LJWorld.com / Former state legislator announces party switch

Archive for Friday, December 30, 2005

Cindy Neighbor will try to regain seat as Democrat

December 30, 2005

Topeka — A Republican former state legislator from Johnson County said Thursday she was switching parties to become a Democrat and would try to reclaim her House seat.

Cindy Neighbor, of Shawnee, plans to challenge state Rep. Mary Pilcher-Cook in the 2006 election.

Pilcher-Cook defeated Neighbor in 2004, after Neighbor defeated Pilcher-Cook in 2002.

Neighbor’s defection to the Democratic Party is the second high-profile party switch in recent weeks in Johnson County.

In November, Johnson County’s top prosecutor, Paul Morrison, announced his switch to the Democratic Party and said he would challenge Atty. Gen. Phill Kline, a Republican, in the 2006 election.

Neighbor, a lifelong Republican, said she was switching to the Democratic Party because the Kansas Republican Party had become too narrow-minded.

“In a democracy, people should educate themselves and shouldn’t be told to function like puppets,” Neighbor said.

While in the Legislature, Neighbor was a strong supporter of funding for public schools.

She said some Republicans tried to avoid the issue of school funding by simply complaining about “activist judges.”

She said Johnson County and state GOP officials were making Republicans like herself feel unwanted.

Pilcher-Cook and Douglas Patterson, chairman of the Johnson County Republican Party, did not immediately return calls Thursday seeking comment.

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31 December 2005 at 8:47 a.m.

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merrill (Anonymous) says…

Not only school funding is on Cindy Neighbors mind. She is concerned that Kansas will miss out on new economic development especially in the bio tech field if things don't change in Topeka.

It was during Reagan/Bush that the neocons and the Christian Coalition began their huge effort to bring down the republican party to it's current level…in the toilet.

It was during the Reagan period that the art of character assassination took center stage telling complete bizarre untruths about political challengers during campaigns. Reagan/Bush set the stage.

Remember when elected republican officials voted across the aisle without fear of being attacked and replaced by their own republican party…Reagan/Bush changed all of that and is present as we speak even in Kansas. Moderate to liberal republicans are not welcome in the party.

I witnessed a lifelong Kansas moderate republican switch parties yesterday because she no longer felt welcome in the new neocon(my word choice) republican party of Kansas.