The Kansas Statehouse dome peers above one of the building’s facades on April 4, 2023. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
In my few years on the periphery of Kansas political life, I had the opportunity to work on a governor’s staff, to be a legislative assistant to the speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives and to lobby for a major professional organization. As a political groupie of the old days, like Slim Pickens in “Dr. Strangelove,” I’ll probably ride the bomb to oblivion.
There is widespread dissatisfaction with the three branches of our government, at all levels — federal, state, even local. There are nasty school board meetings where parents yell at board members. How do teachers teach the yeller’s kids if the yellers are role models?
Moreover, state and local governments used to be that part of government where a semblance of normalcy existed, where personalities were important. Wackos with conspiracy theories were pushed to the side door of state and local politics.
Local groups determined whether politicians kept their jobs. However, only 4% of adults believe our political system is working well. According to Pew, 63% have no confidence at all in the future of the U. S. political system. Neither party is liked, and most people are not impressed with their political views. Nor are the candidates spewing the views impressive.
But we Kansans have always seemed to be able to come back to the middle. In the good old days, Republicans and Democrats disagreed with each other, but cooperated.
In 1976, the Democrats took narrow control of the Kansas House for the first time since Teddy Roosevelt unleashed his Bull Moosers on us in 1912. Even super Dem FDR was unable to help Kansas Democrats take control in Topeka during drought and dust-stricken Kansas Depression. Not until 1976 and Jerry Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon — and a strong campaign by Jimmy Carter in Kansas — did Kansas Dems muster a House majority. For the 1977 session, John Carlin served as speaker.
That year, the House was graced by extraordinary personalities in both parties. Two of them were Roger Robertson, a Democratic teacher and former national debate champion who helped lead 65 Dems, and Mike Hayden, who, along with Wendell Lady, led the 60 Republicans. Robertson chaired the House Education Committee and Hayden was a farmer, a nuts-and-bolts fiscal guy whose voice resembled a Marine Corps drill instructor — which was appropriate. In 1969, Lt. Mike Hayden led an infantry company in combat in Vietnam.
As expected, the Republicans tested the new Democratic committee chairs at every turn.
The Republicans wanted the Education Committee to report the annual school finance bill to the floor to debate. School finance debates usually resembled a large group of big pigs around a small trough, fighting over the allocation of K-12 money. To force the issue, on March 31, Hayden moved that the rules be suspended, and the school bill come to the House floor for debate and roll call. That upset the Dems. Their education committee wasn’t yet ready to put the school finance bill on the floor reflecting party priorities. But under the rules, the motion having been made, the school finance bill had to be placed at the top of the agenda the next day and debated.
That next morning, Carlin presided from the speaker’s dais. Robertson and Hayden began debating. Their voices got stronger and louder. They began elbowing each other away from a two-microphone lectern to get better speaking advantages. Personal verbal potshots were taken at each other. The loudspeakers in the chamber got … loud. Eventually there was a push and a return shove.
Then everyone forgot about school finance.
Hayden and Robertson grabbed each other by the lapels and yelled they were going to “take it outside.” Members of the house leaped to their feet, yelling at the speaker to “do something” and call the sergeant at arms. Or call the police! Do something!
Carlin sat immobile as Hayden and Robertson wrestled each other out the back door of the House chamber and down the back steps.
The House floor went ballistic.
Every member was on his or her feet pointing and yelling.
The Republican minority thought this was typical — the Democrats had not been in power in the House since 1912 and didn’t know how to control things!
“Do something!” was the shout, a bipartisan shout at the speaker, who remained stoic and immobile. Carlin began gaveling the house back into submission. This took time. Eventually, the House quieted. Then with a stone face, Carlin said, “I trust you all know what day this is?”
Silence fell on the House. Then came a few giggles, then laughter, then cheers. Robertson and Hayden walked back into the House chamber, grinning, arm in arm, each with a big unlit cigar in their mouths.
It had been the most elaborate April Fool’s joke in Kansas legislative history. They both received a standing O for pulling it off.
Robertson is now a retired pastor in Johnson County. Hayden was elected governor of Kansas. Would that we could get back to those good old political days. Politicians could disagree, without being disagreeable.
The old days need a renaissance. Thank you, Roger and Mike, for showing us the true road we all should have been on since 1977.
Ron Smith is a fifth-generation Kansan, a native of Manhattan, an attorney practicing in Larned, a grandfather several times over, a Vietnam veteran and a civil war historian. Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
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by Ron Smith, Kansas Reflector
April 1, 2024
by Ron Smith, Kansas Reflector
April 1, 2024
In my few years on the periphery of Kansas political life, I had the opportunity to work on a governor’s staff, to be a legislative assistant to the speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives and to lobby for a major professional organization. As a political groupie of the old days, like Slim Pickens in “Dr. Strangelove,” I’ll probably ride the bomb to oblivion.
There is widespread dissatisfaction with the three branches of our government, at all levels — federal, state, even local. There are nasty school board meetings where parents yell at board members. How do teachers teach the yeller’s kids if the yellers are role models?
Moreover, state and local governments used to be that part of government where a semblance of normalcy existed, where personalities were important. Wackos with conspiracy theories were pushed to the side door of state and local politics.
Local groups determined whether politicians kept their jobs. However, only 4% of adults believe our political system is working well. According to Pew, 63% have no confidence at all in the future of the U. S. political system. Neither party is liked, and most people are not impressed with their political views. Nor are the candidates spewing the views impressive.
But we Kansans have always seemed to be able to come back to the middle. In the good old days, Republicans and Democrats disagreed with each other, but cooperated.
In 1976, the Democrats took narrow control of the Kansas House for the first time since Teddy Roosevelt unleashed his Bull Moosers on us in 1912. Even super Dem FDR was unable to help Kansas Democrats take control in Topeka during drought and dust-stricken Kansas Depression. Not until 1976 and Jerry Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon — and a strong campaign by Jimmy Carter in Kansas — did Kansas Dems muster a House majority. For the 1977 session, John Carlin served as speaker.
That year, the House was graced by extraordinary personalities in both parties. Two of them were Roger Robertson, a Democratic teacher and former national debate champion who helped lead 65 Dems, and Mike Hayden, who, along with Wendell Lady, led the 60 Republicans. Robertson chaired the House Education Committee and Hayden was a farmer, a nuts-and-bolts fiscal guy whose voice resembled a Marine Corps drill instructor — which was appropriate. In 1969, Lt. Mike Hayden led an infantry company in combat in Vietnam.
As expected, the Republicans tested the new Democratic committee chairs at every turn.
The Republicans wanted the Education Committee to report the annual school finance bill to the floor to debate. School finance debates usually resembled a large group of big pigs around a small trough, fighting over the allocation of K-12 money. To force the issue, on March 31, Hayden moved that the rules be suspended, and the school bill come to the House floor for debate and roll call. That upset the Dems. Their education committee wasn’t yet ready to put the school finance bill on the floor reflecting party priorities. But under the rules, the motion having been made, the school finance bill had to be placed at the top of the agenda the next day and debated.
That next morning, Carlin presided from the speaker’s dais. Robertson and Hayden began debating. Their voices got stronger and louder. They began elbowing each other away from a two-microphone lectern to get better speaking advantages. Personal verbal potshots were taken at each other. The loudspeakers in the chamber got … loud. Eventually there was a push and a return shove.
Then everyone forgot about school finance.
Hayden and Robertson grabbed each other by the lapels and yelled they were going to “take it outside.” Members of the house leaped to their feet, yelling at the speaker to “do something” and call the sergeant at arms. Or call the police! Do something!
Carlin sat immobile as Hayden and Robertson wrestled each other out the back door of the House chamber and down the back steps.
The House floor went ballistic.
Every member was on his or her feet pointing and yelling.
The Republican minority thought this was typical — the Democrats had not been in power in the House since 1912 and didn’t know how to control things!
“Do something!” was the shout, a bipartisan shout at the speaker, who remained stoic and immobile. Carlin began gaveling the house back into submission. This took time. Eventually, the House quieted. Then with a stone face, Carlin said, “I trust you all know what day this is?”
Silence fell on the House. Then came a few giggles, then laughter, then cheers. Robertson and Hayden walked back into the House chamber, grinning, arm in arm, each with a big unlit cigar in their mouths.
It had been the most elaborate April Fool’s joke in Kansas legislative history. They both received a standing O for pulling it off.
Robertson is now a retired pastor in Johnson County. Hayden was elected governor of Kansas. Would that we could get back to those good old political days. Politicians could disagree, without being disagreeable.
The old days need a renaissance. Thank you, Roger and Mike, for showing us the true road we all should have been on since 1977.
Ron Smith is a fifth-generation Kansan, a native of Manhattan, an attorney practicing in Larned, a grandfather several times over, a Vietnam veteran and a civil war historian. Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST.
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
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Ron Smith is a fifth-generation Kansan, a native of Manhattan, an attorney practicing in Larned, a grandfather several times over, a Vietnam veteran and a civil war historian. He has written a variety of historical articles about 19th century lawyers for the Journal of the Kansas Bar Association and a biography of Thomas Ewing Jr., the state’s first chief justice, published by the University of Missouri Press. His Civil War novel, “The Wastage” was released in 2018.
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Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website.
