Topeka ? It didn’t take long for the nearly $300 million tax increase approved last week by legislators to become a campaign issue.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Knight on Monday said that House Speaker Kent Glasscock would be his running mate as lieutenant governor in the Aug. 6 primary.

The announcement drew immediate fire from conservative GOP gubernatorial hopeful Tim Shallenburger.

“By choosing Speaker Glasscock as his lieutenant governor, Knight has effectively defined himself as a tax-and-spend liberal,” the Shallenburger campaign said.

Glasscock, R-Manhattan, helped push through the increases in state sales, gasoline, cigarette and inheritance taxes. Knight, the mayor of Wichita, also favored increasing taxes.

“That should concern all Republicans who oppose higher taxes and believe in fiscal discipline,” Shallenburger spokesman Bob Murray said.

During the session, Glasscock said tax increases were needed to shore up the budget and prevent drastic cuts in education and social services.

Shallenburger had urged lawmakers to cut waste in the budget, but he didn’t provide a specific plan on how to fill the budget gap.

Kerr pondering candidacy

On Monday, Knight praised Glasscock’s leadership during the session.

“The positive outcome of the legislative session was in no small part due to Kent’s strength in bringing together different people with different interests for the benefit of the state,” Knight said.

Senate President Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson, who also supported tax increases, is considering a run for governor.

Kerr said polling data indicated Kansans wanted a combination of cuts and taxes in order to avoid reductions in education and social services.

“They answered the question in very much the same way that we dealt with it,” Kerr said.

Kerr said he has appointed a group to help him decide if he can win the race with so little time remaining before the primary.

Also in the race is Dan Bloom, former Eudora school superintendent. Democrat Kathleen Sebelius, the state insurance commissioner, is the likely Democratic nominee.

Uniting Kansas voters

Knight said that teaming up with Glasscock will attract a wide range of voters.

“This team will not only unite the Republican Party, we’ll work to unite all Kansans to move our great state forward,” Knight said.

Glasscock, an ally to Gov. Bill Graves, comes from the pro-choice, moderate wing of the Republican Party. Knight says he opposes abortion but that he doesn’t fit the usual conservative or moderate labels.

The Knight-Glasscock announcement ends months of flip-flops on Glasscock’s part.

Glasscock entered the campaign season running for governor. When his campaign struggled, he joined Atty. Gen. Carla Stovall’s campaign for governor as her running mate. Then Stovall dropped from the race because she said she wasn’t interested in the job, and Glasscock indicated he would again run for governor.

But Glasscock stepped aside and decided to run for the No. 2 job with Knight. Glasscock said the decision not to run for governor was based in part on the fact that he was unable to campaign during a critical period last month after he underwent angioplasty to clear blockage in an artery to his heart.

Campaign funds questioned

Glasscock’s presence on a statewide ticket again prompted questions about campaign donations. After Stovall dropped from the race in April, some questioned whether Glasscock could use campaign contributions to the Stovall-Glasscock campaign for his own run for governor.

State ethics officials unanimously voted to let the Stovall-Glasscock campaign divide its political contributions based on a good-faith estimate of what portion of the campaign funds belong to each candidate.

On Monday, Glasscock said he will bring his share of those funds to the Knight-Glasscock campaign but said he did not know the amount of funds that he will transfer.

Campaign spokesmen for Glasscock have refused to divulge how much money was in the Stovall-Glasscock account when Stovall quit running. As of Jan. 10, there was $302,000 in the Stovall-Glasscock campaign account, according to campaign finance reports.