The president of the Overland Park City Council says a Republican congressional district ought to be represented by a Republican.
Republican Greg Musil will be in Lawrence today to formally announce he's running for the 3rd Congressional District seat held by U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, a Democrat.
"The issues in this campaign are going to come down to whether voters want responsible Republican representation that views government intervention with more skepticism than the national Democrat party that Dennis is a part of," Musil said Monday.
If elected, Musil said, he would use budget surpluses to cut taxes rather than create new entitlement programs.
"The president is telling us we have a surplus, and he comes up with a plan to expand Medicare to cover prescriptions drugs, to make it an entitlement," Musil said. "That may be a good cause, but my point is: The first thing you think about when there's money left over should not be coming up with another government program."
Musil, 42, will make a brief campaign appearance at 2 p.m. at the Lawrence Visitor Center, 402 N. Second. Other appearances are planned for Overland Park, Paola and Kansas City, Kan.
A native of Frankfort, Kan., and a graduate of Kansas State University, Musil joined then-Sen. Nancy Kassebaum's staff in 1983 after earning a law degree from the University of Virginia.
Kassebaum has agreed to serve as honorary chairwoman of Musil's campaign.
Musil chaired Gov. Bill Grave's re-election campaign in Johnson County last year. He is serving his second term on the Overland Park City Council.
The 3rd District covers most of Douglas and all of Johnson, Wyandotte and Miami counties.
Musil can expect a crowded August 2000 primary. State Rep. Phill Kline, R-Shawnee, and Dr. Jeff Colyer, an Overland Park surgeon, also want to challenge Moore.
"I'm actively campaigning -- I've been to Lawrence several times already -- I just haven't announced formally," Colyer said. "That'll be coming out shortly."
Colyer, 39, a White House fellow during the Reagan and Bush administrations, said he is well-versed in budget issues and international affairs.
"Politically, I'm closest to George Bush," he said.
Kline, 39, could not be reached for comment. Though widely known for his tax-cutting efforts in the Kansas House, Kline lost his chairmanship of the powerful House Appropriations Committee after run-ins with Speaker Robin Jennison.
The 3rd District race is expected to attract national attention because Moore is a Democrat in a mostly Republican district at a time when Democrats need only six, possibly seven, more seats to regain control of the U.S. House.
Currently, 223 seats in the House are held by Republicans, 211 by Democrats. A Democrat-held seat in California is vacant following the July 15 death of U.S. Rep. George Brown Jr.
If a Democrat wins Brown's seat later this year, Democrats would need six more seats to take control of the House; if a Republican wins, they would need seven.
Moore's press secretary declined comment on the prospective opposition.
"The congressman right now is concentrating on the job he's been elected to do," Marc Wilson said. "The general election is more than a year away."
Moore, a former Johnson County district attorney, narrowly defeated incumbent Vince Snowbarger, a Republican, last year.
-- Dave Ranney's phone message number is 832-7222. His e-mail is dranney@ljworld.com.
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