In his article “Eight GOP gubernatorial candidates make case at forum,” Brad Cooper of Sunflower State Journal reported on the Cowley County Republican Party’s Oct. 11th event that drew eight governor hopefuls to Winfield. Here’s an excerpt of Cooper’s article summarizing Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s participation (subscribers can access full article here):

“Emphasized the need to modernize processes in state government. He talked about how the secretary of state’s office moved to requiring businesses to file their reports every two years instead of annually. He said the decision cut the agency’s work in half and enabled the agency to cut fees.

“‘If the Legislature wants to get aggressive on cutting taxes, it’s going to be up to the next governor to say, ‘How are you going to make it affordable?’

“He said there is a need for the state to get rid of outdated, antiquated systems that are cumbersome and slow processes down. ‘I would tell every agency you’re either going to reduce, modernize or both. We need a more efficient government that we can afford so we can have the tax cuts the Legislature wants to advocate for,’ he said.

“Schwab said making state agencies decide whether to modernize, cut staff or both would be his first priority if he was elected governor. ‘We have to make state government affordable.’

“Schwab said many can identify what needs to be done to improve state government. The question, he said, is how it will be done. ‘I’ve actually done what needs to be done. I answer the how. You are going to modernize. You are going to get off old systems. If it’s a paper process, we’re getting off it. If it’s not transparent, we are making it transparent.’

“Schwab also said the Legislature needs to take public school funding decisions away from the court. And he criticized the appraisal process. ‘If you sell your property for less than your appraisal, do you get a tax refund? You should. If I overpay my income tax, I get a refund. But if you sell and they overappraise, you don’t get that money back. What we have to do is make it more fair to the taxpayer and not just advantageous to the tax spenders, and right now it’s not. Right now, the problem is the appraisal process is too advantageous to the county. They don’t want to raise the mill levy so they just change the appraisal, and it’s hurting every county across the state.’

“Schwab said he was pro-life and supported the Value Them Both Amendment. ‘I appreciate kids. The problem I have is if someone shoots a woman and she loses that baby in utero, there’s reciprocity. There’s recourse. But if a mom kills her baby because someone pressured her to do it, there’s no recourse on the people putting pressure on her. When does somebody get legal and constitutional protection? Let’s answer the question.’”