Latest / Continuing the Watch Podcast / Episode 2: Real Talk with Kansas State Representative Dave Buehler (Retired Navy Captain)

Transcript

Episode 2: Real Talk with Kansas State Representative Dave Buehler (Retired Navy Captain) · Continuing the Watch Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Coming up next! On continuing to watch.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: The Navy's core values are honor, courage, and commitment.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I live by those core values for 20 and a half years in the Navy, and I live by the House of Representatives.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the real me.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not bombastic.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: I am not the type that go out and sharpen sharpen a stick and poke somebody in the eye.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do the best given the resources that I have and the committees that I sit on.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Let's roll.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: We are both big fans of David Bueller, U.S.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Navy captain, retired representative.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: David Bueller, uh representative for my district.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: So I try not to bug you too much.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Just it's all good, it's all good.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: Just enough to remember that there's always that guy.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what I'm here for.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can bug me.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's great to have you on the show today.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you've been busy.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: You just got in uh just a few minutes ago from uh Topeka.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: I did.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we have finished what hopefully is my last interim committee before the budget development starts, and this was on the state's sexual predator and treatment program, which is not a very fun topic to work on, but that comes with a job.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that one doesn't come up in uh just something we casually want to talk about at lunch.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: No guess normally.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna let you go after that.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, well, I'm sorry.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: I should have come up with a better icebreaker.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry about that.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: No, um, I am glad that you're here and the room that we flipped a couple of weeks ago.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this podcast, I said in the first episode, is it's real talk.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, a lot of people have podcasts and they go, Oh, we're you know, we're here for everyone.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to offend anyone.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the truth offends people.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: And Dave, I believe we had a conversation at the gas station, you know, when someone else put their name and run in run against you.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I went, why?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I, Dave, as I campaigned, I got to know you.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, Chase, you know me.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Dave, you've gotten to know.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: If you are not that person, I have no problem letting you know me and not that person.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Dave, you are that person and then some.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, I meant what I said that day at the gangster.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, it I want to know why.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then the more I thought about it, I realized why.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um you have an R behind your name.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's the biggest reason.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: You're conservative.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um I know some of the things that you have done, and I and I think in the first podcast I said the hatred is real.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't like them because they are insert affiliation here.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a bad place to be, especially when we are where we are in the world right now.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: You look at what's going on overseas, and all three of us are prior military, and you, sir, are outnumbered right now.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Two to one, two to one.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now, and I am a member of the biggest service, though.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: No one, yeah.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but I mean, you know, and I don't give you a break, I don't give you a pass because, you know, you're a retired Navy captain.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you you you've earned my respect.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I know the reason, at least I think I know the reason, that someone decided to run against you, and I mentioned in my first podcast, we don't like him.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: He must go.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I've seen people at your opponent's house that I know have those feelings.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, whether you know it or not, when you run for public office, your address is out there.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: They know where you live.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: People can come by and knock on your door and say whatever they want to say.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I saw someone at this person's house, and I went, there it is.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because I wanted you up here on this show to let everyone know that I've already voted.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Of course you have my vote.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that, thank you.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: And before I hand it off to you, I want people to know that Dave is a good person.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: He has done some great work, and I know you will continue to do great work, but I want you, this is this is your opportunity, to tell them what you've done and what you plan on doing.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Start absolutely right.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I'm gonna start first with um the comments about the the people that genuinely have ill will.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you can't let that bother you in this business, but it was a marked difference when I filed for office for the first time.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'd only been retired from the Navy two days.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: I retired from the office on from the Navy on May the 16th, four years ago, filed for office on May the 18th at a two-day retirement.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it was remarkable the people that I had known for years that just automatically stiff-armed or put the distance because of the R and the D.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't have to be that way.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I certainly don't bring myself or carry myself in this job that way.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, Chase may not get this, but the Navy's core values are honor, courage, and commitment.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I live by those core values for 28 and a half years in the Navy, and I live by them in the House of Representatives.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: But what I stand by, um, you know, I I found myself four years ago when you're first elected.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um I went in charging on property tax and other things, and I got my wish the first year I had Fed State Taxation and Health and Human Services.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Tax has been a slog.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then there was a change.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Two years ago, a uh colleague of mine passed away, Les Mason.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: He was the chair of the House Social Services Budget Committee.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that summer, summer 2024, another campaign year, I was asked to chair the Social Services Budget Committee.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it fell in nicely with what I'm doing on and have done on the Health and Human Services Committee.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I found myself in that position, uh, uniquely, uniquely positioned to help the most vulnerable Kanzans that there are.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it would start with those with autism, the frail and elderly, those with developmental and uh intellectual and developmental disabilities, um, etc.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's seven categories, and I have um made it my mission that as long as I chair that committee or I'm on that committee, that I'm gonna look out for those Kanzans first.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: What's funny is I got a I got a call last night from uh Sue Zapanzik, I've known Sue for years, and uh she said, when I answered the phone, she said, I didn't think you're gonna answer the phone.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: I said I saw your name.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, I've been wanting to tell you something that for for weeks now.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was just gonna call and leave a message.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um, Sue's daughter has developmental disabilities, and she's in her, I think she's in her 40s now.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I toured Cottonwood Industries where she works in the summertime here, it was in early June.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: And um I supposedly made such a great impact on her daughter that every time she sees one of my signs in the neighborhood, she'll say, Dave Baylor, Dave Baylor, he's gonna win, he's gonna win.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's um, I think that's indicative of a couple things.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: One, the care that I have for those people and the willing and the work that I'm willing to do for them, and that's the real me.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not bombastic, I am not the type to go out and sharp a sharpen a stick and poke somebody in the eye.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do the best uh given the resources that I have and the committees that I sit on.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the other thing is um others can't do this, but I work at this job all year long.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um last Friday I was in Manhattan at the Interhab's Power Conference.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: That was on Friday, that Monday and Tuesday.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: I had interim committee meetings in Topeka.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: I had interim committee meeting today.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it for me, um, you can do the job.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think you would serve this district poorly if you went to Topeka in January and closed up shop in in April, but you can't do the job that way.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be willing to put the time in.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I know I do that, I know you do that in your role, and that's what I'm gonna continue to do.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that is the real me.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and for those that don't like me because I have an R behind my name.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's too bad.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's doing what I'm doing.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: It is, and I applaud you.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when I st when I decided to run, you're one of the people I look up to.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: You're one of the people I check up.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Likewise, or likewise.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you, sir.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I just and there man, it is so hard to talk about where we are and where we need to go.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: And the infighting and the back and forth, and you know, I talked about the pocket constitutions on the last podcast.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, did you?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Are we serious right now?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, are we are we like it's the constitution, yeah.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: And the declaration of independence.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: We'll put into one.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: And why are we fighting about this?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because we don't like someone?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, sometimes we have to make hard decisions, sometimes we have to have hard conversations.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember having, you know, I remember we were at a retirement ceremony, not a retirement, a promotion ceremony.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I was I saw you walk in, and I went, I I I just need I need to talk today.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: And you shot me straight, and I appreciate that.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you you you gave me advice, and I felt like, how cool is that?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you never act like you're better than anyone else.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're so down to earth, and I like I was so surprised to find out that somebody put their name to run against you because I don't think they understand how much work goes into it.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, her reasons for running against me, uh, one of the first ones was she didn't want to see me run unopposed.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: But then it's the standard Medicaid expansion, yada yada yada.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Those that to me, that's what what that reflects is someone who thinks that all the job is, is voting yes and no on the house floor.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: And if that is your idea of the way the legislature works, you're gonna shortchange the people that elect you.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and God forbid somebody gets elected with that expectation because that's not what it is.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: That is the easy part of the job.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Voting yes and voting no on the house floor is the easiest part of the job.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, doing your homework and knowing the job is so much work.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I have a full-time job in addition to, you know, and it's a full-time job being an elected official.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: It is, and if you don't treat it as a full-time job, you are not doing the job for the people.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um, there's there's so many elements, and I'll and I'll admit, my knowledge, my first term four years ago, whatever it was, um it wasn't a lack of understanding, maybe it was a lack of appreciation for the breadth and depth that that you wind yourself in, find yourself in.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: And here's a good example.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is just yesterday.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's Sunday afternoon.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: I get an email from a guy from Baser of all places.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um he's a disabled veteran, and he is trying to get free and reduced lunches for his kids.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's an army, army, uh, army guard, reservist, uh, just retired.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: And the school district is wanting to count income that is not taxable for him, and he's asking me for help.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I got a hold of the uh retired Brigadier General Turner who runs a Kansas Office of Veterans Affairs, and tried to get them connected with the resource that he can use to fix that problem.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: You got to pivot from, and this is a Sunday, um, then you pivot from that to there's 100 state agencies that that you know, we we elect the House, we elect the Senate, we elect the governor.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: We don't elect those state agencies.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: For those in the military, if you ever dealt with DLA, Defense Logistics Agency, it's the DLA of the state of Kansas.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um and again, if the if the House and the Senate and the governor are budget development and budget approval, they are budget execution.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I would contend that they're failing.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that many of those large state agencies, especially during this kind of gubernatorial election where there's going to be a transition, it's like they've taken their hands off the wheels and just they're letting it ride until they see who want to see who's rolling in in January.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it's and it's criminal because the ones that they are um impacting reduced services on are the very people I started talking about.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Those on Medicaid, uh, the frail, the elderly, uh, those with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Their claims for renewal and all these things have just fallen by the wayside.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's one day in the life of a legislator uh in the month of October.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's not January yet, it's not April yet, uh, and that's a Sunday afternoon.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: But is it things that people don't see?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: No, they don't, they never will.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: And and they don't care.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that's maybe a little harsh.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um there they don't have the appreciation for it.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think they understand.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, yeah.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: And when you do get in, you have a choice to make.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Do I put in this time?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: And especially, you know, you have you have kids, I have kids, yep.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: And you have to balance that, you know, I want to be the father that I I'm supposed to be, because that's me first and foremost, you know, God is first, yep, and then my family, you know, and then my job.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, people that go into this, I knew, and my family was behind me 100%.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: And there are things that I'm going to miss, there are things that I have to do, but they understand that.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you and I are both lucky in that we both have Navy wives.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you've got a you've got your you got military spouse too.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'm very fortunate with my army wife.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: And that's a very hard job.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: It is, it is.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: And the spouses of military spouses understand service, they understand the commitment.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um and we're I think all three of us are fortunate in that regard that we have spouses that that um support us to do this, because otherwise it would it would be 10 times harder than it already is.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: I give a lot of credit to her on the first episode.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I wouldn't be where I am.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: So before we ever decided, I was at her birthday party when someone asked me to run for city council, and I went, get out of here.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: No, I'm like, no, not happening.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: And we we talked about it.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: If this is what you want, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: This is this this has to be a mutual agreement.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: And she ran my campaign today.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was at work and I came home and everything was set up down here, all the stuff, and that's awesome.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, we we're in it together.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I had there's something that I wanted to bring up.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um what was her name?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Rebecca Evans.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she is a this thing changed our lives, and I just want to touch on it briefly.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to say she's a neuro scientist, a psychiatrist that had a son at seven years old say something to the effect that maybe I just can't myself.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: And she started doing research and she came across an article that stated food dyes had a lot to do with brain buzzing, and so she removed those from her kids' diet.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: The red at first, then she found out the yellow was affecting him as well.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: She said he slept.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: There was a TED talk about it.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a very good TED talk.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: After listening to that, we realized that Christopher, my son, you know, he made a comment one time.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe if it was maybe it's just better if I wasn't here.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I the reason I'm getting personal is because it's personal.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: It is, yeah.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and I know you're, you know, um Health and Human Services.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think we look at the root cause of a lot of things.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: We just want to pump money into it.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just continue to pump money into it.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's an easy solution that makes feel pe people feel better sometimes.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: It honestly it is.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I will tell you, I speak from experience.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now I cannot tell you I have the fix for all of your kids, but I just had this conversation with a mutual friend of ours today that thinks the world of you.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, oh yeah.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: You get your clothes done there.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Jessica?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Are you excited?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: No, she, yeah.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I told her, I said, I'm not asking you to answer this.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: I said, but do you and how many other people do Walmart or Dylan's pickup?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: You pull up, you pick up.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: I will, I promise you, the people that are putting the groceries in your car and don't go, no, that has food dye in it.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Let me get another one.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, yeah, they don't.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we as parents, that's our job.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Our job is to make sure.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't want to go down the rabbit hole.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: I might be too late.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I will tell you when we removed all of those artificial food dyes colors from my son's diet, it changed him dramatically.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, are they the same dyes that Bobby Kennedy is looking at removing?
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so we did have a bill this last session that dealt with, I think, one of the red dyes in particular.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: And wouldn't surprise you that there was some derision.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that hey, why is this necessary?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Why do we have it was just um and again it was one of those because it was part of the Make America Healthy um uh protocol, a protocol or a priority, I guess there's a better word for it.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was like, come on, it's it's all about money, right?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about money.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: And once again, Dave Chase, I speak from experience.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And my son, I just told you as you go right here, my son just came back from welding class.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't he good?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh that's a that's a I didn't know how to weld when I was 12.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's an art.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's an art.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: He is extremely good.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: He also, after welding class, writes dirt bikes.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: He meant I wish I had the knife in hand.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: He makes his own knives, carves them from steel, cuts them out.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have kids that have a problem sitting still.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: You have to be able to channel that.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna pump money and go sit in a corner and spend more money, you know where I'm going with.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I I I saw online where somebody attacked you about the program.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: And if we're not looking and we're not willing to look at the root cause of these things, we're doing an injustice, not only to not only to the people that we represent, but our families.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's if you're if you're referring to just K-12 education, which I think you are, uh those who attacked me for it apparently haven't listened to Governor Laura Kelly because in January, when she gave her last state of the state speech, this is a rough quote, she said, and I'm one of the things I'm most proud of is that we have fully funded education for the last seven years.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so this was the beginning of her eighth year.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um the special education piece is um one of the most murky formulas that people who say that don't understand the way that formula is calculated.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I can tell you that the legislature over the last, I think it's either between six and ten years, has put in an incremental increase of two hundred and twenty-one million dollars maintenance of effort, which means it's in there every year.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: We it was incrementally added, but it's A$220 million difference from what it was before we started that.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: To your point, though, you cannot just continue to throw money at everything.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's this one size fits all solution.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, those who that say that we need to keep spending more and more money, I would say this.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: We spend a record amount on K-12 education every year in this state.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: It hasn't gone down since I've been in office.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's gone up every single year.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why enrollment's declining.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: So there it goes.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: So people are looking at so there's two things between K-12 education entitlements.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: That makes about 86 or 87 cents of every dollar that the state taxes.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: So what we have left to run this state is 13 to 14 cents out of every dollar that we tax and take.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: So for those who say that, um, you know, I I they're free and able to say that clearly, but they don't understand how much money is already going there in a situation where the state's decline enrollment was peaked, projected to peak, and it did two years ago, and never raised again.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: So you brought up declining enrollment.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Dave, that's because people aren't having kids anymore.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's what they're saying.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm here to tell you.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not even asking you to say anything.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'll take this one.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: We homeschool.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of families are beginning to homeschool.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: You homeschool.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: We sure do.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: I've been invited to attend a homeschool at uh in Bonner Springs on, I think it's the 10th or 11th of November.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: They want me to come see what what they're doing.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: I have several friends.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Private schools.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: We're just not having kids.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Man, we could go down a rabbit hole and never come out.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: But I will tell you, if you want to tell yourself that, keep telling yourself that, once again, you're not looking at the root cause.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my my contention would be um let's let's look at I mean, just let's look at it holistically.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's look at where where parents are educating their kids today.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you and you mentioned it, whether it's private school, home school, public school.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's the that is the pool of resources available to educate our kids.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: And as long as it's happening in any of those spaces, it needs to be high quality and competitive to for this generation of kids.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I am concerned about was during the COVID years.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my wife and I traveled to Washington, D.C., where our granddaughters are, and my daughter and her husband were on a trip somewhere.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: So we were watching the kids.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so I got to homeschool with my oldest granddaughter at the time, I think she was in third or fourth grade.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: It was terrible.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: It was atrocious.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was um Grace sitting in a den in her house on a computer screen with 20 other little faces that look like the Brady bunch with all these little kids in squares.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um they were checked out.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um there was no way that was an effective year.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have to have a recognition that there's education loss, we have to fix that.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but again, I'm I'm going down a rabbit hole.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: I will stop.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um, anyway.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm holding back.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: You have no idea.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm at some point back.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I remember the podcast that I did with you in the first episode.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: If anybody's following to the third episode, in the first episode, I went, Chase, there was a word that you used, and I one of the reasons that we started this podcast is because he has a he has a following, and I will have a different type of following.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, together we bridged the gap.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Chase, there was a word that you used, and I was like, people that follow me are not gonna know what that means, man.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: Or not I'm just throwing it out there.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that we're not, I'm just not he said enthralled.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: Enthralled.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great word.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Listening to Lori when she was homeschooling the children, and I was enthralled, and I'm oh boy, here we go.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, it's not like I said epistemology.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: To listen to Steph do her thing with the kids is nothing short of amazing.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then you begin to wonder, there's I'm not if I said I wasn't worried about Mackenzie, my oldest, getting ready to go into college, you know, because we homeschool, is she gonna be good enough?
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Is she gonna be great enough?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: Is she gonna be able to compete?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: She just took the ACT last week, and all of her practice ACTs were extremely well.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great feeling.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: That is an amazing feeling.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: When the average, I believe, right now for Kansas is well below where she was, and I'll just leave it at that.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna throw her out now, right?
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: But as parents, that's what we should want for our kids.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: We should want the best.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: And when you feel like you're not getting the best, when people feel like they're not getting the best, give me my kids.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Give me my kids.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: I will private school or homeschool, and I am not trying.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna leave it there.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: I what an honor to have you on the show.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's an honor to be here, it really is.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I will tell you this.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: I watched another one of your podcasts and I won't mention the person.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, hey, I'm not gonna I I'm just gonna let you know I might have your opponent on.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's for what they said.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: I have no I will not have her on.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: I have no design.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because you have my vote, and oh well, Chris, you're not being fair.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: This is not what this podcast is right about.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: This podcast is about calling it what it is and being truthful.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I appreciate you.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: You've been there for me, and hopefully this was here for you.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm always willing to come back.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: This was fun.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is a good time.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: Real tall.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: And and I gotta say, I just so appreciate, you know, we we don't know each other terribly well, but we know each other reasonably well enough.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I've always just appreciated the fact that here's a military man, a uh a family man.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there are a million other things you could be doing.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: Oh god, message uh that would be a way easier than what you're doing.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that would probably make you a lot more money than uh than what you're getting paid in the legislature.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's true.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_02: I lost money this my first year as a representative.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and you're and you're still standing, quite literally standing the watch.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and uh I've appreciated it that I'll never forget when I was still active duty when you ran.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_02: I was actually at my my last job out of Fort Knox, and I come home and my wife tells me, Chase, you gotta meet this guy, Dave.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: He's he's running in the buffalo.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and uh and and so we have just so appreciated you, and um you've got my vote as well.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I'm just grateful to know that you're on the wall town on the book.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: Another bizarre line is to have to be an inspiration for younger men and women to step up and go, I've got the next watch.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and you know what?
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: The way that and it's not only do they have the watch, but how do they conduct themselves when they have the watch?
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we we all get that and know that, but but it's so true.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um this is service before self, which you know, so we you and I we all get it.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, and that's what it is.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it is.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um Dave, what a part of it.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: You better thanks, sir.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: Good seeing you.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_02: You bet.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_02: This guy's standing in the watch, do the same.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see you next time.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_02: CP100.