It’s the car.

While the three other Republican gubernatorial candidates are chauffeured around the state in bulky vans, sedans and SUVs, Dan Bloom drives himself around Kansas in a “millennium” yellow 2000 Corvette Stingray convertible.

After a recent candidate forum at a Topeka retirement center, a television reporter asked him to get in the car, so the cameraman could get footage. Bloom obliged as he quipped, “There’s nothing uglier than watching a fat man get in a small car.”

Like his car, Bloom is out of the ordinary when contrasted with his button-down, stay-on-message, well-financed opponents. And he’s hoping he can persuade Kansas Republicans to take a chance on him in the Aug. 6 GOP primary.

“There’s a better way to run the state of Kansas,” Bloom says repeatedly.

If you want a continuation of the mess that has become Kansas state government, Bloom argues, vote for Dave Kerr, the current Senate president, Bob Knight, the mayor of Wichita, or Tim Shallenburger, the state treasurer.

Bloom said he expected to spend $20,000 on his campaign, while Kerr, Knight and Shallenburger will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each, and possibly millions of dollars. And for what will his opponents spend all that money, Bloom asks? To continue the same old political fights that have been going on for decades, he answers.

You won’t see a Bloom ad on television. Sometimes he is overlooked on the invitation list to gubernatorial debates. At the forums where he does get a seat at the table with the three major candidates, Bloom often gets the upper hand, leaving observers to ask, “Who is this guy?”

Supt. Bloom

Bloom, 53, owns Coyote Investment and Marketing in Eudora. He is a developer, building and renting mostly apartments and duplexes in northeast Kansas, including Lawrence.

Until March 2000, he had been superintendent of the 1,200-student Eudora public school district, a position he held for 17 years.

By most accounts, he did a masterly job of handling the district’s finances and pushing the community to grow the school system.

“We were a very poor district, and he was able to manage the financial resources of the district so that we always had a top-notch district,” said Pennie von Achen, a former school board member.

She said Bloom was ahead of his time in laying the foundation for technological advances, such as computer systems, in the schools.

But Bloom ruffled feathers in going after what he thought the district needed. He was once quoted as saying, “I am not patient, and I am an aggressive man. If you throw a stupid idea at me, I’m liable to say it’s a stupid idea.”

Some former school officials said there were probably some personality clashes between Bloom and board members when he submitted his resignation.

The current superintendent, Marty Kobza, said neither he nor current board members would talk about Bloom’s departure.

Today, Bloom said he just got tired of the job after 17 years.

“I became less tolerant. I wanted to do some other things that the board didn’t want to do. We weren’t friends when I left,” he said.

Farming and schools

Bloom came from a background of educators and farmers. His mother taught school for 48 years; his father suffered a serious injury in World War II.

Bloom went to Emporia State University on a football scholarship. But he concedes books weren’t on his mind. He said he did a lot of partying, calling it the most irresponsible time of his life.

In 1970, Bloom blew out his knee on a kickoff return, ending his playing career. He then started taking his studies seriously.

He received a bachelor’s degree in education the following year; a master’s degree in educational administration in 1975 from Kansas University and a doctorate in educational administration and finance from KU in 1983.

His campaign pens say “Dr. Dan Bloom for Governor.”

He and his wife, Carolyn, have been married 29 years and have two sons, Eric, 23, who received a degree in architectural engineering from KU, and Nathan, 21, a pre-med student at KU.

Eric is Dan Bloom’s running mate as lieutenant governor, a selection that caused some political observers to speculate that Bloom was not a serious candidate.

On the contrary, said the elder Bloom.

He picked Eric as his No. 2 because he could trust him to help his administration, especially on technological issues, he said.

“You give Eric two rolls of wire, and he could have this building wired to do anything you want to do,” Bloom said.

He pointed out that his choice of a running mate had nothing to do with politics, while his opponents all picked running mates who would help them either win votes in a certain region or with a certain faction of the Republican Party spectrum, or bring money to their campaigns.

On the campaign trail

Bloom’s message is that Kansas politicians have been irresponsible during the past decade and the state is paying the price during the current economic slump.

State spending in Kansas in the past 10 years has grown at twice the rate of inflation, yet increases to public schools have not even kept up with inflation, he said.

Where has all that money gone, Bloom asks. He answers: into a whirlpool where politicians make promises to special interests who in turn help those politicians stay in power.

“That’s a bad deal,” he said.

Bloom supports an increase in the state property tax to help public schools. He criticizes Shallenburger’s promise to protect public schools and not raise taxes.

Bloom said that can’t be done because public school finance makes up half the spending in a state budget, which could be as much as $1 billion out of whack when the next Legislature meets in January.

“Essential services will suffer” without new revenue, Bloom said.

Bloom said the state could realize savings by reviewing entitlement programs. Based on his experience as a landlord, he said, too many able-bodied people are receiving food stamps, health cards and other assistance.

“There are people who do need our assistance, but some of these people could get out and get a job,” he said.

Bloom also criticizes Kerr and House Speaker Kent Glasscock, R-Manhattan, who is Knight’s running mate, for their lack of leadership during the past legislative session.

When it comes to abortion, Bloom describes himself as pro-choice, and when it comes to guns, Bloom, an avid quail hunter, describes himself as pro-NRA.

Regardless whether he wins, Bloom said he decided to run because life had been so good for his family, he wanted to give back to the state. He said he had always thought about running for governor and decided he had the money and time to do it now.

A Bloom believer

On Monday, a few hours before the deadline for people to register to vote in the primary, Patty Buchholz of Eudora prepared to drive to the Douglas County Courthouse to change her registration to Republican from unaffiliated.

Buchholz, who served on the Eudora School Board in the 1980s while Bloom was superintendent, said she probably would vote for Bloom.

“I won’t vote for anyone who is in there (office) now because of the shape we are in,” she said.

Can Bloom make the leap from school superintendent in a small town, to small businessman to governor of Kansas?

“I believe he could do the job,” Buchholtz said. “I know he will do what he believes is right.”