Topic: polarized political landscape
Interview of Bruce Larkin, April 12, 2024
Interviewed by Chris Courtwright
Larkin's interview focuses extensively on his involvement with tax issues during his 20-year tenure in the legislature, and after, at the Board of Tax Appeals (BOTA). He tells lots of funny stories in the interview, particularly about legislative strategy. Larkin got interested in the legislature because of the American Agriculture movement in the mid-1980's. He joined the Department of Revenue's Use Value Advisory Group at a time when appraising farm ground was difficult. Larkin was a small family farmer who farmed ground that his great grandfather had bought in 1878. Larkin was also interested in education; Show Moreparticularly how small rural communities were faring under the school finance formula. But his consistent interest was in taxation. He was involved in almost every tax issue that surfaced during his 20-year involvement with the legislature, and afterward, as a staff member at the Kansas Department of Revenue or on the Court of Tax Appeal as a judge or as Chief Judge. His discussion of issues surrounding classification and appraisal is very informative. He described changes in the use value appraisal of agricultural land.
Interviews with many of the people mentioned in this interview can be found on this website by using the Search box, or by going to the Statehouse Conversations Collection. Show Less
Interview of Mark Parkinson, December 14, 2010
Interviewed by Bob Beatty
The article linked below and downloadable, “ 'You can get a hell of a lot done as a governor': A Conversation with Former Governor Mark Parkinson," edited by Grant Armstrong, Bob Beatty, and Amber Dickinson, is, as noted in the body at footnote 3, excerpted from interviews conducted with Mark Parkinson in 2010 and 2021. The article was published in the Spring 2022 issue of Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains. The questions were removed and footnotes added during preparation of the transcripts for publication as a journal article. The Kansas Oral History Project is Show Moregrateful to the Kansas Historical Foundation for allowing us to post this article as part of the collection of interviews of Kansas Governors.
From the Kansas History Kansas History webpage: "The seventh piece in our special series of articles based on interviews with former Kansas governors, this conversation with former lieutenant governor and governor Mark Parkinson explores topics such as the Kansas death penalty law, alternative energy and the proposed Holcomb coal-fired power plants, budget cuts and tax increases to deal with the great recession of 2009, and the possibilities for Democrats and Republicans to work together in Kansas."
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