One Of These Women Should Be Kansas’ Next Lieutenant Governor

By C.J. Janovy, the Kansas Reflector

December 14, 2020

The smooth politics of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s appointment last week of her lieutenant governor, Lynn Rogers, to fill the position left open by Jake LaTurner, a Republican who is on his way to Congress, could be measured in the amount of Republican whining it provoked.

Kansans elected a Republican to serve as the state treasurer in 2018. @GovLauraKelly appointing a Democrat is a partisan attack on democracy.
Help us replace her in 2022 (if she even decides to run): https://t.co/5GHkwpGC63#ksleg https://t.co/dMkFvgrzy7
— Kansas GOP (@KansasGOP) December 10, 2020

More entertaining than that predictable disingenu-fit was a weekend’s worth of speculation about who Kelly will now pick to fill Rogers’ seat.

It’s a rare opportunity for Democrats to put one butt on a bench they desperately need to fill if they have any hope of winning more statewide races.

Kelly may be even more practical than she is political, though. So it wouldn’t be surprising, when she makes her announcement on Monday afternoon, if she calls up, say, the recently defeated House Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, the longest serving member of the Kansas Legislature in state history, for his experience in navigating hostile territory. Or Commerce Secretary David Toland, a rising star who survived Republican fury at his confirmation hearing last year.

The governor has already made up her mind with no help from me. But duty compels me to note that she could make a more inspiring choice, one that rewards the difficult and often demoralizing work Democrats do just by running for office in Kansas, while giving new energy to some still promising political careers.

Michelle De La Isla

The Topeka mayor embodies the sort of story America likes to tell itself: that an individual can overcome early life struggles, get an education, work multiple jobs and serve her community. But in a season of unusually craven Republican lies, this woman of substance’s Congressional aspirations ran directly into what political historians might someday characterize as the GOP’s defund-the-police massacre.

De La Isla lost to LaTurner, who ran an ad suggesting she had embraced the left flank of her party’s position on police funding when in fact, during her time at City Hall, Topeka had increased the city police department’s budget by millions of dollars.

In retribution for that alone, Kelly should appoint De La Isla to be lieutenant governor. What Kansans will get in the deal: Someone who, like Rogers, will work for expanded access to health care and broadband, among other things Kansas really needs.

Usha Reddi

The Manhattan mayor has a long record of service not just as a city commissioner but also as a public school teacher. Reddi also has a hell of a personal story: On a radio interview in July 2019, Reddi revealed that her father had raped her from the time she was 10 until she was 16.

“Each night was a nightmare,” she told RollCall. “I was scared to death that if I said anything, I would lose my family, I would end up in foster care, we might end up poor.”

That month, her father pleaded guilty to those long-ago crimes. The next month, Reddi launched her campaign for the U.S. Senate.

It’s tempting to wonder what might have happened if she’d stayed in the race, but she suspended her campaign in May, saying she needed to focus on helping Manhattan deal with COVID-19. That left a primary-free path for Barbara Bollier’s run against Roger Marshall.

At the time, it seemed as if Reddi had graciously sacrificed her own ambitions for the good of the party. But maybe she was just smarter.

Katrina Lewison

It’s unlikely Kansans have seen the last of Lewison, a Hutchinson native and West Point grad who led a Blackhawk helicopter platoon in the Iraq War, earned a Purple Heart, returned to Kansas to raise her kids after living in New York, was elected to the Manhattan-Ogden school board and served as Josh Svaty’s No. 2 during the former ag commissioner’s 2018 run for governor.

After Svaty came in third in the primary, Kelly, then a state senator, appointed Lewison to head up a group of women supporting her run against Kris Kobach.

“Katrina is a remarkable leader and role model,” Kelly said at the time. “We’ve seen time and time again that when you get a group of strong women together — they can do anything.”

Ecstatic to be at the @LauraKellyKS inauguration with my girls. Showing them what’s possible. #ksleg pic.twitter.com/LXUu0V2Gop
— Katrina Lewison (@KatrinaLewison) January 14, 2019

Now, Kelly might conclude that naming Lewison is a risk she can’t afford — it’s easy to imagine a statewide freakout with two women at the top of the administration — but caution usually serves Kansas Democrats about as well as 3.2 beer.

I don’t know any of these women and haven’t spoken to them, so they might not even want the job. The mere suggestion that they be hauled into public service in Kansas after already giving it a losing shot might cause them pain. If so, I beg forgiveness.

But pain is also just part of life in Kansas. Especially for Democrats. So who can blame a gal for dreaming?

The Kansas Reflector seeks to increase people's awareness of how decisions made by elected representatives and other public servants affect our day-to-day lives. We hope to empower and inspire greater participation in democracy throughout Kansas.