Gene Garman, a friend of this blog, is running for a seat in the Kansas state senate (District 13). God knows there aren’t enough Democrats in Topeka, and God knows that there are only a few places in Kansas where a Democrat has a chance, and Southeast Kansas is one of them.
If you are a Democrat, or a Tea Party-tired Republican, living in Cherokee or Crawford counties, or in southern Bourbon county (Fort Scott, my old home town), then get out and do something about the right-wing extremism in your state.
The Fort Scott Tribune interviewed Gene and reported:
He said his experience and formal education have impressed on him the responsibility to do unto others as he would have done unto him. “The need to fully fund public education and social services for the poor and needy among us is the right and the American thing to do.
Southeast Kansas and Crawford County are among the most economically depressed counties in the state,” Garman said.
He said the legislature is hampered by a “poverty of imagination, coupled with ideological rigidity,” that keeps Kansas “limping along economically at both the state and local levels of government. Improve the lives of local residents in each community and the entire state benefits,” Garman said.
His bona fides:
He said voters should choose him because he was born and grew up on a farm with an outhouse downstream from a hand-dug water well. “(I) was listening to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys before I learned to read and write in a one-room schoolhouse with kerosene lanterns on the wall, remember Pear Harbor, and am a U.S. Marine Corps Korean Veteran, with a Baylor University education, and, for what its worth, one year of education at Washburn University School of Law, my fifth year on the G.I. Bill.
“I also hold a Master of Divinity degree, from a theological seminary. I am retired from the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, which has a local office in Frontenac, and the National Association of Letter Carriers, Pittsburg. No campaign contributions accepted,” Garman said.
He had me at “Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.” Who could vote against a guy with such exquisite taste?
I wish I could pull the lever for him, but I’m stuck here in Petticoat Joplin with only a Republican state senator to vote for.
Go, Gene!
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Gene sent this message today, commenting on my post about the Republicans in Missouri, many of whom are committing to the disgraced Todd Akin:
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Submitted on 2012/11/05 at 8:24 am
And, do I not have the same type of opposition in Kansas State Senate District 13? Yes, I do. So, it should be just as significant for those who read this to make sure everyone on your email lists, in the Kansas counties of Cherokee and Crawford, as well as the cities of Fort Scott and Chetopa, know for whom to vote: Gene Garman, Democrat. |
The reference is to Gene’s opponent, Jacob LaTurner, a right-wing conservative who defeated a more moderate Republican in the GOP primary this year (sound familiar?).
Again, get out and vote all you locals. Or don’t complain to me about not having a voice in Topeka.
The Erstwhile Conservative: A Blog of Repentance 
Robert J Roberts
/ November 5, 2012I might note here that Gene’s opponent has a very short résumé. He graduated from college and worked in our radical Republican representative’s office. That’s it.
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R. Duane Graham
/ November 5, 2012Robert,
Thanks for that piece of information. I know very little about the guy other than he ran very far to the right of Republican Bob Marshall of Fort Scott. Pass the word on to all your Kansas friends in the area, if you would.
Duane
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N.Michael Barrows
/ November 5, 2012I get the great displeasure of receiving LaTurner mail at least two days a week; and have since the primaries began. The majority of that “literature” had little to do with what voting for Jake LaTurner would mean for SEK, and more to do with slamming his opponent(s). The negative campaigning that LaTurner sent out and put his name to made me sick. I can only hope that he doesn’t get the chance to represent my district in Topeka.
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Robert Jackson
/ November 5, 2012Support Gene at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Support-Gene-Garman-for-Kansas-Senate-District-13/116903171798104.
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