Opinions

E-mail >>>   Printable Page >>>   RSS >>>

Mike Kiegerl Interim Newsletter

Mike Kiegerl at home with his dogs. (Kiegerl photo)

COUNT DOWN TO THE ELECTION

The “official” start of the 2010 election is the day after Labor Day, Sept. 7 and we have prepared to hit the road running. We will have 56 days to make the case for the fourth term but advanced voting will begin Oct. 14 which is only 37 days away. Staffing and planning are complete for the contest. Efficiency and good use of our resources and close cooperation are required for success. My printed literature will reflect that I’m running on a record which well represented the 43rd district these six years, but I take not a single vote for granted and will make the effort to earn re-election one voter at a time.

Considering the size of the district and the number of house holds one person cannot do this alone. I’m blessed with great precinct committee people, a competent staff, many friends, supporters, and volunteers and I rely on their help. As a team we’ll do well and our strategy is outlined in the following paragraphs.


GLORIA PHELPS NAMED CAMPAIGN MANAGER

I’m pleased that enthusiastic and energetic Gloria has joined our team. She will schedule and coordinate all day to day activities and work with our volunteer coordinator to assure that all house holds on the walk lists are visited. To schedule a coffee, arrange a visit to your group, requests for appearance for fraternal order, veterans, or other organizations, please contact her at 913 660 8161 or e-mail at doneright@hunterspointe.com.


THE UPDATE OF MY WEBSITE IS COMPLETE

For those of you who do not yet know me well enough go to www.mikekiegerl.com to find the information you need. All material amassed over my three terms in the House has been archived and is still available. You will find that I’m consistent, unwavering in my convictions and true to my principles. I have kept my promises and my word. This will not change in my final term.


THE WALK LIST

Starting Sept. 7, the most important part of the re-election campaign will commence: walking door to door and making personal contact with voters. The goal is to hit every door on the walk list in 37 days and considering the size of the district I need an army of volunteers. We have trusted and old friends, committed to walk but we can always use more. Whether you can walk one time or ten, all help is much appreciated in this vital work. Contact me at 764-3291 (h) or 749- 6917 (c) or e-mail jus4smk@aol.com for a brief introduction to personal campaigning.

I will begin walking daily from 3:30 pm until dark, and all day Friday and Saturday. Sunday is the Lord’s and not for politics.

Volunteers will get the names and addresses of Republicans and Unaffiliated voters only. Their task is to mobilize the base and to assure that our supporters vote. Contact at the front door ought to be brief and concise you’ll get instructions. Lengthy discussion of issues or efforts of persuasion to try to change a voter’s job are to be avoided. Careful documentation of dissenting citizens and their concerns will be followed up by me personally.

I do go door to door and will frequently visit constituents who are Democrats. Often I find them understanding and receptive and we now have a sizable group of Democrats for Kiegerl (although in 2008 it seemed funny to plant a Re-elect Kiegerl sign next to an Obama for president sign.) Many citizens are right to life, anti tax, pro second and tenth amendment supporters regardless of their party affiliation.

On the other hand there are Republicans who express unhappiness with one of my votes and require an explanation. This is not unexpected and I appreciate the encounter and discussion.


YARD SIGNS AND BUMPER STICKERS…

…play a critical role in both increasing name recognition and providing a powerful personal endorsement. The signs are in and we’ll begin to deliver them shortly, if you have indicated in the past or had a sign in the last election you should have received a call reconfirming and promising delivery. Some of you saved the signs from 2 years ago, bless you-reuse saves money.


OLD SETTLERS DAY PARADE IS SEPT 11

Put on a VOTE KIEGERL t-shirt and join us for this fun event. The parade starts at 10 a.m. and we will meet at 9 a.m. between Loula and Cedar on the East side of Kansas Avenue . Adults will hand out literature and teens will pass out candy. I’ll ride in my 1929 Willis Whippet, practicing my regal wave.

While this is a big deal for Olathe Reps it is less so for us because the 43rd district has only three Olathe precincts and we need to make certain we give palm cards only to potential voters. The Republican Party has a booth and we’ll have our handouts and signs there. We let the party work the booth and walk the district the rest of the day.


SPRING HILL PARADE AND FESTIVAL SEPT. 18…

…starts at 9 a.m. and it is very important. I have always carried Spring Hill by a wide margin and we want to have a great turnout. Come walk with us. The Willis will be there and I’ll have my own booth at the Festival. The Macaws will be there and we’ll have lots of traffic. I enjoy the visiting with constituents, old friends and making new acquaintances immensely. Stop by for a chat.


THE JOCO REPUBLICAN PICNIC IS ALSO ON SEPT. 18

The third annual Sunflower Republican picnic will be at the Quivera Park shelter on 119th St from 5 to 8 p.m. I will need to leave Spring Hill to participate as I’m expected to give a mini speech. All JOCO candidates will be in attendance and media coverage (Darla Jaye) is expected.


SAVE THE DATE: MEET AND GREET DINNER SEPT. 25

Originally planned as the campaign kickoff we only had a few dates when a large enough space was available for this event and we decided to be able give sufficient notice we had to pick Sept. 25. We start at 6 p.m. and hope to finish by 9:30. BBQ will be served. Stop in for a few minutes or three hours. While there are no reservations required, it would be helpful to know who will join fellow legislators, the lieutenant governor candidate and supporters and friends for dinner to make sure we have enough food. Therefore please let Gloria know if you’re coming for dinner.

We will provide an update on the campaign and the results of our latest poll. We’re working on entertainment and surprises as we energize for the final push. Bring your friends and neighbors we’ll have a good time. Location: the GARDNER SENIOR CITIZENS CENTER , 128 Park St , Gardner . We expect a big turnout.


BAGGING LITERATURE: OCT. 4

Join us at the Johnson County Republican Headquarters 12651 Metcalf from 9 a.m. and going for as long as it takes to put together bags of literature for all GOP candidates to be distributed. This is “operation clean sweep” which provides information on all GOP candidates in one package to the entire state wide electorate. In the 43rd district the samples will have my palm card on top. Come for a little while or as long as your schedule allows. These packages will be used in a saturation literature drop on Oct. 8 and 9. We will not be knocking on these two days but only leaving the bags we put together on Oct. 4 on the front doors. With enough help this will go very fast and every single household in the district will receive this information.


PERSONAL PHONE CALLS STARTING OCT. 11

When I polled you last month the vast majority responded that you did not want robo calls. I also dislike them and I’ve decided not use this tool in my campaign. Instead we will be working with the party and other campaigns to make personal live calls to remind all GOP voters to make sure they get out and vote. We must remind our supporters to vote early thus locking in that vote. I will get daily reports on who has voted and we can then concentrate on those who have not done so. This is most efficient. In this endeavor we could also use a few more volunteers.


BOTT RADIO, THE CHRISTIAN STATION…

…will run 6 of our commercials a day on 720 AM and 92.3 FM beginning Oct. 1 through Nov. 2. Listen and give us feedback on what you think of them. If you have a commercial voice and would like to hear yourself on the radio give me a call. Two years ago they talked me into recording a commercial myself. Listening to myself over the air waves I wondered that I have any friends at all. A great commercial voice I don’t posses.


THE DEBATE

The League of Women Voters will sponsor a debate between my opponent and me the last week of September at JCCC. These debates are televised on cable TV. If you don’t have cable and want to see the debate I’ll make a CD available for you.

I look forward to these one on one encounters which give the voters a clear choice in evaluating the differences between candidates, and I believe an informed electorate will make the right choice.


THE CHILDRENS ISSUES COMMITTEE

Because this is a joint House/Senate committee, the chairmanship rotates and this year Senator Lynn will be chair and I vice chair. We agreed to devote our two days of hearings Nov. 9 and 10 to the problem of how to educate autistic children. Rep. Kinzer and I co-sponsored a bill which will give parents control over their kid’s education. We expect to reintroduce this bill next session. We will alert interested parties to come and testify.


THE BUSH TAX CUTS ARE ABOUT TO EXPIRE

It seems few people remember that these cuts implemented 10 years ago and due to expire Jan. 1, 2011 gave us six and a half years of unprecedented prosperity with very low inflation and virtually full employment. Towards the end of the Bush presidency it lost its nerve and reacted to a cyclical downturn in the economy in the old fashioned Keynesian prescription adding liquidity, “stimulating” the economy. Shame on Bush for not staying the course.

Obama is Keynes on steroids and he attempted to stimulate at levels never seen before. Not surprisingly it doesn’t seem to be working and record deficits (growing at $300 million a minute), high unemployment, anemic growth and prospects are the result. Not to mention a monumental trade deficit. But the worst is yet to come the tax cuts which were the real stimulant for the economy under Bush are about to expire, unless saner heads prevail in Washington . If they do expire, hold on to your wallet, here is what will happen January 1:

1) Personal income tax will rise from 10 to 15% for the lowest and from 35 to 39.6% for the highest incomes.

2) Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will phase out

3) The marriage penalty will return from the first dollar of income

4) Child tax credit will be cut in half from $1,000 to $500

5) The standard deduction will no longer apply for married couples

6) The death (inheritance) tax will go from 0 to 55%

7) The capital gains tax will increase from 15 to 20%. This tax is scheduled to go to 23.8% in 2013

8) The tax on dividends will go from 15 to 39.6%. This tax is scheduled to go to 43.4 % in 2013


In addition to these increasing burdens to the tax payer, there are a number of large tax increases related to the health care bill which go into effect over the next four years. The ones effective January 2011:

1) Health Savings Accounts (HSA), Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA) can no longer be used for non prescription drugs (The medicine cabinet tax.)

2) Imposition of a cap on FSA which cruel to parents with special needs kids (The special needs kids’ tax.)


Education tax benefit reduction

1) No deduction for tuition and fees

2) Limited tax credit for education

3) Teachers will no longer be able to deduct classroom expenses

4) Covered education savings accounts will be cut

5) Employer provided educational assistance is curtailed

6) Student loan interest deduction will be disallowed for hundreds of thousands families


Your employer’s provided insurance will count as income and taxed as such this will most likely put you in a higher tax bracket.


There is more but you get the picture, the largest tax increase in American history is about to descend on us.


A LITTLE BIT OF SUNSHINE AND HOPE

Kansas August tax revenues were up $38 million which certainly helps the budget challenge we face. Whether this growth in income can be sustained is questionable considering the weak job market and the fact the back to school purchases are usually made in early August. Here is hoping that September will be another pleasant surprise.

The effect of the 1 cent sales tax increase is also yet to be seen. Perhaps consumers have already accepted the higher cost of daily living expenses. The next few months will tell the story.

I’ve had a few e-mails questioning how I arrive at an increase of 18 %, some seem to think the increase is only a penny, which is nominally true, and more interesting is some folk’s conclusion that the increase is 1% which is false.

The math is fairly simple and the percentage increase depends on the starting rate. If your city charged 5% and you go to 6% that penny is a 20% increase, if you go from 6 to 7% the increase is less and you can calculate it. This penny does make a difference it costs the average Kansas family $36 every month.



ON THE RAIL

The Kansas Department of Transportation has been studying--and is continuing to study--the expansion of passenger rail service in the state. A recent progress report shows proposals of direct rail links between Kansas City to Fort Worth and Kansas City to Oklahoma City . Service development plans are currently being prepared. While I love rail travel (try the European trains) I could not support the start up costs of between $156 and $479 million given the present economy. Further I know of no profitable passenger rail service and we are in no position to sustain further expenses down the road.

What we do need is local light rail in the five counties around KC. This would also be unprofitable but could be justified by many economic benefits attendant to fast, frequent, clean and safe mass transit.


AIRPORTS

KDOT is also analyzing the economic impact of Kansas airports which is significant. There are two airports in our district: Gardner Municipal, which provides 15 jobs and has a payroll of $282,000. It contributes $1 million to the economy. Johnson County Executive employs 377 workers with a payroll of $10 million. The economic impact is $36.6 million. These facilities are important to our city and if you want to learn to fly get your training in Gardner .


THE LAST WORD

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal him his own.
Disreali

This Newsletter is a service of S. Mike Kiegerl. Content of this newsletter is © 2009-2010 S. Mike Kiegerl

Leave A Comment!

Name:


Email:


Your Comment:


Security Code:  

home | news | obituaries | sports | opinion | community calendar | subscribe | advertise with us | contact us

Copyright © 2012 Gardner EDGE All rights reserved.
814 Main Street | Gardner, Kansas 66030