It may be the strangest facet of a strange political year in Kansas — that state Sen. Kay O’Connor, R-Olathe, who gained fame in 2001 for reportedly criticizing the 19th Amendment, is running for the job of overseeing the state’s elections.
Meeting with The Eagle editorial board Monday, O’Connor called The Kansas City Star story that inspired the outcry “a hit piece” that misrepresented her views. “I did not say it. It was not true,” O’Connor said. Still, she noted, “I am a very conservative lady. I did say I am obedient to my husband.” But she’s been voting since she was 18, she emphasized. “I can do nothing but say my life of voting shows I support a woman’s right to vote.” But will Republican voters view her as the best person for the state’s top election job? The Aug. 1 primary will tell.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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34 Comments
WHOA!
Kay O’Connor is one unattractive “lady”!
Not surprsing she would be subservient to her husband. She has gotta be REAL glad to have somebody to roll over in the morning and see her and not toss his cookies!
But if she IS suberve to hubby……one might wonder about hubby O’connor. I mean clearly as the submissive, Kay is letting hubby call her shots.
Let’s know more about this “man” and why he wears the pants in the family while hiding behind his wifes skirt.
Bleah I got a sense of how Mr O’connor must feel …….visualizing Kay in a skirt.
Since the Republican-controlled Congress has now made it clear that they intend to allow the 1965 Voting Rights Act to expire, the obligation to enforce fair and open and accurate voting rights will fall upon the states – and our Secretary of State. There is no way I would ever consider putting O’Connor in charge of this duty. She has made her political career by being divisive and extreme, and we need a Secretary of State who will be nonpartisan. O’Connor isn’t anywhere close to fitting that description.
JR, did you ever consider what MR. O’Conner looks like?
PS. Thanks JR for the advisement on getting semi-weekly Open Threads. We got them. Good work man!
JR,Way to slam the woman based on what she looks like. Hooray for you! I guess you feel better about yourself now, eh?
JR – wow I’m actually gonna semi-disagree with you. Just because hubby “wears the pants” doesn’t automatically mean that his word is final and gospel truth. Any ’subserviant’ wife will know how to plant the idea into hubby’s brain and nurture that thought until fruition. Sometimes hubby can be hard headed and the wife needs to make a more visable stand on some issues. But as head of the house the ‘man’ should be making decisions that are best for the family as a whole not just himself as an individual memeber.
As for Kay’s attractiveness – darlin’ what can I say – it takes all types. Perhaps she makes a mean apple pie or has a beautiful singing voice. There is more than physical beauty to attract someone.
now as Hank would say – love you anyway :)
Kelly’s post is a lot better than mine as to this issue.
heart, YOU got the bi weekly opens. It was your idea and a good one. I’m always glad in any way I can help.
Julie I agree with you in principle. I have often wondered in a way why women want equal rights…..why give up their advantage?
Now while it is true that women can have a powerful effect on the actions of men, it must be remembered that that is only secondary power. Women have a capacity to benefit society FAR more than what they can while men into doing. That capacity is only newly and not quite won. I prefer to err on the side of protecting it. And so….
I do not apologize for my incendiary post as to Kay O’connor. Her well known thoughts on the right of women to vote ……or rather not to vote, should be far more disconcerting. That she is running for Secretary of State of Kansas the more so. I’m sorry if she doesn’t look good in the “light”. But I’ll shine it on her.
Everyone needs to register as a Repulican for the Primary Electgion on August 1st to vote for Ron Thornburgh and AGAINST Kay O’Connor. This woman is a NUTCASE!
“Now while it is true that women can have a powerful effect on the actions of men, it must be remembered that that is only secondary power.”
JR – (maybe I’m just splitting hairs here but…) In my family my hubby wears the pants (less face it – I can’t fit into them – haha) and he makes the ‘final’ decision. HOWEVER at work – what he thinks has absolutley no bearing whatsoever. I make the decisions that affect my department and only answer to the president and board of directors. So not all of us base our decisions on what ‘hubby’ thinks or have secondary power in our decisions.
“Everyone needs to register as a Repulican for the Primary Electgion on August 1st to vote for Ron Thornburgh and AGAINST Kay O’Connor. This woman is a NUTCASE!”
On general election day, I am going to vote for the Democrat candidate for secretary of state, Bob Beatty. So the question becomes, do we want a moderate Republican (Thornburgh) running against our man (Beatty), or the “nutcase” (O’Connor)?
Enquiring minds want to know.
It is a tough choice there DD. I think Bob Beattie will be able to handle his opponent (Haley)in the Democratic Primary. I have never voted in a Republican Primary in my life, but the RW is pumping massive amounts of money to support their candidates. Citizens for Prosperity, Club for Growth and the like will start their ad campaign soon enough.
In this state there are 3 parties; the Democratic Party, the Moderate Republicans and the RW Republicans. Many of us see the RW Republicans as the true enemy.Many elections will be decided in the Primaries. Remember, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Vote your conscience.
I know someone who was present when kaykay uttered those infamous words. The witness is a woman of EXTREME credibility. I dont want to out her here, but you can take it to the bank it is true. More than one witness.
Kaykay can spin, deny, lie, blame, whine, cry, and/or do the hokey pokey, or whatever. She said it, in front of multiple witnesses, and it is true.
And if anyone on the editorial board wants confirmation, let me know and I will arrange it.
I am just so damn tired of bald faced lies that pass for truth after being retold a thousand times. A pox on EVERY house that uses that tactic.
And a pox on all people running for office with such a parsimonious amount of integrity. If you said it, own it. If you are sorry for saying it, apologize. But dont DENY that you said it.
NO LIARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
heheheh
R’s have to ask themselves in the voting booth “is this the person we want as the face of the republican party in kansas”?
And I aint talkin’ about her looks…
I must urge anyone interested in supporting Robert Beattie for Secretary of State to NOT reregister as Rs to vote in the Republican primary. There are far more voters in NE Kansas than in SC Kansas, and Beattie needs all the Democrats to stay Ds and turn out to vote for him. Besides, there are also some other important Democratic primaries in S.Cty. that require voters to make known their preferences – there are contested D primaries for 2 of the 3 primaries for S. Cty. Commission, for 4th District Congress, and for the statehouse race between Rep. Delia Garcia and Michael Shea.
What was the polling show about the Beattie-Haley race? I’ve heard reliably that the Garcia-Shea race is not too close. The polls are showing Deila has a substantial lead. Shea is a perennial candidate who will jump parties at a whim. I’m not neccessarily advocating changing parties JUST to vote against O’Conner, but we all must be aware that money may well be thrown into her race at the last minute. The safe thing to do would be to register as an Independent and see what’s happening August 1st. As an Independent, I think you still can make a party declaration at the polling station.
Talk of switching parties to vote in a primary is too clever by half.
If you’re a Democrat and you vote Democrat, let the Republicans elect whom they want. It’s not your business to help them get a less horrible candidate.
It’s your business to make sure that your candidate wins.
Garcia is a Sebelius clone. She calls herself Catholic and then votes against everything she says she stands for. I am not a Shea fan but at least what you see is what you get. With Garcia she will toe the line of the Queen Sebelius.
I have known Delia for many years and can assure you that she is 100% her own person. With her what you see is definitely what you get. Delia does not toe anyone’s line.
If O’Connor gets the nomination, she’ll probably get elected. That’s what Kansas conservatives do. Elect the shittiest, nuttiest candidate they can find. Want to know who repugs will vote for? Figure out who will make Kansas look the silliest.
ICThus……….normally I might agree with you, but this is actually the United States of America and anyone can vote for whomever they want, regardless of their usual party affiliation. The Secretary of State race is CRITICAL consider the US Congress is heading to ward letting the Voting Rights Act expire. The goal of the RW is to disenfranchise as many voters (Dem) as possible in an attempt to consolidate there push toward a theocratic dictatorship.
As for Delia Garcia being a “Sebelius clone”, that’s just stupid. I know her and like Ben says, she is her own person. The RW just hates here because she belongs to the Democratic Party. What else is new!
Keep that source you got close kfg. It is too early for such a revelation as this to be proven true. It would be forgotten or forgiven or glossed over by election time. Indeed, the header shows that effort already underway. And most people don’t have an attention span longer that the last sound bite.
It may be that the repugs will police themselves well in the primary and send Kay back to rub her hubbys feet. But if not and if the race with Beatty gets close, proof of Kays attack on womens suffrage could be devastating……if brought into full light at just the right time.
Although you may vote in the Democratic primary if you are registered Ind., you cannot do that in the Republican primary. Remember the big squabble they had over that subject two years ago? They opted to have a “closed” primary but the Democratic primary remains open.As for Republicans winning general elections if the conservative wins the primary, I have to disagree that that is so. Shallenburger lost badly to Sebelius in 2002 as a conservative, and Biggs would have beaten KLine for AG if he had started his campaign a month earlier. I think we should do as another poster said – let the Republicans vote for whoever they want. We’ll be happy to run against conservatives. Democrats need to make sure we have our best candidate on the November ballot.
Kelly………do you really think Bob Beattie can beat either O’Conner or Shallenburger?
Remember, even though Beattie is a great guy he sure isn’t Kathleen Sebelius. Just because she handily beat a conservative doesn’t mean he can. We need to be very wary about this race. Thanks for reminding me about the 2004 Repub decision to close their primary, I actually had forgotten about that.
sts,Better respond to my post on the open thread before I get mad at you for what you said about Delia.She is my representative…and my friend. I’m proud of her on both counts.You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry…
Kay O’Connor’s autobio says she was born in 1941 (JR, she’s 65, so cut her some slack on her physical attractiveness for gawd’s sake).
Here’s the thing: she reportedly said (and I hope Ms. Holman got an accurate quote on this) she has voted since she was “18″. That was 1959 or 60. She lived in Alaska when she graduated from high school, according to her autobio.
http://www.kslegislature.org/koconnor/biography.html
Congress passed a pre 26th amendment statute lowering the voting age nationally to 18, and the 26th amendment was passed in 1971, but at that time Alaska’s voting age minimum was 19. See
http://ltgov.state.ak.us/elections/conamend.htm(voting age amended from 19 to 18 in 1970)
http://www.alaska.edu/creatingalaska/StatehoodFiles/articles/hellenthalarticle.xml
Unless Ms. O’Connor moved to Georgia or Kentucky at age 18, she did NOT vote at age 18.Did she make this move? He autobio statement does not say. Is her memory failing her? Is she throwing out false information intentionally?
If she moved to Georgia or Kentucky within 5 months of graduating from high school, she could have voted at age 18. But suppose that she didn’t do this. Then she could not possibly have voted at age 18. Absent such move, how do we know she didn’t start voting at age 25, or 30? How do we know that she is not just spewing total baloney, e.g. fictitious “damage control” for her previously reported anti-women’s-suffrage statement ?
Nice research heartlander.
Yes, Apophis, I think Bob Beattie or David Haley can beat O’Connor. They will have a tougher time beating Thornburgh since he has had his name on the statewide ballot since . . . for a long time. He is also a moderate. But Beattie is a very smart guy, and knows how to frame the issues. His website BeattieforKansas already talks about making the Secretary of State a nonpartisan office, and that issue will go straight to the heart of an O’Connor candidacy. She is not only an extreme and divisive politician, but she has had lots of negative publicity for several years. Beattie on the other hand is given credit by many law enforcement people for flushing BTK from hiding, and BTK probably would still be on the loose if he hadn’t come out of hiding. This status will cut across party lines in Beattie’s favor.
Once a liar, always a liar.
Oops, didnt mean you kelly :)
You know who I mean!
Kelly….I too think Bob Beattie is a very intelligent candidate. The down side for Bob is that he is a political novice. Up until a week before the filing deadline he was going to run in the 4th against Tanker Todd. I do hope the best for Bob, but if O’Conner wins the primary I’m not sure Beattie has the money to counter the out of state money behind her. This race is far more complex than being a member of the Democratic Party. I hate to say it, but we are far better off with a moderate Republican like Thornburgh than risking O’Conner getting the party bid for the general election. Like I think I posted earlier, I have never switched party affiliations to vote in a primary. This year may affect a change. I have no other primaries to vote in. Whay not consider a switch to vote against O’Conner?
Having been a former Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, I think running Robert Beattie is a stroke of genius.The average voter doesn’t think about the office. Even running against a popular Republican like Bill Graves, there were 54 percent undecided in our race in a Kansas City Star poll 10 days out from the election.Graves outspent me 9-1, and I still got 385,000 votes–only four Democrats in Kansas history have done better in that race.I don’t care how much O’Connor and the dark minions spend…the position is high enough on the ballot that name recognition will work in Beattie’s favor, and not as many voters will drop off as they will for, say, insurance commissioner.
If you want a TRUE non-partison to run the election office you must vote for Rob Hodgkinson in November – Libertarian Candidate for SoS
http://www.RobforKansas.com
Let’s elect a 5th generation Kansan who makes sense.
Thanks Apophis. Let me teach you some things. You can teach me some things. If we do things right, children will learn things we cannot understand. Some of these kids will gravitate to being explorers. My mission is to identify and reach some young explorers. If I only reach a few, that’s okay, because some > zero. They will generate cascade effects, touching more future explorers than I can.
I’m not able to give “all the answers”. Cuz, I don’t have them. My thing is getting my students to ASK QUESTIONS. And then try to FIND ANSWERS, if they can.