. Um, but the answer isn't socialized medicine. And this is what it leads towards, is away from, uh, individual principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And we get these socialist ideas that get, uh, brought into our government, and it's like cancer that fingers out and gets implanted into the government. We need not to have, uh, this socialism that's creeping in. And people, uh, need to hopefully wake up and see, uh, and smell the roses and, uh, like the Reagan story of, of the kittens, uh, uh, once they become a week old, maybe they become Republicans because their eyes are opened.
Nick Gosnell: Kevin, is there anything I haven't asked you that maybe I should have? Oh, I, yeah, I try to be approachable. Um, it's been a, a fun thing meeting, uh, new people. And if people call me, uh, I will call you back. I've set up a website if anyone wants to read anything, um, history, uh, concerning me or anything, ksforkansas.com would be one way to look. Um, I've been endorsed by the Kansans for life. Uh, the sanctity of life, whether it's young or old, is a primary concern for me. I'm endorsed by the Kansas Farm Bureau. There are water issues west of us that we need to make sure that we do not have an economic crash with our farmers. They're having a, a, a challenge and we don't need the government to, uh, interfere and dictate unreasonable things to our farmers. I'm pro-agriculture. I'm pro-life. I'm pro-second amendment. I'm pro-convention of the states. I'm America first and Kansas first. I'm a lifetime NRA member. I'm a member of the Kansas Cattlemen's Association, the National Wheat Growers Association. I continue to be a member of the Kansas Association of Independent Crop Consultants. I graduated from Hutchinson Community College and Kansas State University. And, uh, I'd like to be your voice in Topeka as the good Lord wills.