Web posted
Friday, October 31, 2008
Abrams fends off attack ads
By DAVID A. SEATON
Traveler Staff Writer
daseaton@arkcity.net
Republican Steve Abrams is under assault by mailers trying to paint him as an extremist who is anti-education.
He also has been the target of a cable television ad that accuses him of making Kansas look like a laughing stock when he was chairman of the state Board of Education.
Abrams, reached by phone this week, said he’d seen the attack ads and called them lies.
“If you tell a lie big enough the people will believe it,” Abrams said, referencing a famous quote.
The negative barrage comes from Abram’s tenure on the Kansas Board of Education, of which he is still a member. The Arkansas City veterinarian is challenging incumbent Greta Goodwin, D-Winfield, for the 32nd Senate seat.
None of the attacks come directly from Goodwin, but some are paid for by the Kansas Democratic Party, which Goodwin sent $15,000. Goodwin did not return phone calls for comment.
The television commercial was paid for by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Abrams chaired the state school board when it held hearings on Intelligent Design some viewed as anti-science, and hired an executive director with no direct experience in the education field.
Those are among the charges leveled in slick glossy fliers that have been hitting mailboxes in the district. At least two have been sent by The Bluestem Fund, a political action committee controlled by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.
Reports show that the fund spent at least $40,000 on the District 32 race, including$10,000 for a mailer on Oct. 17.
Asked whether the flyers exaggerated the truth, Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said, .
“I believe it’s a way to show differences and to educate folks on where people stand. It’s pretty clear where Greta Goodwin is on the issues. This is just one way to call attention to the differences between the two.”
One mailer said Abrams’ education agenda is to:
• cripple school budgets
• ban the teaching of science
• have no background checks for teachers
A second flyer shows a book that is crossed out.
“Steve Abrams wants to ban books in school,” the flyer reads.
Some of those charges are repeated in the flyers sent by the Kansas Democratic Party, which also claims that Abrams hired an “unqualified crony” for $140,000 a year as education commissioner.
Education funding
One Bluestem Fund flyer references board of education minutes to claim that Abrams has repeatedly opposed more funding for students and teachers.
The minutes show that in October 2007, Abrams voted against supporting increases in state aide that would raise teacher pay to the national median. Other minutes show that in 2003 he cast a vote against additional funds for teacher training.
Abrams said he did not recall the details of those specific votes, but said he had voted for both things over the course of his 13 years on the board.
“In general, I want to be able to tie (more spending) to accountability, and tie it into cost of living and little bit more,” he said. “I hate the idea of deficit spending.”
Science standards
Abrams said he never wanted to “ban” science as the flyer charge. He said the “evolutionists” got bent out of shape by a simple change to the science teaching standards that said origins of life (evolution theory) must include criticisms of that theory, he said.
Asked whether he would still hold the much-publicized hearings on Intelligent Design that drew national attention, much of it negative, to the state, Abrams replied:
“I stand by the idea that good science needs to be analyzed, critiqued and challenged,” he said. “In spite of what you heard on Jay Leno, creationism was not in the science standards.”
Abrams said he believes in creationism, but that “I don’t want the Bible taught in science. Good science is independent of religion.”
No background check for teachers
Abrams said that charge refers to a vote he cast against requiring an FBI background check. He said he thought a Kansas Bureau of Investigation check was adequate. It also would cost teachers less money, $15 compared to $48, he said.
He was the lone member to vote against the FBI check.
Banning books
In 2005, Abrams wrote an op-ed column in which he said some school educators “promulgate pornography as ‘literature,’ even though many parents have petitioned the local boards to remove the porn.”
He was referring to the Blue Valley district near Kansas City where some parents were protesting certain books on the reading list, including, “Beloved,” by Toni Morrison, “Black Boy,” by Richard Wright and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” by Ken Kesey.
The books are award-winning literature, and Abram’s comments offended some teachers who said he was trying to incite controversy.
Abrams this week said he was not trying to ban books.
“If those books were made into movies they would be rated so no students could go into them,” he said. “What I was wanting to try to get, is that parents should be able to opt-in their student.”
Bob Corkins
Another controversial issue when Abrams was chairman was the hiring of Bob Corkins in 2005 as education commissioner.
The 6-4 decision to hire Corkins, at $140,000 a year, raised eyebrows because he did not have a background in education and was viewed by some as too critical of public education. Corkins background in public policy was at conservative think tanks.
While leading the education department, Corkins pushed for more innovation, for school vouchers and charter schools. He stepped down after moderates regained control in 2006.
In his defense, Abrams said Corkin’s salary was in line with other commissioners, and that Corkins had an advanced degree. (Corkins has a law degree.)
“Bob Corkins was very well versed in budgets and how to make them,” Abrams said. “He was qualified. There were others who had differences in opinions.”
Other mailers
While these mailers have blasted Abrams, other flyers and commercials by outside groups are reaching voters on his behalf. At least three mailers and one cable commercial from Americans For Prosperity, an anti-tax group, tout his pledge to not raise taxes and oppose more state spending.
One flyer from The Kansas Club for Growth Political Action Committee takes on Goodwin for votes she cast to support tax increases. They cite votes made in 1999 for a gas tax increase and two other votes that included increases in income, sales and property tax increases.
Goodwin did not return phone calls for comment.
Abrams said he is familiar with those groups but has not coordinated with them on the mailers.
“When it’s in the mail, that’s the first I’ve seen it,” Abrams said.
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