Dodge City Democrat seeking seat in Kansas Senate

    State Senate candidate Laura Mead said Monday that she and her opponent, Sen. Tim Huelskamp, are both pro-life and pro-family.
    But Mead also said that she and Huelskamp are likely to disagree on several issues, including immigration reform.
    "I know the communities like Dodge City and Liberal, we need Hispanic work forces with which to fill the jobs which we have," she said. "We don't have enough people without our immigrant work forces. But the current ways in which to get into the country in a legal manner are not family friendly. To separate moms and dads is not appropriate."
    The Dodge City Democrat acknowledged that immigration reform is more of a federal problem than a state issue. But she said the state can help by countering the negative effects of increased immigration with better education, language development and more access to higher education.
    Mead kicked off her campaign for the 38th District seat in the Kansas Senate with an event at The Alley teen center, 2200 First Ave. She is running against Huelskamp, a conservative Republican from Fowler who has represented the district in the Senate since 1997.
    Mead said if elected, she would bring a more moderate perspective to legislative issues than Huelskamp. She added that she thought a moderate approach was more in tune with the voters of southwest Kansas.
    An attempt to reach Huelskamp for comment Tuesday night was unsuccessful.
    On the issues:
    • Health care reform: Mead praised lawmakers for approving a package that provides more medical care for poor pregnant women, expands cancer screenings and increased funding for safety net clinics. But she faulted the Legislature for failing to provide funding for most of those programs.
    • Improving schools: Mead called for expanding and fully funding early education programs, saying the investment would save the state money in crime-fighting, health care and job training costs. She also supports more state aid for schools.
    • Energy: Mead said the debate over coal-fired power plants in western Kansas had dominated the 2008 legislative session, but she was less concerned about the plants themselves than about legislation that failed to provide oversight for the project.
    "Especially with such a controversial move in the direction of new coal plants, you have to have some oversight in regards to requiring that they take health and safety into consideration," she said.
    She pledged to keep an open mind concerning the coal-fired plants and said she would look for creative ways to tap alternative sources of energy.
   
Reach Eric Swanson at (620) 408-9917 or e-mail him at eric.swanson@dodgeglobe.com.