Retired Army officer and Leavenworth businessman Steve Fitzgerald has filed for the 5th District Kansas Senate seat.

A lifelong Republican, Fitzgerald said he decided to run because he thought "there should be a well-qualified Republican running. I was the last to file, and I wasn't happy with the other candidates who filed."

He contends there's a need for more effective leadership in Topeka, citing the failure of the Defense of Marriage Act last session as an example.

"The bill called for a vote by the people to determine if marriage should be defined as a union between one man and one woman and they refused to let us ordinary citizens have any say," Fitzgerald said. "We deserve to be treated better than that."

Taxes are also an issue, he said.

"The property tax system has a lot of problems," he noted. "One of them is the tendency to use appraisals to increase revenue. The people must be prepared to challenge their appraisals every year."

He blames that tendency on "Topeka's demand for revenue," which he said isn't right.

"The mill levy should be used for increasing revenue and the appraisal should be a fair and independent judgment made at the local level," Fitzgerald said, instead of becoming "less fair and less independent," which results in "sneak tax increases that nobody voted for."

Fitzgerald said he's eager to take the "No New Taxes" pledge for the upcoming session. While he wouldn't totally rule out the need for tax increases after that, he said he'd have to be convinced that there was a need for higher state taxes.

"Government keeps coming back for more money without getting the problems solved," he contends, "and as a result we have more expensive problems."

While he said he doesn't pretend to have all the answers, Fitzgerald advocates "not throwing more money (at the problem) and working with what we have."

He said people tend to automatically equate education with money, which he doesn't buy.

"I believe education should have the appropriate resources to produce well-educated, well-qualified students," Fitzgerald said. "But in fact, Kansas schools have done pretty well."

He doesn't think the problems the educational system might have are necessarily solved by more state tax money.

Fitzgerald contends that government performance could improve if basic business principles were applied.

However, he said, "until we remove the death grip that the government has on the citizen's wallet, the better application (of business principles) will not get done."

Many of today's problems, he said, are beyond the scope of the government -- the problems of "social decay that are hurting our families and our children terribly and the effects are being felt in our schools and social services."

Because all things are interconnected, he said, "emphasizing any one thing distorts the real picture. I think that the main thing is maintaining good values; values have helped us through good times and bad times, lean times and prosperous times."

But he said better times and prosperity are what people want, and the way to get there is economic development. Fitzgerald said he's still putting together his plan for increasing economic growth. But he said it's clear Kansas must be more competitive in attracting and holding industry and talent.

He also believes it's time for greater cooperation, since the economy is becoming more "'bistate,' and we must recognize and deal effectively with that reality. Communities on both sides of the river should gain from the relationship by cooperating where possible."

On another issue, Fitzgerald said he believes people should be allowed to vote on gaming.

"If Wyandotte County or Leavenworth County want it, it's up to the people," he said. "I see no reason the state should be making that decision for the people."

However, if gaming is allowed, he believes the state should have a "strong state gaming commission, similar to ones in Nevada or New Jersey."

While he's not run for public office before, Fitzgerald has worked behind the scenes for numerous candidates, including Sam Brownback, Phill Kline and Bob Lyon. He said Lyon, a Winchester Republican who now holds the 3rd District seat, "encouraged me to run."

He said he'd been trying to find a Republican candidate to run for the 5th District, and a number of people started saying, "Why don't you run?" At first he didn't want to, but once he decided, "Now I really want to. It's not a halfway sort of thing."

Fitzgerald said he wasn't concerned right now about the general election, when the Republican candidate will face the Democratic incumbent.

"The season is not open yet on Democrats," he said. "Right now I'm hunting the Republican nomination."

Fitzgerald and his wife, Francie, have raised five children who he said had attended many of the public and private schools here. After 21 years in the Army, including two tours at Fort Leavenworth, the Fitzgeralds made Leavenworth their home. He said he started a business that grew to employ 15 people, but after 9/11, it closed and he went to work as a defense contractor.

FITZGERALD FACTS
Name: Steve Fitzgerald
Age: 59
Occupation: Defense contractor
Running for: Kansas Senate, 5th District
Political party: Republican
Political experience: Multiple terms as a precinct committeeman in two precincts.