With our look at topeka, this is cspan3 on this is history tv on cspan3. Is there an era or event that interests or resonates with you . Governor brownback a lot of them do. Probably the period that is preand right at statehood, the bleeding kansas era, is the one where kansas just had a large impact on the country and its trajectory at different points in time, but maybe no time larger than right then, so john brown comes right here, the fight over slavery, the kansas nebraska act passed, nebraska supposed to be a free state, kansas a slave state, maintain the balance of power, but in the Abolitionist Movement comes, and says will not let kansas be a slave state, and they start sending people here from ohio and the northeast. They did not come in here to farm, that is what they did, they cannot hear to fight against slavery, so you have the battle of the civil wars, the battle of blackjack, from here come about 30 miles east, youve got these irregular battles between abolitionists, free stators, slave stators 40 guys from generally missouri or another state that was proslavery at that time, and in the free stators fighting on the other side. It is the beginning of the civil war that happens here, which is great tragedy of a war for the country, but it is the fight about slavery, and it starts here. My mom grew up on the property where john brown would stay when he was in a format kansas. They were yelling in at him is that us wateroswatame brown . He declares there will not be peace until the issue of slavery assault, and of course 10 years later we have got the civil war and it was a very pathetic statements, and it was a very difficult but incredibly important time for this country. Kind of looking at these famous names that have come from kansas, i mean from Vice President Charles Curtis to bob dole, kansas has been really involved in national politics. Are there any other kansas politicians who have influenced you or your political ideals . Governor brownback a lot half. Frank carlson is a name that has not, much, u. S. Senator congressman from kansas. He was eisenhowers guy in the senate. He was close to eisenhower. They were from, oh, about 40 miles apart from each others where they live. I beenisenhower out of abilene, eisenhower out of Abilene Carlson from concordia kansas. He had a lot of depth and character, and he did things for love of country. Bob dole has been a big influence, is a close friend. He still regularly calls, you know, every couple of weeks, and just chats, once to know what is going on. And bob is 91, 92 now. But great mind. Helped me and my reelect a lot. And i think just the nature of eisenhower, who represents that quintessential kansas nature, is a guy that when faced with a big task, he does not care who gets the credit because we are all going to pull together and get this done, which is a lot of kansas character, ok, we have got something we are going to do here. Who cares who gets the glory for this . We have got to get together and pull this out. Those influence me and have shaped me, and i think have shaped the state. When you mentioned eisenhower, and of course bob dole ran for President Campaign 2016 is right around the corner. If the road to the white house comes through kansas, what is important to kansas voters . Governor brownback it is interesting you would ask that because Pat Robertson and i were both in tight races in 2014, and we get to see boast of most of the president ial candidates coming through, for we get a birds eye view, and a lot of them were well received. Rand paul was here, chris christie, and i think what the kansans wanted to see what somebody with principle that what it get things done, so there is a deep concern that washington has just gotten in such a gridlock, and that we need something done. The people here are conservative, so they want somebody that is conservative but that can get things done because we have got to start moving things forward. I know there are several in that field that would fit that bill. I find a lot of kansans, and i have discovered, what a lot of pragmatic conservatives. They are conservative, but it has got to work, and that is what they will a lot probably be looking for. Kansas is known for its share of severe weather, including tornadoes. Out of the state of kansas deal with those natural disasters and what is the relationship between State Government and federal government in dealing with those situations . Governor brownback well, you usually anticipate that these things will try to happen, so you try to get position ahead of time and try to prepare for it. There is an old story about a former going to bed at night, a big storm coming through sleeping well through the night because he had prepared everything ahead of time. He had made sure the doors were all shot and locked down. He had made sure the livestock was secure. You try to prepare. So we do. You do a lot of preparing ahead of time, working with emergency management. We have a Great Partnership at the federal and state level. We have got command centers that we have put together that are wellestablished, and then the people have worked together enough, each knowing their duty, that when something starts to shape up, we will even stand the command center of before anything will hit, or we will get a big snowstorm. You just tell people look, dont go out driving. Just let this pass on through. And you do a lot of preparation you do a lot of coordination, and partnership with the federal government and locals is excellent on this, and a lot of kansans just know, look, there is a time to be cautious and careful, and people will usually exercise a great deal of caution. That helps so much because that people are not putting themselves out in harms way. Religious freedom laws in states such as indiana have been in the headlines lately. Does kansas have a similar law and what are your thoughts on other state governors and how they have been dealing with reaction to the law . Governor brownback that is a tough issue, but it has not been in the past. You know, Congress Passed a religious freedom act, kansas has a religious freedom act. There are a number of other states that do. Most people for a long period of time have been strong supporters of religious liberty. I have been, when at the federal and at the state level. I fought for religious liberty overseas and here. I think the context that this is going in now, where you have the issue of samesex marriage and other items that are really going at the legal system, is what has made these a lot more controversial than they have done the pastbeen in the past. It is an area that you will see a lot of passion and a lot of litigation probably for a period of time of the country sorts through these issues because this was a country that in its founding prisoners was principles was led in religious liberty. A number of them at that point time were pacifists. We do not serve in the military, and that was a religious liberty at the time. Ok, youre not having to serve. These are issues that we deal with a different context. And the passion have been different at different times then it is now. I am hopeful that we can work through these issues and recognize peopless legitimate concerns on these and work on through them. It becomes more difficult when the passion levels get so high. The state of kansas has recently seen budget cuts resulting in new School Funding bills. What is that bill, and what are the root causes that brought it about . Governor brownback School Funding is actually up. The total amount from last year to this year, the Legislature Passed a bill that increased it 134 million. Unfortunately, the formula design was such that that got ballooned to 240 million, and we could not find the extra over 140 million that went in, so that was edged back to 177 million dollars. It was still an increase, but it was not the full amount. But it was a big increase over the prior year. So what has taken place is the old formula has been done away with, the School Finance formula. And really produced a lot of questionable allocations. Some of our Richer School district were getting what we call equalization payments that normally go to poorer school districts. So that was done away with, put in a block for two years, and the money continue to go up in School Finance. Now people are saying well, it is not going up as much as we anticipated it would go up so that is where people say it is cut because it is not as much increased, but it is going up. And you know what has happened overall is that our economy has grown. We are at record employment levels. We are at record 4. 2 unemployment rates. We have got wage growth happening in the state of kansas. But it is not enough to fill in all of the growth in that and and medicaid and in our Pension Systems. Those are the big three. I came in, our Pension System was hugely underfunded, so we are trying to build it up. The medicaid system continues to grow, and as our economy has improved, our share of the medicaid cost goes up, which it has. The federal share goes down. So that has gone up. And then k12 spending, which is over half of our general fund budget, has gone up. So that is the problem. We have got revenue, but it is not enough to cover these big spend growths. At cspan, kind of turning the page, our book tv focuses on nonfiction books, and we are here in topeka focusing on nonfiction authors also are there any nonfiction books or authors who have had an impact on you . Governor brownback oh a lot that have. I am reading one now that i have reread several times, a guy by the name of watchmen need he was a chinese writer who wrote a number of books, and one he wrote is the normal christian life. He ended the last 20 years of his life in china, but it is a beautiful one. Im just starting carl sandbergs book, when he boiled all of his other books on lincoln, the the Prairie Years and the war years or coke. Lincoln is a revered figure across the country. Kansas came into the union at the same year that lincoln was coming up, and the kansans were passion abolitionists, we were passionate for lincoln. And he said if i were a young man now, i think i would go to kansas. So we came in with lincoln, and we have stayed with him. Throughout the weekend, American History tv is featuring to be good, kansas. Our cityoeies tour staff travel there. Learn more at cspan. Org cities tour. You are watching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. She embraced the role of first lady and wore the finest fashions and looked like a queen, hosting parties to help her husband was a political agenda, and during the war of 1812 when british troops invaded the capital, she is credited for saving a portrait of George Washington and other valuables from the white house post of dolly madison, sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspans original series, first lady of, influence, about the first ladies who and their influence on the presidency sundays at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. As a complement to the series cspans new book is now available, first ladys president ial historians on the lives of 45 iconic american women. Providing lively stories of these fascinating women creating illuminating, entertaining, and it firing rate. It is available as a hardcover or as an ebook through your favorite bookstore or online look seller. American history tv, a look at the role of the u. S. Supreme court during reconstruction. The university of maryland history professor michael ross lectures on the tensions between president Andrew Johnson and the republican dominated congress. The shortlived period of southern black legislatures and how hate groups, such as the ku klux klan, used the 14 amendment
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