Dan Bloom figures he couldn’t do worse running the state than the people now in charge. That’s why the political unknown believes he has a shot at being governor.

“You look around and there’s nobody who has any credibility,” Bloom said Monday. “We need some responsibility over there.”

But Bloom, the former Eudora schools superintendent, knows he has an uphill fight to capture the Republican gubernatorial nomination. His campaign will be mostly self-financed, he doesn’t have the statewide name recognition or party connections of other probable candidates, and his running mate is his 23-year-old son, Eric, a senior at Kansas University.

“I realize people are going to say, ‘Who is this idiot and his son?'” Bloom said. “But somebody needs to do it better, and I think I can do it better.”

Bloom, 53, is so far the only candidate to formally file for the Aug. 6 primary election. He resigned after 17 years as Eudora superintendent in 2000 and now runs Coyote Investment and Networking, which puts together development deals around Douglas County.

He’s running for office on a platform that calls for big cuts to social programs, property-tax cuts for businesses and making prisons less comfortable for inmates.

Bloom said other potential Republican candidates, including State Treasurer Tim Shallenburger, Lt. Gov. Gary Sherrer and Senate President Dave Kerr, are to blame for the state’s $700 million budget shortfall. The fiscal crisis, Bloom said, was a major factor in his decision to run.

“If you and I had a business that was 20 percent in the hole, and we didn’t have any idea how to get out of that hole, we’d be out on the street,” Bloom said. “Which is where they (state leaders) ought to be.”

He said state taxes are too high to justify an increase and that the state budget should instead be balanced with cuts to welfare and social programs.

“We’ve had welfare since the ’20s and ’30s, and we’ve seen it doesn’t work,” he said.

Bloom said money also could be saved on prison amenities and that prisoners should be put to work on roadside work crews.

“Our prison system is way too nice,” he said. “If you go to the juvenile detention center in North Lawrence, I’ll bet you never had a room that nice in your life.”

Work crews, he said, “will save you a little money and make you a little money.”

He eschewed the usual moderate-conservative labels that dominate the Republican party in Kansas.

“I’m neither one of those,” he said. “I’m an economist.”

Bloom said he’s working on creating a campaign staff. He plans to speak to groups  and, he hopes, media  in cities across the state.

His message, he said, will be, “By God, we’ll straighten things out for you, give us a chance.

“People need to be responsible for themselves,” he said. “And state government needs to be responsible for itself.”