Nick Gosnell: With us this morning is Mike Murphy. He is running as a Republican for Kansas Senate District 34. And I'm going to do the best I can, Mike, to not ask you the exact same questions that I asked you prior to the primary, but that may be a challenge. So we'll see how it goes. I guess, let's just start, let's just dive right in. Let's just start with taxes and spending, because people talk about taxes all the time, but you don't hear talk about spending near as often. Now, I've heard it from you, and I want to give you an opportunity to do that.
Mike Murphy: Oh, okay. Well, thanks for the opportunity, and appreciate you having me in. Yeah, it's kind of like the weather. People talk about it, but nobody does anything about it, right? This is the same thing. People, they want their stuff, they want their services, they want this, they want that. And then they complain when they get the tax bill. Well, the bottom line is, is taxes are too high and spending is too high. And we're just going to have to find some ways. It's going to be tough, because every time you, you know, you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the support of Paul. When you start taking money from Paul, he's going to start squawking. And that's what we end up with. You know, there are those third rail subjects, you know, whether we're talking health care, child care, things like that, that lots of times, but we're taking hard-earned money from people to pay for a lot of these things. And when government does things, they waste a lot, because they've got no vested interest in that money. So I think we need to, excuse me, we need to figure out a way to get to a point to where we can start cutting some things. There's no way we can cut taxes unless we cut spending.
Nick Gosnell: Well, and it seems a little counterintuitive, unless you've been in Topeka and kind of understand how things work. But having to have a person to oversee the people that do the actual work, which is what happens in government, because you've got to have not only the people that do the actual work, but then you've got to have the oversight people to make sure that the people doing the actual work are working, because that's the people that then talk to people that run for the legislature and those sorts of things. Well, that's an additional person, isn't it? Now, to call it waste might be overstating it a bit, but when you have a private business that has the workers do the work, and then they get the rewards, there tends to be less people than when you have a government entity do it, because then you've got to have those oversight people, and then you have to have the people that are doing all of the individual functions of different pieces of a program and so on. So like I said, not necessarily that it's waste, but it's definitely not as efficient as when it's done by the private sector, is it?
Mike Murphy: Right. When you add layers, I like to look at it just like our homes, like our families. We can mow our own grass, or we can hire it done. It costs more to hire it done. Now, it's nice to go play while your lawn's being cut, and any number of other things. I'm a weird guy. I still change the oil in my car and stuff like that at home. Most people don't do that, but the bottom line is there's things that government could do, like you said, without some of those layers, and the other thing that I like to compare with a family is you can't just come in next month and say, I need more money. My expenses have gone up. I want to go on vacation. I want things like that. Mr. Boss, I need more money. Well, that's what government does. Government just says, okay, they just take it. They just say, well, here we go. We need more money. We just take it. We're going to have to change the way we think. I don't know any other way to put it.
Nick Gosnell: Well, and part of the issue is that in Topeka, people are concerned with making sure that their district gets a piece of this pie often, as much as they are concerned with the fact that the pie just keeps getting more stuffed with stuff from the people to the government. They don't think that, or at least I would say a majority probably don't think the way that you've just articulated.
Mike Murphy: No, I agree. I agree. And then the other thing too is you've got these things we call lobbyists. Some lobbyists are wonderful. I mean, they really are. They're very good. Some of them are not so much. And we get in a situation where then, of course, where they're wanting to add their piece of pie in. And there's been some adjustments to some of that. I know they're looking at where they're doing like the omnibus and stuff like that because historically there's a lot of stuff been thrown in there at the end that never really went through the process. And so we need to do a better job of watching those sorts of things.
Nick Gosnell: It's a lot bigger district than it was four years ago because they redrew the lines. So now it's Reno, Kingman, and I think Barber counties. So all the way down to the state line for you. Has that changed at all what you see the district wanting? Because you've talked to folks all around.
Mike Murphy: Maybe a little bit. In reality, of course, what happened was is Reno County lost, well, Hutch proper lost some numbers over that 10-year period. And so they had to pick it up. And in reality, there was only the rest of Kingman County that was added. And then all of Barber County was about another 5,000 people or so. So it's not a lot of people. It's a lot of land. But they're good people. I'll tell you what, that's salt of the earth when you get out of town. And a lot of people don't see Hutch as a big city. But when you live out in the country, 10 miles from the nearest town, Hutch is a big city. So your outlook on life is a little different.
Nick Gosnell: Now, how much of what the state does budget-wise, we always talk about it, and we talked about it at length before the break. But how much of it can really be changed right now? Because you said in your interview with me back in August, there are large chunks of the state budget that are, I don't want to say they're set, but they're more or less things that are those third rail topics you talked about before.
Mike Murphy: Yeah, well, we've got about 15% of the budget we can legitimately work with because the rest of it is education and Medicaid. So there's ways to cut some of those things. I think the schools and all like that could be trimmed a little bit because, and I know that sounds horrible, they'll scream at me for that. But the bottom line is that there's a lot of money being thrown at problems. And I think when we've looked at some of the post-audit reports, that there's money that's being spent that has no effect. And we need to be looking at that. There's also, whenever time you look at government programs like Medicaid, Medicare, there's always fraud and abuse. And so I think it's incumbent on us to look at those things and try to, because I mean, that's our taxpayers' money and we need to be good stewards.
Nick Gosnell: Now, I'm going to get burned at home when I get home for saying what I'm about to say, Mike, but there are 200 and some odd school districts in the state of Kansas and there are about 100 counties, 105. It seems like to me you might be able to do with fewer districts if you could figure out how to draw the maps so kids aren't on the bus all day. But that's just looking at it from the outside.
Mike Murphy: Well, you know, and I look at it and I'm thinking, I know this isn't realistic in today's world, but the old one-room schoolhouses served us well. And we, yeah, we were not able to have the bands and the sports and everything like that, but those kids were educated and that's what we really are doing.
Nick Gosnell: So let's talk about Medicaid for a second, because if it's already 23% of the budget and Medicaid expansion, which has been up there for years and years and hasn't gone through for, let's call it, nine or ten years since the last time in 2014 when it was vetoed by Governor Brownback, how much bigger part of the budget would it become if that actually happened? Has anybody given you any numbers on that?
Mike Murphy: It's hard to, you know, it's hard to say. It would certainly be more money. I don't know. When you start trying to get that information, you get all sorts of different answers. And so I don't really know. All I know is that when you add that, most states, I think, they're 160% above the projection. So whatever it is they say is going to be added, it's going to be more. So it's a real problem. And once again, I think I said at the forum the other night, Medicaid was designed to really help the intellectually and the physically disabled. That was really its general purpose. We've expanded it already to encompass a whole lot more, and those people have been left behind. And I think we should back up a little bit before we start looking at adding more. I think we should back up and help the ones it was really designed for.
Nick Gosnell: Well, and not every doctor or medical provider takes that either.
Mike Murphy: That's correct.
Nick Gosnell: So let's talk about, like, if there was, have you ever been at the concession stand at a high school football game, Mike?
Mike Murphy: Oh yeah.
Nick Gosnell: When you go in the middle of the first quarter, and the game's going on, and there are five people at the concession stand, pretty easy to go get your hot dog. When you go at halftime, especially if you go after the band quits playing, you're going to wait, you won't get back to your seat until the middle of third quarter.
Mike Murphy: Yeah, you're right.
Nick Gosnell: Is that where we would be if we actually expanded Medicaid?
Mike Murphy: That's a part of it. And also, sometimes these hospitals and such say, well, we really need this. But the bottom line is that Medicaid pays about 30 percent of what private insurance does. And if a lot of people go on that are eligible for, like, Obamacare or whatever like that, you actually are forced onto Medicaid if you are eligible for Medicaid. And so you're going to have people that have maybe been going to the doctor, and the doctor and hospital being reimbursed 100 percent, now they're going to get 30. I think trying to put the numbers together is really difficult to say, well, we're going to get that. And once again, we're playing with taxpayer dollars. I've got a little, have you seen Thomas Massey's little badge that he wears, the debt badge?
Nick Gosnell: No, I have not.
Mike Murphy: It's pretty cool. I've got one actually now. I should have brought it so you could see it. It's got the running total of the national debt, which is now, is actually I read last night in the last three weeks has gone up $400 billion. So we are on track of spending around a trillion dollars in deficit spending every 100 days. So to say we're going to get all this federal dollars and everything for something, it's a shell game.
Nick Gosnell: Again, we're talking to Mike Murphy. He's running for District 34 in the Kansas Senate. So where can folks find out more about your campaign?
Mike Murphy: IlikeMike4Kansas, the number four. Ilikemike4ks.com and look for your vote. I like Mike on November 5th or before. Vote early, vote often.
Nick Gosnell: I think we'll try to do it once and leave it at that.
Mike Murphy: Do it once. Okay.
The audio interview is below.