The University Daily
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
KANSAN
Wednesday, November 3, 1982 Vol.93,No.53 USPS 650-640
Democrats shine in state elections Carlin, Docking team revels in victory over Hardage
Oil, gas tax key to win. Carlin says
By JULIE HEABERLIN Staff Renorter
TOPEKA-Democratic Gov. John Carlin rode his severance tax to a sweeping victory last night and ended one of the most bitterly contested gubernatorial campaigns in Kansas history.
With 96 percent of the precincts reporting, Carlin had 390,725 votes and Hardage had 325,364 votes.
"Today's victory I recognize as the proudest day of my life." Carlin told a cheering crowd of supporters packed into Democratic headquarters in Topeka. "And there is no doubt our joy here tonight is shared by thousands of Republicans and unaffiliated voters."
Carlin entered headquarters about 10 p.m. jubilantly waving his arms in rhythm to the band music for several minutes before the noisy room silenced for his acceptance speech.
ENTHUSIASTIC crowd members held black-and-white banners above their heads that proclaimed Carlin's repeated promise made to Kansans and his Republican challenger: "I will not allow the oil industry to dictate the future of Kansas."
Although the final curtain had dropped on his campaign against Hardage, Carlin still pushed last night for support of his economic answer to the state's fiscal crisis.
Throughout the campaign, Hardage, a Wichita businessman, had denounced Carlin's tax proposal on the oil and gas industry as a tax on oil and gas industry tax that stigued out one industry.
Gov. John Carlin and Lt. Gov. Tom Decking rejoiced last night with their Topake campaign headquarters at the Holiday Inn Downtown, a traditional hands of raiding after they made victory sneezes in a Carlin made his victory sneeze shortly after 9:30 p.m.
Questioned by reporters after his speech, Carlin admitted he still faced a tough battle with the Kansas Legislature for passage of the severance tax.
THE TAX, projected to bring in $120 million annually for highways and education, has been rejected by the Legislature for the past two years.
"This election does make a difference," Carlin said. "The people of Kansas are clearly voting for the severance tax. It's a clear mandate when coupled with the House races."
Carlin attributed his early, and surprisingly easy, win over Hardage to the Republicans' negative campaign tactics and Hardage's lack of leadership in negotiations for proposals for financing education and highways.
BOTH REPUBLICAN and Democratic camps said yesterday that the race was too close to call, but Carlin swept all four key counties in the race, including Hardage's home base, Sedgwick County.
Three national television networks and the Associated Press declared Carlin the winner well before 9 p.m. Hardage conceded defeat about two hours later.
"I knew it was going to happen, I’ve just felt good all day," Carlin told reporters.
With 96 percent of vote the counted, the incumbent held a 54 percent to 45 percent margin over Hardage in Johnson, Shawnee and Wyandotte counties as well.
See CARLIN page 7
State returns
See local results page 6
96% complete Total %
John Carlin (D) 389,725 84
Sam Hartage (R) 325,364 45
Jason Kelvin (D) 325,364 45
Robert Stephan (R) 466,155 60
Lance Burr (D) 213,743 31
Jack Brier (R) 400, 955 69
Bill McCray (P) 27, 007 35
Joan Finney (D) 385,759 613
Douglas Hort (R) 270,613
Fletcher Bell (R)    529,766   87
Alan Weldon (L)     45,397   66
John Meyer        34,462
8. House Kansa 1st District
Pat Roberts (R) 103,761 69
Kent Roth (D) 45,729 31
Jim Slattery (T) 61,671 58
Morris (K) 60,248 42
Larry Winn (R) ... 81,693
Bill Kostar (D) ... 53,047
... 39
Dan Glickman (D) 103,409 75
Jerry Caylow (R) 34,309 25
Bob Whittaker (R) 92,237 68
Lee Rowe (D) 42,905 32
Hardage loses, locks himself in room
By BRUCE SCHREINER
Staff Reporter
WICHTIA - Republican gubernatorial candidate Sam Hardage reacted to his loss last night by locking himself into a conference room in the office of his headquarters and refusing to talk to reporters.
The 43-year-old Wichita businessman was soundly defended by incumbent Gov. John Carlin in a race that may have been decided in Hardage's backyard, Sedgwick County.
The loss was accompanied by others in strategically important northeast Kansas, where support for Carlin's severance tax won out over traditional Republican partisanship.
HARDAGE REFUSED to conceive defeat until 45 minutes after Carlin proclaimed victory at 9:30 p.m., after Carlin had taken a significant lead that never diminished.
At 8:30 p.m., as the results began to turn against Hardage, he locked himself into the room. He remained there to watch the results with a few key aides until 10:15 p.m.
At about 8:30 p.m., Hardage already was running eight percent behind, with only 16 percent left.
When Hardage finally emerged from the room with his family and running mate, State Sen. Dan Thiessen, R-Independence, he was met with thunderous applause from his supporters.
After a three-minute standing ovation, Hard-ware delivered a brief concession speech.
"I sent a message to my opponent, Gov. John Carlin, which said, 'Congratulations! I wish you well.'"
About 10 minutes later, he quickly left his headquarters, repeatedly refusing to answer reporters' questions. Shortly after midnight, Hardage fired the headquarters.
Sam Hardage
The Republican challenger's entrance into his Wichita headquarters earlier in the evening had been much different. He arrived about 7:30 p.m., stopping to eat.
But by the time Thiessen joined the group at 8 p.m., the once jovial setting had been dampened by early tabulations showing Carlin pulling ahead.
A constant buzz of conversation hovered over the room until 9:30 p.m., when television screens flashed.
HARDAGE OFFICIALS had sensed a shaky showing in northeast Kansas, but the poor effort was slowing.
"I think the Democrats had a concerted effort to personallySam, and they did so," said Rochelle Huffman.
Another key Hardage aide blamed the Republican challenger's disappointing showing in Sedgwick County on the national economy and Democratic abilities to exploit the Republican
"I think the Sedgwick County vote was just a sign of the times," said Don Concannon, Hardage's state chairman and a 1974 gubernatorial candidate. "High unemployment was a definite factor, and the Democrats did an effective job of talking about unemployment."
in Hardage's side, as voters gave Carlin a decisive majority in an area concentration on by both candidates. Hardage aids pinpointed Carlin's intense lobbying for a severance tax on the production of oil and natural gas as the chief factor for Hardage's poor showing in northeast Kansas.
NORTHEAST KANSAS became another thorn
"I think the severance tax was the main reason for our loss there, because when Carlin began talking about a free lunch, there were no jobs and I didn't know someone else would pay for it," Concordan said.
"We don't offer a respectable alternative, and the allowed Carlin to tenor the campaign group."
ANOTHER WEAKNESS for Hardage, Concannon said, was the press coverage the Republican challenger received. Several apparently contradictory statements, especially on his proposed 4 cent a gallon increase in the gasoline tax and his opposition to the severance tax, caused Hardage problems during the two-month campaign.
Early in the campaign, Hardage said he favored a 4 cent gas tax increase, but later he said such a tax would be a last resort to solve revenue shortfalls. During a Pittsburgh State University appearance, Hardage said he could support a severance tax, although not Carlin's version. Many observers interpreted that as a reason Hardage on the controversial minerals tax.
The press was very instrumental in creating an image that Hardage was vacillating on several issues," Concannon said. "Probably the greatest deterrent to his campaign was that he was too honest. By admitting he would look at a severance tax that all sides agreed on, it was looked at as though he was vacilating on the issue."
Democrats increase House majority
By United Press International
Despite a bad scare along the eastern seaboard and some other parts of the nation, the GOP held the control of the Senate it seized two years ago for the first time in a quarter of a year.
WASHINGTON—Republicans retained control of the Senate yesterday, but Democrats gained an even bigger majority in the House and GOP gubernatorial candidates across the nation.
AT STAKE WERE 33 Senate races and 433
incontests in all. Two races in Georgia were
their own.
In Illinois, former Sen. Adalian Stevenson was in a virtual dead heat with GOP Gov. Jim Thompson. With 99 per cent of the votes counted, Stevenson had 1,658,811; Thompson had 1,658,120. Both Thompson and Stevenson retired for the evening saying it was too close to call.
There were 36 elections for governor. Twenty of the seats at stake are now held by Republicans.
In the California gubernatorial race, Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley lost to Republican Attorney General George Deukmejian. If he had been elected, Bradley would have become the nation's first elected black governor.
Democrats scored a stunning upset in Texas where Attorney General Mark White overcame Gov. Bill Clemente's $12 million campaign.
IN ALABAMA, George Wallace won his bid for unprecedented fourth term, despite his parachute bid.
But for Reagan, the worse news in the House, where he needed to minimize Democratic gains to maintain the kind of coalition that has been built under a conservative programs over the past two years.
The Republicans suffered their biggest losses in governorships with incumbents Clements and Charles Those of Nebraska. Also, GOP Rep. William McConnell from Ohio to Democratic candidate Richard Celeste.
Democrats easily won reentrol in the House and could double their current 25% vote margin.
Lt. Gov. Mario Cuomo, a Democrat, defeated millionaire Louis Lehrman for governor of New York, but the margin was so narrow the Republican challenger demanded a recount.
THE 97TH CONGRESS, which came into office with Reagan, was divided with Democraties controlling the House. 419-182, and the GOP in charge of the Senate. 54-46.
Democrats, with computer millionaire Frank Lautenberg, won the open seat in New Jersey by beating GOP incumbent Millicent Fenwick. But Republicans countered when Rep. Paul Trible took the bitterly fought Virginia seat held for a half-century by the Byrd dynasty.
Although the Democrats were certain to make gains in the House they already controlled, Reagan's chief of staff, James Baker, assessed the outcome of a Senate that will be only slightly
different: "We stay the course — you bet your life.
“It’s apparent now that our No.1 priority, which was retaining control of the Senate, will be
BARRETT IT was the first time since 1989 that Republicans had held the Senate in two consecutive elections. "If we lose no more than two seats net, we're under the average loss of the president's party in the last five senatorial election years," he said.
But UPI Senior Editor Arnold Sawiksl, in an election analysis, said the House gains made by the Democrats could spell stalemate in Congress for Reagan.
He also insisted that a needed coalition of House Democrats and Republicans could still be formed.
"There seems no chance that the results of this election will enable the Democrats to undo what Reagan was able to accomplish in the first two years of his term, but they might very well be able to stop him from doing more," Sawislak said.
AN INDICATION of the voter mood came from ABC exit polling which showed 56 percent disapproved of Reagan's handling of the economy, 64 percent disapproved of his handling of Social Security and 70 percent disapproved of the employment which stood at 10.1 percent.
"I think now this election calls for alteration in our economic policy," said Sen. Edward
See NATION page 7
Slattery wins early victory in 2nd district
By VICKY WILT and MATTHEW SCHOFIELD Staff Renorters
Slattery, a Topeka realtor, will take over from retiring incumbent Jim Jeeferies.
Slatteray defeated Republican Morris Kay by about 21,000 votes. With 90 percent of the precincts reporting, Slatteray had 88 percent of the vote, and Kay received 48 percent or 60,248 votes.
The 2nd District Congressional race that political observers predicted would not be decided until early this morning ended at 9 p.m. with an early victory for Democrat Jim Slattery.
Satire emphasized his gratitude to his volunteer workers in a short speech at 9:15 p.m.
AT 9 P.M. BALLOONS printed with "Jim Slattery Congressman" showered Slatterly well-wishers as the new congressman made his way to the podium to deliver his acceptance speech.
"The Bible says the greatest blessing that a man can have is a loving wife and I certainly have that," he said. "The next best friend can man have is great friend like I see here this evening. This friendship creates a great responsibility to me -- that is to go to'r
Jim Slattery
Washington and do the best job I can do for all of you.1
Kay made a brief announcement of his concession to his staff at his Topeka headquarters before driving to Republican headquarters to make it official.
Kay had said delaying Reagan's program would place a heavy burden on middle-class.
"We both worked hard, had a good game plan and executed it well," he said in an earlier interview. "Politics is like football, you never can tell what the outcome is to be going."
A GREAT controversy throughout the campaign had been the third leg of President Reagan's tax cut scheduled for next year. Slattery opposed the 10 percent tax decrease because he maintained it was ridiculous to reduce taxes with a soaring national deficit.
"Morris aligned them so closely with President Reagan," she said. "The main problem was that voters weren't happy with what Reagan has done."
Lori Clinstman, Kay's assistant campaign treasurer and Lawrence senior, said everyone in the Kay campaign knee the election would be very important. The Republican nation party to fare so poorly in national elections.
BEFORE SLATTERY'S VICTORY, certain Democrats were positive their candidate would carry other issues too, and scoffed at the thought that Kay could win.
Russell Getter, a KU professor of political science, had said Kay would carry the rural counties because they were more conservative. Getter said that because of the larger population
But returns showed last night that voters in the rural counties also were supporting Slattery.
Torie Clark, Kay's press secretary, said that she did not know why the campaign failed but that Kay had started his campaign six months after Shatterd did.
"Maybe we started just a little bit too late," Clark said.
As Kay prepared to leave for Republican head quarters, he turned back to his supporters, smiled and said, "Don't lock the doors, I'm back."
NATIONALLY, the election results did not bear good tidings for Republicans, Clark said.
"Looks bad nationwide," she said. "Reagan is going to have tough time in Congress the next week."
Weather
Today will be partly cloudy and cold with a high of 40 to 45, according to the National Weather Service. Winds will be from the northwest and gusty at 15 to 25 mph.
Tonight will be fair with a low around 20
Tonight will be fair with a high in the
low to mid-30s.