1986 Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Kansas Oral History Project

Interview of Nancy Parrish, October 23, 2020

Interviewed by Patty Clark

This 2020 oral history interview of former State Senator Nancy Parrish is packed full of information about people and policy between 1980 and 1992 in the Kansas Senate. She was one of the first, if not the first Democrat women elected to the state senate. Parrish talks about establishing her own identity after filling the unexpired part of her husband's term and winning the seat three more times while fostering a child, adopting a child, and attending law school at Washburn University. Her relationships with Republican senators allowed her to be effective in passing or shaping legislation. Show MoreParrish served on the conference committee to negotiate the 1992 school finance bill. Parrish also discussed her two years as Secretary of Revenue and working with Senator Gus Bogina to pass legislation to provide for purchase of a large-scale computer system for collecting taxes at the Department of Revenue. Parrish offers opinions on the importance of the separation of powers in the constitution, from her perspective as a former legislator, an executive branch administrator and a judge. For Parrish, each of these experiences has been a learning experience. She concludes the interview by expressing concern about the loss of "camaraderie" among legislators. Show Less

Interview of Nancy Brown, October 18, 2019

Interviewed by Joan Wagnon

This interview with Nancy Brown covers not only the ten years of her legislative career but her volunteer work on the local (township), state, and national levels. Her philosophy of focusing on the issues rather than party positions sometimes created problems for her within the Republican caucus. Her focus on local issues, from the Stanley Sewer Crisis to annexation to the Blue Valley Recreation Commission created legislative battles but left lasting change that she feels benefited her rural constituencies. She worked on a variety of women's issues, such as expanding funding for mammograms and discussed in detail Show Morehow the legislature was changing its attitude towards women members. She explains how she managed her family, particularly her school-age children during her time in the legislature. The interview concluded with Dr. Annie Miller of the Washburn University Political Science Department leading Brown through a discussion of personal identity and its impact on her legislative career. Show Less

Interview of Marge Petty, September 11, 2020

Interviewed by Patty Clark

This oral history interview of former Senator Marge Petty covers her 12 sessions in the State Senate representing a Topeka district (Senate 18). Petty talks about why she registered as a Democrat, challenged a sitting Republican woman Senator in the 1988 election, and won. She discusses specific issues such as the investigation of the KPERS venture capital investments with other Senators, healthcare issues, foster care, and education. The interview also chronicles her career after leaving the legislature in 2000. Petty talks candidly about losing that last election, after which she began working for the Kansas Corporation Show MoreCommission. Later, she decided to move back to Dallas and worked to secure an appointment from President Obama as a regional representative of Health and Human Services. Petty describes the process of going after that appointment. This is a wide-ranging interview that shows the energy and skills Petty brought to the public arena. Show Less

Interview of Bill Bunten, February 18, 2015

Interviewed by Burdett Loomis

Bill Bunten's 28 years in the House, 20 of them on the Ways and Means or Appropriations committee, gave him tremendous knowledge about the state budget. He chaired Appropriations from 1983 until 1990 when he left the legislature. He returned to the state Senate in 2003 to fill an unexpired term. Bunten later served two terms as Mayor of Topeka from 2005 until 2013.

Interview of Jo Ann Pottorff, October 9, 2020

Interviewed by Patty Clark

Former Kansas State Representative Jo Ann Pottorff describes her best legislative work as getting the Parents as Teachers program passed. With her background in education, she saw opportunity for this program to make a difference for children. Pottorff’s policy interests were education, financing the work of the legislature, and funding schools. In order to pursue those interests, she secured an assignment to the House Appropriations Committee early in her tenure. Over the course of her service in the Legislature her interests broadened. Pottorff was assigned to the Joint Committee on State Building Construction, which she chaired for a Show Moretime, and as a member of that Committee was involved in the renovation of the Capitol building. At the national level, Pottorff worked with National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) and the Women's Legislative Network which allowed her to meet other women in office and to travel internationally, to Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Germany. Pottorff describes the changes in the culture of the legislature during her years of service (1985-2012). She notes the rise in partisanship and inter-party divisions evidenced by the fact that she was often targeted in a Republican primary election when she sought renomination. Show Less

Interview of Rochelle Chronister, January 22, 2015

Interviewed by Burdett Loomis

Rochelle Chronister quickly rose to a leadership position after her election in 1978. She was responsible for recruiting many Republican women to the legislature. She talks in the interview about her job as Assistant Majority Leader and recruitment. Her description of how the Appropriation committee works shows how she became interested in SRS from handling their budget, and that led to becoming Secretary of SRS under Governor Graves. There is one example of her research skills in developing a new program on mediation. She downsized SRS as Secretary and worked on changing the culture of Show Morea highly bureaucratic organization. She worked to ensure that her female colleagues were included and worked across the aisle on numerous measures. She concludes the interview by talking about her family and how they responded to her being away so much. She once chartered a plane to get home in time to attend her daughter's tea. That Chronister was an effective legislator and politician is clear from reading this interesting interview. Show Less

Interview of William (Bill) Reardon, August 2, 2019

Interviewed by Jim McLean

Bill Reardon is a story-teller, famous in the Democrat caucus for his jokes, stories and anecdotes, told with great enthusiasm. This entertaining interview is also filled with some of those stories. Reardon talks about how he was inspired by seeing John F. Kennedy in Kansas City and also by his brother and father, both political figures in Wyandotte County. There is an entertaining description of a hearing he chaired in the Federal and State Affairs committee on the Equal Rights Amendment in 1977. Reardon divides his legislative service into two periods—the bipartisan problem-solving work of the first 15 years, and Show Morea more ideologically driven, partisan era in the last fifteen years. His descriptions of developing and passing the 1992 school finance bill are consistent with other interviews of legislators serving at that time. Reardon tells stories about how leadership worked and discloses his observations about the Brownback years when he was serving as a lobbyist for the school district. He did end the interview with his story about a land turtle which was not transcribed because of its length, but if you see Reardon, ask him about the turtle story. Show Less

Interview of Dale Dennis, August 28, 2020

Interviewed by Andy Tompkins

People interested in the development of education policy in Kansas will find no better resource than this 2020 oral history interview with Dale Dennis, Deputy Commissioner of Education. The interview was conducted by Dr. Andy Tompkins, a former Kansas Commissioner of Education. During the interview, Dennis speaks candidly about policy development, identifying the issues and the legislators who were intrinsically involved. The interview covers the 1972 lawsuit which was the first dealing with issues of equity in school funding. Twenty years later, a 1992 school finance lawsuit again challenged the lack of equalization which rendered the formula unconstitutional. Dennis explains Show Morein detail the process by which the Legislature, Governor Joan Finney, Speaker Marvin Barkis, and others went about addressing the Court's concerns. By 2000 the Legislature had again failed to fund the school finance formula fully and the Montoy lawsuit arose. Another case, Gannon, began in 2010. This time the problem was the adequacy of the funding to meet constitutional requirements. Moving on from school finance lawsuits, the interview covers school consolidation and related issues of local control. Dennis explains why he started offering budget workshops to school administrators, including the development of software and the use of computers. This interview includes a brief discussion of the 1999-2000 legislation that moved state oversight of community colleges and technical schools (later termed technical colleges) from the Kansas Department of Education to the Kansas Board of Regents. Show Less

Interview of Edward (Ed) Reilly, July 2, 2019

Interviewed by Dale Goter

In his 2019 oral history interview former State Senator Ed Reilly recalls controversial issues that went through the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee during his tenure as chair (1971-1992). Those issues include the death penalty, liquor by the drink, lottery, pari-mutuel wagering, and casino gambling, some of which required adoption of Constitutional amendments. Reilly attributes the acceptance of those cultural changes in part to the need to raise additional state revenue. Reilly recalls professional relationships with the Statehouse press corps and the influence of grass-roots interests. He observed the increase in the number of women in the Legislature and Show Morecomments about their contributions. Show Less

Interview of H. Edward (Ed) Flentje, June 14, 2019

Interviewed by Rex Buchanan

In this 2019 oral history interview of Ed Flentje, he recalls the intricate work of developing a water planning process and applying good governance principles to a highly contentious issue that involved a variety of entities both inside and outside state government in the 1970s. The innovations in water regulation that grew out of the agenda of Governor Bennett, for whom Flentje served as Planing Director, were carried out and implemented by succeeding Governors, Carlin and Hayden. Flentje's description of water policy rising to prominence in the Bennett administration demonstrates how governors benefit from listening to a variety Show Moreof voices when developing policy agendas. Show Less

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