Candidate responds to columns questioning campaign
Jake Price
Issue date: 4/23/09 Section: Letters
There seems to be some confusion regarding the goals of the Future of Kansas Now campaign. I would like to take this opportunity to explain:
The Future of Kansas Now is an organization that seeks to create, educate and motivate a new generation of Kansas voters.
First, the campaign seeks to create new voters through voter registrations.
Second, the campaign seeks to educate these new voters on the issues that are or soon will affect their lives and their state now as well as in the future.
Third, the campaign seeks to motivate these new voters to use their right to vote and make their voices heard at the polls.
A quote from Larry Fleury's column in the Collegio ('Student gubernatorial candidate misplacing energy,' 4/16/09) reads: "How can a freshman with no experience whatsoever in politics actually take this seriously and, more importantly, hope that others will take him seriously?"
Well Larry, I do think that my right to vote in public elections is serious and, in fact, I feel it is my responsibility as a citizen living in a democratic society to vote in these elections.
Another quote from the same column reads: "I don't want voters wasting their time if a third party candidate enters with no experience just for the sake of getting a younger generation out and about in the political world."
To this I respond that this is our generation and what we think means something to us and should mean something to the current administration, as we will be their primary constituents in the very near future. I don't feel my candidacy is a waste of the voters' time.
History shows that in an election of this magnitude and importance there are, more often than not, only two or three "real" candidates. There has not been an unaffiliated candidate for Kansas governor on the ballot for several election cycles due in part to the difficulty of getting a non-partisan candidate's name on the ballot. The process is designed to weed out the unmotivated, or insincere, so I don't feel I am "taking another serious candidate's place on the ballot." Perhaps I misread or misunderstood some of the content of your article, and being involved in the newspaper business I am certain that you understand how easily a printed page can be misinterpreted or misunderstood.
The Future of Kansas Now is an organization that seeks to create, educate and motivate a new generation of Kansas voters.
First, the campaign seeks to create new voters through voter registrations.
Second, the campaign seeks to educate these new voters on the issues that are or soon will affect their lives and their state now as well as in the future.
Third, the campaign seeks to motivate these new voters to use their right to vote and make their voices heard at the polls.
A quote from Larry Fleury's column in the Collegio ('Student gubernatorial candidate misplacing energy,' 4/16/09) reads: "How can a freshman with no experience whatsoever in politics actually take this seriously and, more importantly, hope that others will take him seriously?"
Well Larry, I do think that my right to vote in public elections is serious and, in fact, I feel it is my responsibility as a citizen living in a democratic society to vote in these elections.
Another quote from the same column reads: "I don't want voters wasting their time if a third party candidate enters with no experience just for the sake of getting a younger generation out and about in the political world."
To this I respond that this is our generation and what we think means something to us and should mean something to the current administration, as we will be their primary constituents in the very near future. I don't feel my candidacy is a waste of the voters' time.
History shows that in an election of this magnitude and importance there are, more often than not, only two or three "real" candidates. There has not been an unaffiliated candidate for Kansas governor on the ballot for several election cycles due in part to the difficulty of getting a non-partisan candidate's name on the ballot. The process is designed to weed out the unmotivated, or insincere, so I don't feel I am "taking another serious candidate's place on the ballot." Perhaps I misread or misunderstood some of the content of your article, and being involved in the newspaper business I am certain that you understand how easily a printed page can be misinterpreted or misunderstood.
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