Sen. Jim Barnett now represents most of county
By JENNIFER WILSON
News editor
No one knew exactly where the dividing lines would fall when the Kansas state legislature tackled the redistricting issue last year.
Innumerable plans were submitted, discussed, and discarded. Finally, when the dust settled, Kansas districts has been altered to more accurately reflect population changes.
And that's how the western boundary of Republican Sen. Jim Barnett's region crept westward to include the majority of Marion County.
Barnett is the senator for District 17, which previously included a thin sliver of eastern Marion County just touching Burns. Now his district reaches west past Hillsboro to include Hillsboro, Marion, and Peabody.
"I welcome the opportunity to include more of Marion County," Barnett said.
Sen. Jay Emler, District 35, now represents just the Goessel, Lehigh, and Durham areas of the county.
Barnett lives in Emporia and is physician practicing internal medicine. He and his wife, Yvonne, have two children: Blake, who's 20, and Chelsea, who's 16.
Barnett is still a relative newcomer to the legislature — he's been in his role for two years. He came in with the "freshman class" that also included Emler, he said.
The doctor's background in public office started when he was elected to the Emporia school district's board of education. He served on that board for eight years, with four of them as board president.
After his time on the BOE, Barnett got involved with the local chamber of commerce as well as the state association of chamber offices.
And from there, circumstances just "snowballed," Barnett said. He was soon the representative for District 17, which covers a wide area from Marion County on the west to Coffey County on the east.
So what are Barnett's biggest challenges for this session? He'll give you three: budget, budget, and budget.
"I do believe Kansans realize we all face a different time," Barnett said. It means a tightening of belts for everyone.
Barnett said that in 2002 he supported a budget with a combination of spending reductions and tax increases.
"We have to look at ways to make cuts," he said.
As a former school board member, Barnett says that Kansas schools are always a priority for him. When looking at school budgets, legislators should try to see where they can trim administrative costs — not cutting the funds that go directly to citizens, he said. Adminstrations should become more efficient.
Cities and counties are also facing budget constraints, especially since the recent cuts made by Gov. Bill Graves. From those cuts, Graves planned to eliminate $48 million of funding to cities and counties.
That's a difficult situation for those entities, Barnett said. State funding helps to hold down local property taxes, and that's vital for small towns and rural areas who don't have as much income from sales tax as the larger cities.
In addition to facing the budget crisis, Barnett also wants to look toward a better prescription drug system for Medicaid users. Last year, he sponsored a bill that would have pharmaceutical companies bid for Medicaid drugs. The bill passed.
For the elderly in nursing homes, doctors should more closely review what medications patients are on, Barnett said. Instead of giving a patient 25 different drugs, there are better ways to manage illness.
