Web posted
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Leach makes run for Senate
By DAVID A. SEATON
Traveler Staff Writer
daseaton@arkcity.net
His opponent is well known, having served on the Kansas Board of Education for 13 years.
George Leach, by contrast, is new to politics. His campaign for state Senate in the 32nd District, which includes Cowley and Sumner counties, will be his first.
The political novice faces veteran Steve Abrams, of Arkansas City, in the Republican primary Aug. 5. The winner will take on incumbent Greta Goodwin, D-Winfield.
Leach, 60, says he initially filed for a House seat to replace Ted Powers, a Republican from Mulvane, who died last month.
Instead he chose the Senate after some encouragement from Republican party members. But others in the party who support Steve Abrams, he said, were not pleased and called him to say so.
"I got brow-beat pretty good," Leach said.
He declined to identify who called him, or who encouraged him to run.
"I told them I didn't really realize I had to have their permission to run," he said. "I thought this was still the United States of America."
Leach said he's knocking on doors and planning for media advertising. He admits it will be an uphill battle taking on Abrams.
"I feel like he's a man, just like I am," Leach said. "We put our best foot forward, and the public will decide who they want to run this race."
His priorities, Leach said, are veterans concerns and education and transportation funding.
A Vietnam veteran, Leach spent 30 years in the Army, the last 18 of it in the reserves stationed in Wichita. He is currently the safety director for Dondlinger & Sons Construction in Wichita, where he has worked for 20 years.
The state recently suspended property taxes for people deployed overseas, "but we can go further than that. We need to look and see what we can do, we need to talk with these people."
Leach said he does not want to raise taxes, but said education and highways need to be funded. He thinks the state government could find ways to cut waste, or prioritize spending.
State-owned casinos are not a great idea, Leach said, but since they will become reality, he has to accept them.
He does not have a preference for where the new Sumner County casino will go -- Mulvane or Wellington -- but said his job will be to prevent corruption and make sure gaming revenues go where promised.
Leach emphasized common sense and integrity as qualities he'd bring to elected office. He said he would always be accessible and keep his phone number listed.
Leach said he'd been encouraged to go negative on Abrams for his role on the state education board. Abrams has been a lead critic of evolution teaching in Kansas. Leach said he believes in the creator but evolution "is science, and people have to learn science."
"I'm not going to talk bad about anybody," he said. "If that's what it takes for me to win this race, then I'm not going to win this race."
On immigration, Leach said he did not know the details of the legislation debated last session, but that employers should not be punished or held responsibility for the failures of the federal government.
He opposes in-state tuition at Kansas universities for illegal immigrants, and thinks the government should do more to deport known illegal residents.
On energy, Leach said he was not familiar with the details of the coal-fired power plant controversy that consumed much of the last session. The state does need to explore alternative energies like wind and solar.
"I'm not an authority on that stuff," he said. "I need to be better educated on the coal plants before I could make an intelligent decision."
Leach said he is pro-life. He is against a state-wide smoking ban in public places.
Until recently, he was a Democrat, based on influence from his parents when he first registered, Leach said. But his views are more in-line with the Republican Party, he said, and he considers himself conservative.
Shelda is Leach's wife of 33 years. He has two sons, 32 and 20.
He belongs to the American Legion and VFW. Most of his spare time beyond work and family has been spent at the Army reserve center, where he was first sergeant and director of enlisted men, he said.
When the second Iraq war broke out he considered enlisting.
"My wife throwed a fit. Basically the army told me I was too old and too fat, now," he joked.
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