Schodorf enters race for 4th District seat

Jean Kurtis Schodorf is out talking with constituents about what she hopes to do if elected to the 4th District seat in the House of Representatives.

She made a stop in El Dorado Saturday morning to speak with people at Spangles during a meet and greet.

“My number one issue is jobs and jobs and jobs,” she said.

She explained when she came home from the state legislature this past summer, no one seemed to be talking about the economy in terms of layoffs and job loss.

She said the 4th District was the hardest hit in the area.

“I want to go to Washington, D.C., and help bring jobs back,” Schodorf, a Republic candidate, said.

“More importantly, to do that, we have to quit fighting with everyone. I believe we have to talk about hope,
not hate.”

She said they need to be a party of working to get things done, rather than a party of no.

She believes it is important to be a statesman, not a politician.

“I think El Dorado is poised to bring in new jobs and business if we can get through the recession,” Schodorf continued.

She said El Dorado is in a good location with roads and airports and is small enough that big businesses that don’t want to be in larger metropolitan areas would want to come here.

She said it will take working with everyone.

“Just yesterday, the state was down $71 million in February and that shows the recession is getting worse, not better and people are hurting,” she said.

Schodorf was raised in Independence and has lived in Wichita the last 37 years.

“Coming from a small town, I know how important small towns are,” she said.

She wants to have a compact with rural and small Kansas towns and have the 4th District be a “clearing house” for those towns and businesses to go to in order to  apply for grants and programs.

“I want to cut that red tape and help people get through the nightmares and get jobs back,” she said.

Another important topic to her is education.

She expressed that El Dorado has a “great K-12 system and a wonderful community college.”

She said she will continue to be a strong advocate for education.

Health care also is an important topic now.

Schodorf said she did not support either Democrat bill in the House or the Senate, but she does believe there needs to be change.

“Businesses are hurting and they can’t afford high increases for healthcare again,” she said. “We have to work together to cut costs. If we do nothing, costs will continue to increase.

“We have to put our differences aside and be statesmen and help small businesses afford it and others have it.”

She felt there was too much partisanship and fighting in Washington.

Part of her campaign slogan is “lead from the middle,” stating she knows how to reach common ground for
the common good.

“It (healthcare) needs to be bipartisan and we need to start over with a blank slate,” she said.

She also thinks seniors need to be assured programs they depend on will not go away.

But before any of that is tackled, she wants to focus on economy.

“I believe right now the economy is the number one issue,” she reiterated.

“The Congress lost momentum when they turned to health care. We’ve got to work on a way to get out of this recessions.”

Part of that solution is to continue tax cuts for small businesses, she said.

She has a seven to eight point plan of things to be done to improve the economy, including cutting
unemployment insurance tax rates for businesses and helping businesses get loans.

Schodorf has had 21 years as a public servant, including 10 years in the Kansas Senate and time on the USD 259 School Board. She also has served on the Ways and Means Committee in the Senate.

“You have to know how government works and how the federal government affects us locally,” she said.

“I love this state. There are wonderful people here and I just want to help Kansas and the people.”