Martin confident; district has 'way more' Republicans

By Michael Strand

Salina Journal

Four years ago, Christopher Renner "walked neighborhoods for Bruce Wyatt," supporting the then-incumbent against Republican challenger Kathy Martin.

Martin ended up defeating Wyatt in the 2004 August Republican primary by a substantial 60-40 margin in the race for the north-central Kansas seat on the State Board of Education. In the November general election that year, Martin had no opponent.

This time, Renner, a Democrat, is running against Martin.

"I seriously thought about running four years ago, but I just didn't have the money," he said.

And unlike many running for political office who politely say they're running for the office, not against another candidate, Renner's goal is to unseat Martin, who is seeking her second term on the board representing the 6th District.

In fact, Renner said, referring to the recent Republican primary, which Martin won with just under 52 percent of the vote, "I would have been much happier if (Republican candidate) Bill Pannbacker had won. I think he would have been a good public servant. ... I was definitely recruited in case Bill didn't win."

The 6th District includes all or part of the following counties: Saline, Ottawa, Cloud, Republic, Washington, Clay, Marshall, Pottawatomie, Atchison, Doniphan, Jewell, Dickinson, Riley, Geary, Nemaha, Jackson and Brown.

Science standards

By far, the largest break between Martin and Renner is on the content of the state's standards for science education and the role of evolution in those standards.

Martin has supported reducing the emphasis on evolution and supports the idea of intelligent design as an alternative. Intelligent design holds that life is too complex to have originated spontaneously and must be the result of some kind of outside intervention.

When Martin first was elected, she and other conservatives held a 6-4 majority on the board and approved new science standards with less emphasis on evolution; the science standards are up for review again in 2010.

Martin says her concern now is that evolution is often taught as fact, when in fact it's science's "best guess." She said that teaching students about alternatives to evolution can help develop their critical thinking skills.

Renner sees intelligent design as a thinly disguised version of Bible-based creationism.

"It's a discredited theory; it's not scientific," he said. "If they want to study the Bible, that's great -- in a religion or social studies class."

He also said he doesn't see any real contradictions between the theory of evolution and the biblical stories of creation -- as long as that biblical story isn't taken literally.

Teaching about sex

The other major difference between the two is over how best to teach students about sex.

Both agree the primary source of information should be parents, though Martin supports schools teaching a program that emphasizes abstinence.

Martin said she recognizes that expecting young people to not have sex is unrealistic but said, "That's the highest standard. You don't want to set a low standard. It's a far better than just telling them, 'We know you can't handle your urges, so go ahead.' "

Renner allows that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective method of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and that abstinence should be part of sex education programs.

However, he said that students also need information about condoms and other methods of contraception. He cites national studies that show such "comprehensive" programs are more effective, overall, than abstinence-only programs.

Democrat disadvantage

Running as a Democrat in an overwhelmingly Republican district might seem to put Renner at a significant disadvantage, but he doesn't think so.

After all, Kansas has a Democratic governor, elected by a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans, and that's what Renner is counting on, as well.

"I don't see anything in my positions that a moderate Republican wouldn't support," he said. "I don't think conservative ideology is what's best for our state."

Martin notes that there are "way more Republicans" in the district than Democrats, giving her confidence in a November victory, "if they go out and vote and know the differences between me and my opponent."

n Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by e-mail at mstrand@salina.com.

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