issue, it will greatly affect me as i will be transitioning to male, and i have several friends who are trends -- trans. is in my eyesy further evidence of why the government has no business being so involved in my life. i don't think that this is something that they should have a say in. they have been voting about a lot of things they should not have a say in. it is important to me that this is resolved because if it is not, that takes away more rights from me, and my ability to exist. >> voices from the states, part of c-span's 50 capitals tour.

debate for kansas governor, republican kris kobach, democrat laura kelly and independent greg or been faced each other in a debate. this is our -- this is one hour. how the candidates set themselves apart? you're about to find out. governor'sthe kansas debate, live from wichita,

kansas. ksnt are live from the studios. you can follow the debate on social media using the #ksndeb ate. ksn in wichita, ksnt covering topeka. we are also being seen on ksci the spot. i want to introduce the three candidates tonight. they were invited to participate because they met the criteria. we begin with greg gorman. instarted his first business

1992. that she is married with -- he is married with two daughters. he has worked as an advisor to president donald trump. he is married and has five daughters. also joining us is laura kelly. she is a state senator elected in 2004. she is married and has two daughters. my colleagues. a political analyst for ksnt tv in topeka. before we begin, let's go over the rules. there will be no opening statements. candidates will be given 60

seconds to answer each question. belle end, we will ring a -- [bell rings] when time is up. follow-up will be limited to 30 seconds. receive 30ate will seconds for a closing statement. the questions you are about to hear were not made available to the prior debate. jessica scheer, you have the first question. jessica: welcome to our candidates this evening. -- is our current governor this is to see who will succeed tim brownback. and he left office he had an approval rating of 24%. the third lowest in the country.

we will do this debate a little differently and we need each of you to participate. raise your hand if you think sam brownback was a good governor. mr. orman. you did not raise your hand. greg: if you look at him he embarked on a reckless tax experiment that brought the state to a difficult spot financially. when it was clear his experiment was not working he did not change course. privatemy life in the sector. i've built an approved companies for toy five years. brownback -- for 25 years. governor brownback did not do what we do in the private sector

that when your plan isn't working you have to change course. partisans cleaned to rigid ideologies when any to be changing their decisions as itself. presents and the only tended on the stage who has experience with these issues. kobach: governor brownback has a mixed record. he tried to address our water stand for tried to the rights of all candidates to keep and bear arms. when taxes needed to be cut, and they would needed to be, he didn't cut spending. i understand that you don't put the cart before the horse.

i will cut government spending the same time or before we cut those taxes. my own term we cut taxes saving taxpayers over $10 million. can we cut spending we return that money to the taxpayer. that was the mistake of the brownback administration. ms. kelly: there is no doubt that sam brownback ramrod it policies -- ramrodded policies through the state legislature. we have started down the road to recovery and we need to stay on that road. kris kobach has vowed to go back . we know when that didn't we don't need to go back there. the other thing that left us

with is a reputational deficit. it is been difficult to attract businesses, professionals, millennials, to come to this state. >> 30 seconds for rebuttal. mr. orman: senator kelly has been running against sam brownback is full-time. look at three critical issues. sales taxes. he hiked sales taxes, she wanted an even bigger hike. on illegal immigration, sam brownback had no appetite for the illegal immigration problem and neither does laura kelly. my question is, will the real sam brownback please stand up? ms. kelly: i think we all know that kris' comparing me to sam

brownback is absurd. i voted against the sales tech increase in he proposed because .f what it would do including making our sales tax a highest in the country. >> none of you have a majority supporting you in this election. a public policy poll shows a 41/41/10 split. one of you will be elected without 50% of the vote. we will rotate answers now and we start with kris kobach. mr. kobach: i've shown that i can reach across the aisle and gain broad bipartisan consensus. i went kansas to become the number one state in america in stopping voter fraud.

i delivered on my promise which included photo hazy -- photo id am a proof of citizenship, and prosecuting voter fraud. i had bipartisan support including from senator kelly. i will making the case that our taxes are too high. the case to the democrats that we have to give relief to hard-working kansans. when our own kansas families are having trouble making ends meet. we have so much money to give to the illegal aliens. why are we not looking after kansas families? kris loves to say that i voted for his voter id bill. sooted for a compromise bill

he would not get all of the authority he wanted in order to suppress the voters. i cosponsored a bill to repeal the voter id provision. i thought it was very clear in this campaign that i will be able to bring people together. i have done this across the board. hayden, u.s. senators. i am the one who can bring >> i don'tther -- particularly care who the author of an idea is, i care if it is a good idea.

the people of kansas are not going to allow the legislature to go back to the brownback experiment. senator kelly will have to deal with a very conservative legislature. he wants to make sure they are not successful because he will not want that lord it over them in the election. i'm the only candidate who can state forward. , it isetary kobach unusual to have former governors endorsed by the other party. kansas. not unusual in was the recent example

one who was pro-choice and -- it was a democrat who went to his right. she has changed her position on guns. she had a decent grade from the nra and she has an f. she changed her position to run for this office. >> senator kelly? ms. kelly: i would say that is nonsense. i changed my position on guns. i am a strong supporter of the second amendment but it was two ban guns onvoted to college campuses as a direct request from my constituents. i said it was the right thing to do and if sam brownback had changed his decisions we would be in better state today. senator kelly

flip-flopped on that position precisely for the reasons that secretary kobach said. wanted to get elected. you didn't just vote for the constitutional carried amendment you cosponsored it and then someone who claims to be the education governor, to say that you changed your mind because a professor told you they would be troubled by a student with a concealed weapon in their class, that doesn't pass the smell test. >> we will move on and talk about taxes now. you have all said that you would like to cut taxes in some form. income, property, or sales tax. given that education, health, and transportation make vast majority of the spending, where, specifically, are you going to

cover the tax cut. i let the bipartisan effort last year to essentially repeal the brownback tax cut. we put ourselves back on the road to recovery. we have had 16 months now exceeding these estimates. we can go back into the legislature in the next session we will focus -- on the priorities of this state and bring back the things that made kansas what it was and also .llow economic development medicaid.pand the reality is, where we are now after we need the supreme court mandate we will

not have much money left over to do anything. anduld love to stand here tell you that i will cut taxes but if we don't invest in our priorities, we want to be able to grow the kansas economy, to create the jobs and opportunities that keep our kids here. i'm the one candidate on the stage who has created meaningful jobs. i want to focus on growing the kansas economy. i have a detailed plan on my website. to make government more efficient so we can invest in our priorities. i believe we will get to the point where we can start to see some relief in the food and property tax. us ahink it will take little while. forenator kelly has voted

several tax likes in the last seven years. for her to say she is going to consider cutting taxes after she increased government spending is laughable. you can allow people to leave government and not fill up the positions. we can return the money to 2%payers in addition to a cap on appraisal hikes. -- 15%, 20%, 25% in a single year. >> senator kelly, do you have a rebuttal?

>> i do. i'm the only one on this stage you understand the kansas budget . that the budget at this point was stable enough and moving toward greater stability that we will be able and restoreucation programs like foster care without raising taxes. >> it's great that these are the things she's talking about but she is also talking about other things. this idea of doing it through attrition is lazy. we have to see what programs are working, and the programs that aren't working we have to eliminate them. >> i will be doing much more. -- we aretting

working on the a and m study. they gave 75 recommendations to the legislature about how they can save money. i will be implement and those as well. kansans cannot afford. for senator kelly to say we will increase all these programs and maybe look at a tax cut is ridiculous. >> there have been many criticisms of the department of children and families in recent years. one case was the murder of a three-year-old. made monthsls were for the boy's body was found encased in concrete. they admitted that someone altered documents related to that case. more than half of its standards for child welfare. they have made reforms including

releasing more documents and appointing a new secretary. do you think reforms with dcs have gone far enough? if not, what would you like to see specifically change? >> dcs is clearly an embarrassment to anybody involved. the reality is we have lost 75 kids in foster care. we have a record number of kids getting taken by dcs but we're losing children like evan brewer who should have been taken out of the home. this is what happens with partisan governors, you appoint partisan agency heads. i don't need to pick my appointments from a group of politically loyal democrats. i can pick the best and the brightest to serve the state of kansas.

the other thing we have to do is to put in place an advocate. i can't think of anything worse than having your children taken away and having no redress. that is why we have the accountability plan. kobach?tary gone far enough but we will overhaul that agency. as greg said 75 children were lost from the system. in most cases those were foster children who ran away from their homes and did not check in and tell the government where they were going. most of them were teenage girls. there is a high risk that some of them may have fallen into sex trafficking. this. the solutions is maybe the kids feel that there

is nobody they can call at the agency to answer their questions . they get passed from agent to bureaucrat to bureaucrat. create ancted i will advocate who stays with them throughout their childhood. somebody on a human level looking out for them. who blew thene whistle on dcs losing children in the dcs. that's the reason we have a new secretary of the dcs. decimated by the brownback tax experiment. they don't have social workers at the back end.

give them the resources that they need to take care of our kids. this is a life-and-death issue, as we have seen. >> i want to ask you about some issues impacting kansas. >> are you for or against legal marijuana and in what capacity? legalizingosed to marijuana in kansas. when it comes to medical marijuana don't think the time is right. approve thebout to chemical component form of marijuana. let's use that first.

we have found that in every state that has tried medical marijuana there is a doctor somewhere who will write a prescription for anybody and it becomes a gateway into recreational marijuana. i would say let's let science advance, and go from there. legalizationrt the of medical marijuana. it has been clearly shown that there are benefits for young people with certain disorders and for end-of-life use. it is also incredibly helpful for helping reduce the opioid crisis. i think it is imperative that we get this done. i also think that we need to review our sentencing guidelines.

nonviolentrcerating drug users, first offenders. we are destroying their families and costing the state a fortune. we need treatment programs not incarceration. >> this is an issue i have been leaving from the beginning. there are many instances where you require both cbd and thc to be effective. meet aled to colorado to refugee family, a young man having up to 200 seizures per day who had to leave kansas to get treatment. i am happy to say that he has now gone months without a seizure in colorado. this is a human issue and it is essential that we do it. twitter percent lower

opioid addiction rates. i don't see any reason why we are not moving. ahead with them. i don't think we should be a resting, booking, confining, trying, and incarcerating young people for recreational marijuana. i would treat it like a speeding ticket and send you on your way. >> and do you support transgender bathrooms in kansas public schools? we start -- we start with senator laura kelly. >> i do. when north carolina legislature banned the transgender thatooms, what happened is businesses were packed up ready to move to north carolina said we are not coming. conventions were canceled right and left. that is a huge economic impact on the state.

anyn't think there is reason for us to go down a path that has been proven to be a disaster economically for the state. oflso think it is the kind discrimination that makes it difficult to attract young people to the state. were not interested in discriminating against anybody. they want to state that is open and welcoming and that is what we need to make kansas. >> i'm not sure we should regulate how people use the bathroom. to commit ais going violent crime they will commit a violent crime regardless of bathroom laws. i believe that kansas should be open and welcoming. should not discriminate against anybody for any reason and i would never sign a law that would do that. i think we need to be an open and welcoming place. we don't need to discourage them

by passing laws that have no practical effect and will ultimately end up hurting people. >> the answers you have just heard demonstrate the liberal thinking of my democratic opponents. wouldgest that people move to kansas because we have transgender bathrooms in public schools is ridiculous. biggest impediment to moving to kansas is that we tax them so much. opposite might occur if we were to allow transgender bathrooms. i oppose them. i am a father of five daughters and we increasingly get to this lyrically correct thinking that the mccann be a boy today, a girl tomorrow, and a boy the day after that. i don't want my daughters going to the bathroom in finding a boy because he has decided he is a girl but he is really a sexual predator and would like to

invade the privacy of my daughter. and think any parent who thinks seriously about this once something like that to happen. the real solution is let them use the faculty bathroom or a neutral bathroom. >> candidates you're you are watching the kansas-governor debate. a reminder that at home you can follow this on social media. we will take a short break and we will back in two minutes. >> when we come back the candidates will take a look at the political as you have been seeing. we will ask each candidate if they stand behind their claims. >> my mother raised six kids one struggling to raise the bills. i remember. >> or local election headquarters welcomes you back to the debate.

you can follow this debate on social media. let's continue the debate now. i will turn this over to my colleague. your view is that a lot of -- we have seen a lot of your campaign ads. youre going to ask each of about an ad that was approved by you and ask whether you stand by this ad. we'll start with an ad from greg orman. one life to improve kansas for our children and so do you. some say it is impossible to change this corrupt government and i ask why. >> mr. orman you used the words corrupt government. specifically, where do you see instances of corruption in the kansas state government and do you stand by that?

>> absolutely. if you look at them going from no-bid contracts to the lack of transparency to allowing lobbyists to give money to candidates. that is your government for sale. 85% of americans believe that washington is a rigged game that only benefits those who can buy access to power. the same is true in kansas and americans are right. we have sold our government. it's one of the reasons and will not take money from super pac's, lobbyists, or corporations. want too to topeka i serve the people of kansas. statement.with that i've said from the beginning that i will address the culture of corruption in topeka. did you know that there are

votes taken in kansas committees that are not recorded so senator kelly can vote and not have any of her constituents know how she voted. i also think that we need term limits. that there are only 125 people in our state who are qualified to serve in our house is ridiculous. support cuba not only term omits for the legislature but all over there should be eight-year limits to bring new blood into kansas and that can help stop the culture of corruption. new people coming in makes it hard for those buddy-body relationships to exist. kelly: i'm not sure i would use the word corrupt. i think there are things that can change in the way that we operate.

there are over 4000 of these things that occurred during the brownback administration. governor i will review each of these contracts to make sure that if we are going to --source something >> the other way we can improve things is by changing the complexion of government. over the past eight years so may people have been put into positions of authority for ideological purposes. my cabinet will be's highly skilled folks who know what they are doing. >> i'm going to ask you to look at the monitor as a plate a segment of an ad from chris corba. it's take a look.

>> just like obama looking for things it increases the crispy per year. >> did you know that kansas electricity bills are 2040's and higher than in surrounding states. , secretaryhat add kobach, e.g.. site where these ads -- where these numbers come from. tell us where the claims come from and do you stand by that? >> absolutely. a lot of people don't realize but residential electricity costs us seven put useful -- 7.4 cents per kilowatt hour. and is a big problem for us for businesses trying to decide whether to stay in kansas or go somewhere else.

the increase was the bill that forced power companies to diversify the type of power that they had. laura kelly voted for that. we have to address higher utility rates. i will do it and then the only person on the stage talking about doing it. it. don't agree with the bill i voted for told our utility companies that they needed to build their portfolios to make sure the vet electricity they were offering was produced by utility services. that is what that is.

the fact of the matter is that the legislature does not set the electrical rate. that is they go shoot to the kansas corporation commission. i believe we need to take a good look at the folks who appointed that commission and make sure we have people there who have the consumer in mind. >> this is the unintended consequence of having people make policy don't have experience in the private sector. i realize that renewable energy could be a boon for the state of kansas but we have to do more -- we have to build the demand for it. that is why i have a detailed economic development plan. about how we build demand for renewable energy so we can spread the cost of that investment over more demand and ultimately reduce costs for our

residences and businesses. number two, we allow our utilities to go beyond the pilot program they have right now. number three we are evaluating how we can take advantage of the new record market. >> senator kelly said the legislature doesn't said utility rates. buthe outset utility rates they forced the utility companies to build additional infrastructure. when they did that they had the authority to demand that our rates go up. relationship.ect that legislators should be helping them spend

money and charging us for it is part of the problem. that lack of responsibility we have seen where any environmental excuse is good enough. >> the fact of the matter is that the utility companies do have to go before the commission for any rate increases. >> we will ask you to look once more at the monitor as we play an ad from the laura kelly campaign. brownback/school funding with his tax experiment. plankobach supported his and said that schools are overfunded. >> my question is that kris kobach has denied saying he believes schools are overfunded and we haven't found any evidence of a direct quote from him saying that. these stand by this statement? >> absolutely. i think that chris has made it

very clear from the beginning that he wants to take us back to the brownback tax experiment. we know what that did. he may the largest cuts to schools in our state history. again if weappen were to revert back to those policies. they absolutely stand by that. hypercritical of jeff callier who signed a bill to increase funding for schools. he made it clear that he thought that was a major mistake. will want kris kobach to respond the next will go to greg orman. >> not going to get into that fight there but what i will say is my life as a public school was ar -- my running mate

teacher and a coach for 20 years. support public education in kansas. i think we are the only campaign with a very detailed land to do that. but here we can get to the point again where because of the supreme court is sick ruling we're not going to have the resources to invest in other priorities which is why i have a detailed plan to grow the kansas economy and why we have these detailed ways to save money in the budget so we can invest in our priorities like career and education like health care and infrastructure without .aving to raise taxes >> that is a perfect example of what is wrong with politics today. i saw that word overfunded and i said that's not a word that i use so i looked at the article she cited.

the article had a kansas city star reporter using the word overfunded. we got the transcript of the debate and we read every word of the debate. we called her on it and she is still running ads using the same words. i've never said that our schools are getting too much money. the problem is we are not looking where money is going. if we did that we would see teacher salaries go up, you wouldn't have teachers buying materials out of their own pocket and bring them to class. plan.s my >> we want to take a debate on school funding further. the kansas supreme court has ruled three times in two years at the state spending on public schools is inadequate. the court gave until the end of

the next session to come up with a plan to provide more funding. fix specifically, will you school funding and how will you pay for it? >> i think with the supreme court said is that the bill that was passed is a provision provided comes with inflation. but going to talk a little bit about ways we can do that right now. we've spent money to take companies from their side to ours. this foundation's is hundred thousand dollars for every new net job created. we can recount -- reconnect those dollars to our priorities.

the best education policy is a growing economy. kids don't want to have to work until 2:00 in the morning at a convenience store. >> we have a constitutional crisis in kansas. the kansas supreme court has seen to the authority of the legislature. they are the only supreme court in the nation that is done this. six of the constitution has nothing inhibits as the court can force an adequate number of dollars for every child. >> as we increase spending on are spendingwe $.75 of every dollar in the classroom. then we will see education improve. we've seen educational test

scores b-flat. second part is this. i would every school to be given a letter grade. its letter increases grade in a year then everybody in the building gets a raise. the teachers, the principal, the janitor so everybody has a financial stake in improved performance. >> i think that the supreme court ruling is evidence of the importance of keeping the second -- separate but equal branches of government. constitutional amendment that will restrict supreme court from overseeing --t the legislature does they have been the check on the legislature that so many times has not done what they were supposed to do which is to adequately fund our schools.

it's not only important to our kids in the schools it is important to the entire state that we have a quality education. we want to keep businesses and allow them to provide for the workers that they need. >> senator kelly says we need to keep the same three branches of government in balance but she hasn't actually studied a constitutional structure. talked aboutilton the three branches of government. hasaid the judiciary neither the power of the sword or the power of the purse. in kansas we have turned his thes sideways and government has seized the power of the purse and it is up to your representatives.

say that the kansans can program has come up with a way to evaluate tools based on economic factors which will allow us to do a better job of evaluating kids. we want to grow the kansas economy we have to focus on the workforce development. -very focused on pathways to career and technical education .o grow the kansas economy >> candidates want to talk about public safety and crime. the kansas bureau of investigation says statewide crime continues to turn upward as last year's murder rate was 20% higher than the 10 year average. of those murders, 120 involved guns. want to ask you to rate our

and tell uslaws where you will give the gun laws and why. can i would give us an a minus. we did have pretty good expensive rights in kansas. the idea that violent crime is increasing because we have the right to bear arms is ridiculous. the lawbreakers will break the law no matter what the law is. the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. we need the right to attacked ourselves and both of my opponents have voted to restrict our gun rights. restrict want to magazine capacity. when a citizen is in

trouble can't get a police officer there in time and the citizens you the right to protect themselves. >> what grade would you give kansas gun laws and why? >> i would give them a c. i've always been a strong supporter of the second amendment throughout by legislative career. kansasthink that most gun owners in kansas believe that we need to reinstate some commonsense gun policy to ensure kids safety in our schools, homes and streets. what i plan to do is bring together the state coalition educators, students and parents and bring them all together to

form a comprehensive policy that law-abiding ensure citizens access to guns but also make sure our kids are safe. owner -- but i believe in firearm safety measures. one of the things that i think we need to look at is the conceal carry law of the past. kansas, we require 1000 hours of training, anybody can carry a concealed weapon. without one minute of training. we to cover our macron check system and close the loophole.

with a domestic abuse -- even people with a domestic abuse restraining order against them. these are the things i think we can do to make our gun laws more sensible and still protect and honor the second amendment. >> we are running out of time. candidates -- candidates to keep this response to 30 seconds. before we get to the closing i want to ask you to say something nice if you are willing about each of your opponents. take a breath. we will start with senator laura kelly. >> thank you. i will say that kris kobach is one of the most adorable families i have ever seen and i would say about greg orman, i worked on his campaign in 2014 14 when he was running for the

senate. i thought he was eminently qualified for that position and i continue to think that. have to agreei with what you said about kris kobach's family. one of the sweetest moments in the campaign is what i looked over and saw my three-year old daughter playing with his daughters. it reminded me of how much we all have in common. is a verynator kelly intelligent and very thoughtful person and i think she is someone who cares deeply about kansas. kelly isk that senator one of the most experienced legislators in the kansas senate. she is one of the senators who actually reads the bill and does some homework. is i think greg orman somebody who has a wealth of experience and is very thoughtful. form an identity

outside the parties, while a don't think it will succeed, i think is thoughtful. >> will give each of you time for closing statements. -- next tuesday, kansans will decide whether they want to make , or ifion based on fear they want a decision to be made based on courage. want kansas to lead again do we want kansas to set an example for the rest of the nation. want to continue the wave of broken politics that has left so many americans behind? --umbly ask for your vote can but i would ask if you like

the status quo. if you do you should vote for one of my two democratic opponent's. if we are elected you have four thes of good luck republican legislature will pass a bill and they will veto it. if i'm elected i will lead. i have that will take us in a bold new direction. we will stop giving away your money to illegal aliens and we will impose term limits and change the game completely. >> this is a really pivotal election. the stakes have never been so high. we can go back to the sam brownback years or we can elect a government that will work to rebuild our state. kansas needs a strong and experienced leader to get our state back on track. i am laura kelly and i am the only thing standing between kris kobach and the governor's

office. we want to thank each of you for spending your time with us. the debates. on election tune in night for complete results. thanks for watching. good night. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> which party will control the house and senate? tatch live legend nigh coverage tuesday 8:00 p.m.. east