To the editor:

Sen. Sam Brownback has said that he will run for Kansas governor in 2010.

Kansas voters will want a slate of trusted candidates in 2010 from which to choose our next governor. Candidates should recognize and be tolerant of citizen differences, not form prejudgments on important questions, and make evidence-based decisions rather than acting on one’s own factually unsupported opinions.

Brownback’s political record falls short of meeting those criteria for good leadership. He prejudged Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor when he announced prior to her Senate confirmation hearings that he would not vote to confirm her. He had joined other conservative senators who “believed” or it was their “opinion” that Sotomayor would be an activist judge on the Supreme Court.

Three days of grueling questioning of Judge Sotomayor exposed nothing from her many years in lower court judicial positions that would cast doubt on her strict adherence to the law and the Constitution. Brownback would not be satisfied. In a recent interview with a Journal-World reporter, he “believed” that Sotomayor wants “the court to be a super-legislative body or is OK with that.” That comment sounds suspiciously disingenuous.

Politicians are allowed to get away with uttering simple, but damaging detractions from the truth to outright falsehoods in their campaign manipulations of voters if the statements are labeled as a “belief” or “opinion.”

The time has come for political candidates to be guided by a set of clearly articulated principles and ethical standards. We can do better.