Kansas Senate Carolyn Weinhold

By Mike Hall

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Unlike most people trying to unseat incumbent state legislators, Carolyn Weinhold has already been there.

A Democrat now running for the 20th District Kansas Senate seat, Weinhold served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 1993 to 1994 when she lived in Salina.

She and her husband, Frank, are the parents of two sons, one of whom is deceased.

She retired in May from the Head Start State Collaboration Office, where she had worked since moving to Topeka in 2000.

Most of her professional career has been in education. After graduating from college, she traveled to California to seek a teaching job. There she met Frank, who was from Salina. The couple moved there upon his release from the service.

After teaching in Clay Center and Eudora, then at The University of Kansas and at Marymount College, she worked for the Salina Head Start program for 10 years.

In Topeka, she initiated the Parent Leadership Conference and the Kansas Fatherhood Coalition to promote healthy father involvement in the lives of their children.

One of her priorities as a state senator, she said, is health care reform.

"I would build bipartisan coalitions to get several Kansas Health Policy Authority recommendations passed each year," she said.

She offers a specific answer on the issue of energy policy.

"I support a balanced energy policy for Kansas similar to the recommendations made by the Great Plains Alliance for Clean Energy," she said. "In the future, we should strive for the following balance to generate Kansas electricity: 50 percent coal, 20 percent nuclear, 20 percent wind, 5 percent natural gas and 5 percent a mixture of hydroelectric, biomass and other renewable resources."

She also takes a strong stance on the hiring of illegal immigrants. Any employer who knowingly hires them should be fined, she said.

But she acknowledges that getting any of her initiatives approved will depend on getting Democrats and Republicans to work together, something she said she can do.

The 20th Senate District covers southwest Topeka and south and southwest Shawnee County.

Mike Hall can be reachedat (785) 295-1209 or mike.hall@cjonline.com.By Mike Hall

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Unlike most people trying to unseat incumbent state legislators, Carolyn Weinhold has already been there.

A Democrat now running for the 20th District Kansas Senate seat, Weinhold served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 1993 to 1994 when she lived in Salina.

She and her husband, Frank, are the parents of two sons, one of whom is deceased.

She retired in May from the Head Start State Collaboration Office, where she had worked since moving to Topeka in 2000.

Most of her professional career has been in education. After graduation from college, she traveled to California to seek a teaching job. There she met Frank, who was from Salina. The couple moved there upon his release from the service.

After teaching in Clay Center and Eudora, then at The University of Kansas and at Marymount College, she worked for the Salina Head Start program for 10 years.

In Topeka, she initiated the Parent Leadership Conference and the Kansas Fatherhood Coalition to promote healthy father involvement in the lives of their children.

One of her priorities as a state senator, she said, is health care reform.

"I would build bipartisan coalitions to get several Kansas Health Policy Authority recommendations passed each year," she said.

She offers a specific answer on the issue of energy policy.

"I support a balanced energy policy for Kansas similar to the recommendations made by the Great Plains Alliance for Clean Energy," she said. "In the future we should strive for the following balance to generate Kansas electricity: 50 percent coal, 20 percent nuclear, 20 percent wind, 5 percent natural gas and 5 percent a mixture of hydroelectric, biomass and other renewable resources."

She also takes a strong stance on the hiring of illegal immigrants. Any employer who knowingly hires them should be fined, she said.

But she acknowledges that getting any of her initiatives approved will depend on getting Democrats and Republicans to work together, something she said she can do.

The 20th Senate District covers southwest Topeka and south and southwest Shawnee County.

Mike Hall can be reached at (785) 295-1209 or mike.hall@cjonline.com.

Copyright 2008
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