By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A major point when it comes to policy, as it is after every election cycle, is how many new legislators there will be in Topeka come January, according to the top legislative advocate for the Kansas Association of School Boards. Mark Tallman doesn't take much stock in the labels candidates run with.
"It all depends, really, how people end up voting," Tallman said. "One third of the Kansas Senate will be new to the Senate, although a few are House members and about 20% of the House will be new. We're going to have a lot of new members coming in at a very critical time to deal with a lot of issues. There's going to be a lot of education involved. There's going to be a lot for school leaders, I think, to be building relationships with their local officials around what their needs are."
There will need to be relationship building within the legislature, as well, because there are as many reasons why people run as there are officeholders.
"They run as a party, or they run with organizational support of certain groups, or they come at it from the viewpoint of, I'm a businessman or I'm an educator, or I'm involved in social work or whatever those are. So, you kind of come in with a set of beliefs and that's who you first turn to and so, if there's experienced people that you kind of feel aligned with or build a relationship, you will. If you don't like or trust those people, maybe that's not as strong."
In fact, with a part time legislature, a lot of the information ends up being communicated by a mixture of local constituents and lobbying groups, because they have the institutional memory that a lot of the legislators may not.
"I always kind of stressed to our members the importance, you have to build relationships with new people," Tallman said. "Whether you think you're going to agree with them or not, or vice versa, you have to try to establish yourself as someone who is an honest provider of information. That's always the first step and I think that's what everyone will be trying to do, build those relationships and new legislators will be doing the same thing."
The legislature gavels in after the first of the year.