Kansas has lost one of it’s true treasures.
Courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society
I knew Bill Avery. I was in college at K-State, dating a girl with a grandma a few years younger than Governor Avery, who also lived in Wakefield a block or two away from the Avery home. I was young, idealistic, and I leaned left-of-center. So, when the chance arose to meet a former Republican Congressman and Governor of Kansas, I wasn’t exactly excited. In hindsight, it was one of those high watermark moments in my life.
He wasn’t what I expected–I was more familiar with modern Kansas Republicans who were fire and brimstone, extreme and radical. This, however, was not Governor Avery’s breed of Republican politics. He cared deeply for schools and education in the state, and he understood the once-honored political tradition of compromise.
The Topeka Capital-Journal today wrote:
As promised during his 1964 campaign, Avery changed the way public schools were funded. He recommended the establishment of a state income tax withholding system that was part of a package of income and sales tax increases to improve public schools. [...]
Beatty said the change in school funding that Avery championed later proved to be his political demise. Avery once said the number of taxpayers after the withholding law took effect indicated 10 percent of Kansans hadn’t been paying their state income tax.
“Quite obviously, I didn’t endear myself to those people who weren’t paying their taxes,” the governor said.
If you haven’t had the chance to read the story on Governor Avery, I’d encourage you to take a peek at the Topeka Capital-Journal. Washburn Professor Bob Beatty, a regular Kansas political commentator, was able to make some real contributions to the story. Beatty had the opportunity to interview Governor Avery as part of the Kansas Governors Recorded History and Documentary Project, and noted that:
Avery, although he was more than 90 years old at the time, was ‘living on his own and still chopping wood.’
This was the Bill Avery I knew, not as a Congressman or a Governor, and I will miss his wit and his charm. Kansas could certainly handle more leaders like him.
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