By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — State Sen. Caryn Tyson made her official announcement that she is running for State Treasurer over the weekend.
"I'm a fiscal watchdog," Tyson said Monday. "I want transparency with state government. We need to bring back an auditing feature that used to be separate from the governor's administration. We need a second set of eyes looking on how we're spending the money and how we're investing the money."
In fact, Tyson would like to set up a system where you can keep your eyes on the state's money, if you so choose.
What I want to do, if you've ever gone out and looked at ohiocheckbook.com, that's an example," Tyson said. "We have legislation that allows us to be transparent online, but we've never ramped it up to the level where you can search every single transaction, where the money is going. That's what I want to do as State Treasurer, so that I'm not just a watchdog for state money, you and everyone else can be, also."
Tyson gave an example of one case where she wouldn't have allowed the state's money to be spent.
"A few years ago, Wildlife and Parks had the authority to purchase land through a proviso in the budget," Tyson said. "They did not purchase that land by the date certain and went ahead and purchased it after they had authority to. If I would have been in the Treasurer's office, I would have stopped payment on that check and made sure that didn't happen. We need a second set of eyes, not somebody just handing over to the governor what they think they want to write checks for."
Tyson's campaign has a Facebook page where you can learn more about her. She is one of at least three Republicans vying for the seat currently held by Democrat Lynn Rogers through an appointment by Gov. Laura Kelly.