A LITTLE Rationality” in GOVERNMENT

SEEKING “REALI S M AND A LITTLE RATIONALITY ” IN OVE R NMENT G Image courtesy of the Kansas Collection, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries, Lawrence. Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains 31 (Summer 2008): 104–113 104 Kansas History The Observations of Former Governor Robert F. Bennett edited by Virgil W. Dean he thirty-ninth governor of the state of Kansas, Robert Frederick Bennett, who came to that office with as much or more experience in state and local government as any other governor in the state’s history, was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 23, 1927. Adopted as an infant and raised in Johnson County, Kansas, Bob Bennett was educated in Shawnee Mission and at the TUniversity of Kansas. He was a veteran of World War II and Korea, as well as a Johnson County lawyer, Prairie Village city councilman and mayor, and a member of the state senate for a decade prior to his 1974 run for the governorship. Bennett served in and presided over (as president of the state senate in 1973 and 1974) a legislature in transition. All three branches of government were reformed and modernized during his decade of service, most notably, perhaps, was executive branch reorganization, which began during the legislative session of 1972 and continued after the adoption of a new executive article to the state constitu- tion in November of that year.1 In November 1974 Bennett captured the governorship by a slim margin of victory over Attorney Gen- eral Vern Miller, after narrowly winning the party nomination in the August primary. Bennett was the first Kansas governor elected under the new constitutional provisions for a four-year term and a governor/ lieutenant governor ticket.2 Political friends and foes alike admired Bennett’s intellect and grasp of the in- timate details of policy and government, but some, such as Lew Ferguson, long-time statehouse correspon- dent for the Associated Press, observed that Bennett did not “delegate authority as he should have, and he Virgil W. Dean, editor of Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains since 1991, is a native of the Sunflower State who took his PhD at the University of Kansas. He has conducted extensive research on Kansas’s Depression-era Democratic governor, Walter A. Huxman, and among his most significant publications are two books: An Opportunity Lost: The Truman Administration and the Postwar Farm Policy Debate (University of Missouri Press, 2006) and John Brown to Bob Dole: Movers and Shakers in Kansas History (University Press of Kansas, 2006). 1. H. Edward Flentje, ed. and comp., Selected Papers of Governor Robert F. Bennett: A Study in Good Government and “Civic Book” Politics (Wichita, Kans.: Center for Urban Studies, Wichita State University, 1979), 1–4; Homer E. Socolofsky, Kansas Governors (Law- rence: University Press of Kansas, 1990), 219–23; Kansas Laws (1972), ch. 390, Article 1.—Executive, 1433–36; “Former governor of Kansas dies at 73,” Kansas City Star, October 10, 2000. 2. Bennett and running mate Shelby Smith received 67,347 votes in the Republican primary, only about 500 votes more than the Concannon/Burns ticket, which polled 66,817; Republicans Robinson/Braun won 56,440 and Clack/Lowe, 17,333. Bennett/Smith defeated Miller and Jack Steineger, 387,792 to 384,115. Socolofsky, Kansas Governors, 219–23; Secretary of State, State of Kansas, Election Statistics, 1974, Primary and Special Elections, 1974 General Election (Topeka: State Printer, [1975]), 78; “Bennett first governor elected to 4-year term,” Topeka Daily Capital, April 15, 1976. The Observations of Former Governor Robert F. Bennett 105 never really connected with ordinary folks. The ordinary people of Kansas mistook his intellect for arrogance.”3 In the wake of his unexpected 1978 defeat, Governor Bennett reflected on his time in office with interviewer Lynn Muchmore of the National Governors’ Association Center for Policy Research. In December 1978 he noted that, One of the basic ingredients of any governorship is the personality of the person who holds the position. There are some people—newcomers to politics—who have some very broad, general ideas about government and philosophical concepts, and who are fully prepared to delegate to others the obligation to im- plement those philosophical concepts. There is another kind of Governor, whom I call a drifter, who likes to go with whatever he thinks is palatable with the people, regardless of its long-range effects. He can pretty well operate just by having a good set of polls that are updated every several months. There is another kind of Governor who wants to be intimately involved in most of the major decisions, not only in determining a policy, but also—at least partially—in its administration. I probably fall into that category. I think each of these Governors needs to structure the staff to his liking; otherwise, it’s not going to do any good. If I, for instance, surrounded myself with a bunch of individuals who felt that they were going to Shelby Smith, a Wichita businessman, served in the state legislature be the policy makers and I was going to be the “front for eight years before winning nomination as lieutenant governor and a man,” we wouldn’t get along at all well.4 place on the ticket with Bob Bennett in 1974. A naval veteran of World War II and Korea and a former FBI agent, Smith was the chief sponsor “Coming into the job,” the governor explained, of the Kansas Law Enforcement and Training Center, established in 1968 at the former naval air station in Reno County, south of Hutchin- son. In the spring of 1978, Smith informed the governor that he did not I had three advantages. One was that I had been in wish to stand for reelection, and Bennett began the process of selecting the Legislature for 10 years. For two of those years, a new running mate for the hoped for second term. Image courtesy of I’d been President of the Senate. During that pe- the Kansas Collection, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University riod of time, we had a Governor of another political of Kansas Libraries, Lawrence. party, so the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House got together and constructed their own state—what the needs were—and also from the rec- program. They developed that program from their ommendations of their legislative colleagues. composite knowledge of what was going on in the So I came into the office with that background. Once here, as we analyzed various issues, we got our advice from a number of different sources.5 3. “Former governor of Kansas dies at 73,” Kansas City Star, Octo- ber 10, 2000; Bert Masterson, “Bennett: Governing Visibly,” The Wichitan 6 (October 1978): 53; see also Marvin A. Harder and Russell Getter, Electoral 5. Reflecting on Being Governor, 41. Bennett served as president of the Politics in Kansas (Topeka: Capitol Complex Center, University of Kansas, state senate during Democratic Governor Robert Docking’s final two-year 1983). The gubernatorial papers of Robert F. Bennett are in the Kansas Col- term; the speaker of the house at that time was Duane S. “Pete” McGill, a lection, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries, Republican from Winfield. Perhaps not surprisingly, during the heat of the Lawrence. 1978 campaign, Governor Bennett told a Kansas City Times reporter that he 4. National Governors’ Association, Reflecting on Being Governor had not been impressed with “the Legislature’s performance under Demo- (Washington, D.C.: National Governors’ Association, Center for Policy cratic house rule” during the previous two years. “I think it has been con- Research, 1981), 41–58; quotation, 43. Most seem to agree with Bennett’s fused,” said Bennett. “I think we’ve returned unwisely to the last-minute assessment of his governing style; see “Former governor of Kansas dies at hectic sessions” he and Speaker McGill tried successfully to avoid during 73,” Kansas City Star, October 10, 2000. their senate tenure. “You’ve had the disorderly adjournments and I don’t 106 Kansas History Vern Miller, a Democratic sheriff in Sedgwick County who attended law school by night, served as the state’s attorney general from 1971 until 1975, during which time he became famous for his strict adherence to the letter of the law. He orchestrated and personally executed raids on what he called “the drug-ridden, hippie culture” of cities throughout the state, shuttered church bingo games as illegal gambling, forbade airlines and trains from serving alcohol while passing over or through Kansas, and arrested antiwar protestors when they refused to disband, like those pictured here with Miller as he speaks with a uniformed officer in Lawrence. These controversial actions made Miller popular with many in the state. When he ran against Bennett for the governorship in 1974 he at first easily led the race. Over time his support waned, though in the end he lost to Bennett by less than four thousand votes. Image courtesy of the Lawrence Journal-World and the University Archives, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence. According to Bennett, “the political facts of life” made if you’re talking about the broad philosophical posi- it necessary for a governor to “be involved and be active tion—for instance, in my party, that the government in the party.” One must either “try to direct and lead the that governs least governs best, that the individual party” or be willing to follow the party’s lead on particular ought to be supported rather than controlled and re- stricted—if you follow that position, as I do, you find issues.

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