Voter Guide
Gov. Graves wants to focus on education for campaign
By Seth Jones
Kansan staff writer
Governor Bill Graves has many issues he wants to work on. The main one is education.
Mike Matson, press secretary for the governor, said in the four years Graves has been in office, education has been a point
has been a point
has been a point of focus.
Matson said every year Graves has been in office,the base budget for pupils has increased.
"This is very important because previously, the base budget for pupils had
Graves
remained static for a long time."
Matson also said the governor has succeeded in providing more money for post-secondary students.
"This is an interesting topic because there's been a lot of talk about Sawyer's STARS plan," he said of the program that would provide scholarships to qualifying Kansas high school graduates. "The governor responds two-fold. He agrees completely that the state has a role in helping students."
Where the two part in opinions, Matson said, is the method.
"Sawyer wants to decimate and eliminate the current job development programs we have," he said. "Sawyer's approach defeats its own purpose—his goal is to create more college graduates, but meanwhile, there will be less jobs."
Matson said Graves wants to come to the University, but his schedule won't allow for it right now. He said Graves has been to Kansas State University and Wichita State University.
Burdett Loomis, professor of political science at the University, said the dialogue between the two could make programs like Sawyer's STARS program a reality.
"By Sawyer bringing this up, even though he won't win, we could still see this brought up in the legislative discussion,"he said.
Graves grew up working in his family's trucking business. He was first elected as governor in 1994. Before being elected governor, Graves served two terms as Kansas secretary of state from 1986 through 1994.
For more information on Graves, check his Web site at www.graves98.com, or call his campaign office at (785)228-2455.
Sawyer wants state scholarship program
By Seth Jones
Kansan staff writer
Tom Sawyer, democratic candidate for governor, wants students to see STARS.
Implementation of STARS — Student Tuition Assistance Recognition Scholarship program — is one of Sawyer's goals. The plan would award Kansas students who have a B average or better through high school and who have parents who make a combined salary of less than $85,000 a year. The students would get up to $2,600 a year toward tuition to any Kansas university, community college, vocational school or one of 19 independent Kansas colleges.
Sawyer said the STARS program is based on
the Helping Outstanding Pupils Education-
His plan would use $42 million of the estimated $60 million profit from the Kansas Lottery. That money now goes to economic development.
ally scholarship program used in Georgia.
"If you ask the governor of Georgia, he'll tell you the best economic development program they have is the HOPE program."he said
program," he said.
Sawyer
"Many companies move to Georgia because they know the work force is well trained."
Jack Martin, communications coordinator for Sawyer's campaign, said the economic development fund needed to be re-evaluated.
Sawyer would like to see a break on taxes across the board by getting rid of food sales tax.
"This would be a real tax relief," he said. "Lower classes complain that tax cuts don't trickle down to them. Everyone would feel this tax cut because everyone eats."
Sawyer hopes he has the right plan to beat Graves.
"Talking about real issues, things that have an effect on people, that is the key."
For more information about candidate Tom Sawyer, see his campaign Web site at www.sawyer98.com or call his headquarters at (785) 232-7000.
Libertarian candidate favors free enterprise
By Chris Fickett
Kansan staff writer
Oyler's political experience includes an attempt in 1996 for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senator.
Tom Oyler is the Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. Senate.
Oyler received a B.G.S. degree in mathematics from Wichita State University. He works as an industrial engineer for the Boeing Corporation in Wichita and is a private farmer.
Oyler supports Pell grants for university students and is opposed to restrictions on international student and faculty visas.
"It's supposed to be a country that you can come to," he said.
Some technology corporations set quotas on the number of international employees that they hire, he said, which he is opposed to, and favors capitalism and free enterprise.
Oyler does not support an increase
in university research as a whole. He said some university research was not legitimate.
Oyler said that if elected, he may consider creating a committee that would sort through research funding applications in order to find projects that would best use federal money.
For more information about candidate Tom Oyler, see his campaign Web site at www2.southwind.net/~tomoyler/index.html.
Oyler
Brownback to seek federal money for universities
By Chris Fickett
Kansan Staff Writer
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is seeking greelelection for a first full term in the U.S. Senate.
Brownback supports the authorization
Brownback is the senior senator from Kansas and filled the seat held by Sen. Bob Dole when he resigned in 1996.
Brownback was born and raised in Kansas. He received a Bachelor of Science in agricultural economics at Kansas State University and a law degree from the University of Kansas.
He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 before filling Dole's seat in the Senate in 1996.
of Pell Grant money to serve all eligible students.
He said he strongly supported the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
"I attended KU law school on student aid myself, and I've seen first hand the difference a good education can make in people's lives," he said.
Brownback said he opposed the tightening of immigration
Brownback
restrictions and wanted to maintain current restriction levels for international students and professors.
"Like former President Ronald Reagan, I believe that America is a shining city on a hill and that the walls of that city have doors - doors which should be open to people of energy and talent," he said.
Brownback did not say whether he supported an increase in university research funding, but he did say that he would continue to assist all Kansas institutions in qualifying for federal grants.
For more information about candidate Sam Brownback, see his campaign Web site at www.brownback.org or call his headquarters at (785) 357-0307.
Feleciano aims to lower Kansas students' tuition costs
By Chris Fickett
Kansan staff writer
State Sen. Paul Feleciano, Jr., D-Wichita thinks his 26 years of experience in the Kansas legislature can lead him to Washington.
Feleciano is now the Minority Whip in the Kansas Senate and serves on the Financial Institutions and Insurance, Ways and Means, Commerce and Judiciary committees.
Feleciano was born and raised in New York City, where he received an associate's degree from New York Community College.
He has lived in Kansas since 1962 and was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1972 before he was elected to the
Kansas Senate in 1976.
Feleciano said that he would support the allocation of as much Pell Grant money as possible if elected.
Feleciano said that financial aid was important because tuition at Regents schools was three times higher than it was 10 years ago.
"We're literally pricing our kids out of the schools," he said.
Feleciano supports easing restrictions on visas to attract international faculty and students.
He said that international faculty members have helped make the Kansas State Geological Survey one of the best in the world.
However, Feleciano opposes granting visas to international graduates who wish to work in the United States.
Feleciano is a member of the board of directors of the Kansas Technology Enterprise
Corporation and is a strong supporter of university research money
He said that KTEC was a model program for raising research dollars and that it was a model for the country to follow.
For more information about candidate Paul Feliciano, see his campaign Web site at www.felicianoforsente.com or call his headquarters at (785) 272-0075
Feliciano
Thursday, October 29,1998
The University Daily Kansan/ SLAB
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