Opinion: Where is our representative? 

By Michael Glenn

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To begin Spring Break this year, I went to Topeka. Going to our statehouse is something that I try to do at least once a state legislative session. 

I’ve always been a preacher of government accountability and transparency: it’s important to have watchdogs who keep our government officials to their word– or at least let you know when they don’t. 

If you read my statehouse coverage this year, you may have realized it was a bit lighter than in years past. For the two days I was there I was only able to write a few pieces. I wanted to write more, but there simply wasn’t much going on at the statehouse those days. 

You also may have realized that there wasn’t any comment from one of Reno County’s legislators. That representative was Kyler Sweely. 

Before I drove up to Topeka on Sunday, I messaged all of the legislators I knew I wanted to get an interview with: Rep. Paul Waggoner, Sen. Michael Murphy and Sweely. I wanted to give them enough time to carve out 10-15 minutes to talk to me.

Waggoner and Murphy both got back to me within a short period of time, and we had a productive and meaningful conversation, as shown in my stories. With Sweely, however, I’ll just show you the response I got. 

Sweely didn’t have time to talk to me. In other words, Sweely didn’t have time to talk to you, the readers. 

I still wanted to get comment from our representative, but I wasn’t going to chase him down. I figured my only shot would be to try and catch him walking in and out of the House convening to do business for the day. 

When they were wrapping up, I headed down a side staircase to ensure I could catch him. 

Boy, was I wrong!

He’s pretty fast, faster than I thought, because when I started walking down all I saw was him and Rep. Avery Anderson, a Newton Republican who helped him get elected and is a friend of his, strutting down another staircase. 

He offered to have me email him while in Topeka. I didn’t think that was fair to you, readers. I drove two and a half hours to communicate in person with the people whose salaries we pay. An email just wasn’t going to cut it. 

Here’s why email is bad: 

• I can’t ask any follow-up questions about any answers. 
• He can articulate, down to the punctuation and word choice, what he wants to say. While of course, you can do that while talking, you do sound different when you email compared to when you speak. 
• How do I even know who’s writing the responses? It’s sent from his email, but there’s no way of knowing that his responses aren’t getting sent to a PR person who reviews and refines it. Or the PR person writes it all together.

Admittedly, I probably let Sweely email me his thoughts longer than I should have. I wanted to cut him slack since he was simply a candidate until January, but when I’m paying your salary, you better speak up. 

Maybe I’m making a big mistake. Maybe he legitimately was busy. Let’s take a look at Sweely’s schedule for those days. 

9 a.m.: Financial Institutions and Pensions Committee (sounds amusing): Meeting on Call of the Chair was the only business called for that day. That means they weren’t meeting. It wasn’t streamed on the Kansas Legislature’s YouTube either.

11 a.m.: House Calls into Session. I was there for this, and they recessed a little after Noon until 4 p.m. 

1:30 p.m. Higher Education Budget Committee meeting. Meeting on Call of the Chair. Come on man, really? Again?

3:30 p.m. Judiciary Committee Hearing. I was personally there for this one, and they actually did do stuff. 

Just from Monday’s schedule alone, it sounds like Sweely had a lot of free time to talk to one of the few remaining journalists from his district about issues that impact it. But, to no avail. 

Every other legislator I wanted to talk to, I got ahold of. Waggoner and I probably spoke for 15 – 20 minutes about a number of policies that he either supported or didn’t. He told me why he supported or opposed those policies. I thanked him for his time and went on. 

This is how it’s supposed to work.

I spoke with Murphy for probably around 10-15 minutes. He legitimately had a busy schedule, vice-chairing a committee and being on three others. 

Rep. Kevin Schwertfeger, the rural representative for most of the county, spoke with me for 15-20 minutes as well. He brought up multiple pieces of legislation and information that he thought would be helpful to me because he believed that they would benefit his community. 

From all of this, we see three legislators who understand that talking to the press is a part of their job. Three legislators took the time out of their day to speak with one of the few journalists remaining in their district. 

Evidently, one of our new legislators hasn’t picked that up yet. 

I’m disappointed in our legislator. I’m disappointed that he didn’t want to talk to me or let any of you know what he would like to do with the seat we elected him to. 

Maybe we can change that. Here’s my challenge to you, the readers. I would like you to get a hold of Sweely in any way possible except by email. This can include a phone call to his office (785) 296-7695, a letter to his office (Room number 512-N) or a visit to his office if you find yourself in Topeka. 

Let’s make sure we can hold our legislators accountable.