The QBS Express

QBS_Ep23_BlakeCarpenter_full
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Scott Heidner: [00:00:00] welcome listeners to the QBS Express, the ACEC Kansas podcast. I'm your host, Scott Heidner, and it is my delight today to say we have on the show with us, the representative from the 81st District here in the state of Kansas, representative Blake Carpenter, representative, thanks for being with us.

Hey, Scott, thanks for having me with you guys. I appreciate you making time. Out of what is a very busy schedule is we're gonna find out. More here as we go through. A lot of our listeners will know. We always ask folks who are recently elected to leadership roles over in the Kansas legislature to come on board and tell their stories, help our listeners learn a little more about them.

Typically the personal side as opposed to, you know, the public policy side that they probably hear about in the papers and, and other news media. [00:01:00] So, let's start to put some shape on that. Tell us about the early years and where you grew up and, and we'll put a little shape around what your childhood looked like.

Blake Carpenter: Absolutely. So, I was born in. Norman, Oklahoma. So hopefully some folks don't hold that against me. But yeah, born in Norman, Oklahoma. Grew up there and really probably about three or four years old and more. A lot of my family's still down there, but my family moved up to Holsted, Kansas when I was about four years old.

And so basically I just, I claim Kansas. As, as the place that I've always lived and been, because I don't really have much recollection of being in Oklahoma. I mean, there's a few memories there, but not too many. So, grew up here in, in Holstead and just, I guess, you know, went to school there and.

Yeah, I think we're gonna get in all that here, here momentarily. But yeah, so that's, that's basically my background, I guess. And so, mom, dad younger brother. So, yeah.

Scott Heidner: And that was gonna be my next question is, so high school, junior high, high school, all in Halstead?

Blake Carpenter: Yeah. So, Halstead's kind of a unique community a little bit.

They have a elementary [00:02:00] school that's about seven miles south in a town called Bentley. So I started off in Bentley Primary school there, started in kindergarten. After I finished out third grade there, then the Halstead Middle School and high school are actually next to each other. They're in Halstead.

So, just went through all those courses and what's interesting now is that my, my middle school principal and my high school principal ended up being the same person. And it's actually now a representative representative Dave Younger.

Scott Heidner: You're kidding.

No, I'm not .

I, I did not know that.

How. So, so after all those years of prowling, the halls intimidated by him. Now he's in your caucus.

Blake Carpenter: Yep. Yep. And, and somebody made a social media post the other day. They said, well, now, now it's the other way around. You gotta call him into your office. Mm-hmm. , no doubt. I was like, well, I don't know about that, but yeah.

Scott Heidner: So it's funny how the worm turns. Yeah. And I betcha there's a, a life lesson in there somewhere. Even when you're the, the one in charge. Be be kind. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Because you never know . Someday they will be in charge of you. Well what about, well, actually, before we get, [00:03:00] and I was gonna ask you about, you know, your hobbies and what your.

Hopefully carefree childhood look like. But before I do, what, what brought your family from Oklahoma to Kansas? Was it your parents in a line of work or was it other family?

Blake Carpenter: Yeah, so my dad ended up getting a job with Boeing at the time. And so, he ended up Coming up here for work and brought the whole family with him.

And, and he did, I think about 10 years at Boeing, and then switching to a different job from there that allowed him to do a lot more remote work. And he, he started working for a company called Dassault Systems, who builds 3D modeling products for the aviation industry. And so there's, there's currently a If you go to the Wichita State University campus, Dassault actually has their name on one on the sides of one of the buildings because they actually work a lot with the National Institute of Aviation Research.

Scott Heidner: Yeah. Still in the field, you're dad.

Blake Carpenter: So actually just about a year, year and a half ago, he found his dream job that he's gonna, that he's gonna retire at. So he's, he's in his mid fifties right now, and he just moved from Halstead. My mom, my parents just moved from Halstead to the Springfield, Missouri area and now they both work for Bass Pro shops. [00:04:00] And so, oh, , he he now does 3D modeling of boats and he's an avid fisherman and so yeah, he's, he's absolutely loving his current job and he's I think probably gonna retire.

Scott Heidner: So when you said he found his dream job that was not tongue in cheek? No, that was not literally found his dream job.

Blake Carpenter: Yep. Absolutely.

Scott Heidner: God bless that man. That is awesome.

Blake Carpenter: Yep, yep. He's loving life right now. So is my mom.

Scott Heidner: What what'd you fill your time with as a kid?

Blake Carpenter: So, as a kid growing up, I mean, you know, I really like video games, so for me It was playing, playing video games. I mean, really the first one that I can remember playing was the Nintendo 64.

You know, and I don't know how many people out there listening has, you know, played that system in the past and then Xbox, Xbox 360, all that type of stuff. And from there, for me it was the video games that I typically tended to play was open world. You can basically go and do whatever you wanted to do open dialogue, that type of stuff.

And also first person. Mm-hmm. . And needless to say when I, when I was in high school and going into college I, I played a lot. And so at [00:05:00] one point I was in the top 50 in the world for one of the Call of Duty games on the ranking boards. No way. Oh yeah. Cuz I was, I, I had no life . So, so anyways, needless to say coursework then became more important and I, and I had to pass college, so, that kind of took a little bit more of a back burner

Wow. Funny. That's that was some of my hobbies. But actually another thing was paintball, uhhuh airsoft going out and having my friends and us shoot at each other. That was, that was also pretty fun too.

Scott Heidner: Yeah. I did get the very first Call of Duty game and completely lost my mind, obsessed. And this is a true story.

I have not let myself buy an updated version since the very first one. Yeah. Because I Oh, yeah. It was unbelievable.

Blake Carpenter: Yeah. I mean, and it, it just, some of the World War II stuff that they do I mean it's, I really like the history aspects that they tie into, into a lot of those games. And, and then actually one other thing that I did.

Real quickly before we move on is I was also in the scouts, so I was in the Boy Scouts, so I became an Eagle Scout in 2008. And so a [00:06:00] lot of my years were my, my parents at one point were like, well, Blake, we know you wanna play baseball. We also know you wanna do scouts. Well, they both cost money, so which one do you wanna do?

So I, I ended up choosing scouts over sports at that point in time and, and really glad I did cuz I would say that the Eagle Scout award that I has, has paid off in, in dividends just from just job resumes to, you know, just getting positions as I've gone through life. It's, it's really helped a lot.

Scott Heidner: You know, my partner Travis Lowe here do you know he is also an Eagle Scout? I did. He's told me that. Yeah. So, yeah, he is I see the same look in his eye that I see in yours. A little bit of pride and I think a recognition of that was an investment worth making. Yeah, absolutely. Pursuing all that.

That's pretty cool. Okay, so good. High school, good childhood, little video game. Crazy. No I can think of a lot worse hobbies than that.

Blake Carpenter: Yeah. You know, I wasn't out drinking and doing drugs. Right. So, Yeah. I was you know, In my room just doing my thing and, and it all ended up working out. So in politics, that's actually pretty good cuz you know, you, if you [00:07:00] aren't out there, you know, you're just kind of a shut in in your high school days.

I mean, that, that works out pretty well for there in life.

Scott Heidner: Oh god, isn't that the truth? That's, that's about the best you can hope for these days because any record of anything else you're out there doing is probably not gonna help. Yep. Probably not gonna help. It's it's become, Cliche in our business, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.

I simply don't know how anybody, there's anybody left that can run for office that doesn't have Yeah. You know, something compromising out there to, doesn't have to be something illegal and egregious, but just some bonehead. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. ,

Blake Carpenter: I mean, everybody makes mistakes. Oh, okay. We're all human, you know, and, and so that's, and now they're on film, Yeah, now they're on film and, and that's the biggest thing.

But I mean, you know, just a little bit of grace goes a long way. And I think, yeah, you know, people need to acknowledge that to a certain extent. You know, we're human too, and we're not infallible. So

Scott Heidner: I tell friends sometimes that, you know, see the headlines of political things, oh my gosh, can't believe he did this or [00:08:00] she did that.

And, and I don't try to talk them out of that, but I do remind them from time to time you know, not many of us would want to be assessed in total based on our worst day, and they're no different. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Yeah. Well, high school. So after that moved on to college was that a pretty mundane decision or much go into that?

Blake Carpenter: So, It was kind of one of those things that, you know, you're, you're growing up and everybody says you have to go to college and nowadays it's, you know, okay, you got college, you got tech school, that type of stuff. Well, for me my parents wanted me to go to college, so I did went to Wichita State University and I actually ended up going there with my, my high school sweetheart.

So I'll get to that here at some point during this interview. But we ended up getting married, all that type of stuff. But her and I went to the same college together. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I really didn't, you know, I showed up and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna start taking some electives here.

Yeah, I'll take a golf class, I'll take, you know, just all these electives, just burning stuff. And, and by the time I got to my [00:09:00] sophomore year, I'm like, okay, I really gotta figure out what I'm doing here. And so I ended up deciding that I wanted to go into business. I liked the thought of being my own boss.

I liked the thought of running my own company and just, you know, doing what I wanted to do. And so I, I, to a certain extent, I guess I kind of somewhat found that in the, in the legislative process. I mean the, the boss that I have is the constituents back home. But how I run the office and how I do everything in the capitol is, is basically up to me.

I mean, I could tell the speaker to go pound sand. Now that probably is not the most winning strategy. Oh, right. But you know, it's, it's, you do have that ability to do that if, if you really wanted, Basically say, well, you know, I'm here because my, my district put me here and I think I'm doing what's right, or, you know, constituent communications or however that looks, however, it's all packaged.

That's, that's basically what I'm doing. And so I think that that's one of the reasons why I kind of enjoy, enjoy this job so much. But also every day is different. With the college aspect of it though, when I was there before I actually came into college in high school, when I turned 18 it, I turned 18, two [00:10:00] months.

The 2008 presidential election. And so, I didn't get an opportunity to vote in that election cause I wasn't old enough. But I actually registered it as an unaffiliated voter. I didn't really know what the Democrat party stood for. Republican Party stood for. I mean, I knew both my parents were Republicans, but I still didn't really know what it meant.

And so once I got to college, though, something. Just one day hit me. I, I turned on the, turned on the radio and started listening to Conservative Talk. And I was like, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, absolutely. This is right. Okay. Preach. You know, and, and so I started talking to my dad about it. Family and friends.

Anybody and everybody that I could talk to about it. I would. And I mean, some of my friends who were not of the political nature at that point in time are like, man, dude, do you talk about anything else? It's like, no, this is important. And so, ended up joining the college Republicans. At Wichita State University and within about three to four months ended up becoming the vice chairman.

And then within the next six months became the chairman of that organization. And then served as the chair for about six months to a year. I gave up [00:11:00] the chairmanship really. I served in there for a year. If you look at it semester wise, but I gave the chairmanship up by the time 2014 rolled around.

And so I do have a little bit of a unique background here. And, and so how the timeline works here is in December of 2013, I got married and Three months later, I'm, I'm taking all these courses, all these classes, and I, I still have a bunch of electives to burn. So at this point I'm, I'm taking a lot of political science classes because for me it's, okay, well, I'm, I'm really passionate, I really like this issue, and, oh, shoot, I'll just go for a minor in it because I got so many electives that I can, that I can obtain here.

In one of my classes, they gave us a, a class project. It was American politics and it was Professor Sebowski, and he gives us this project and it's to go interview a state representative. So I went and interviewed my state representative who was representative Jim Howell at the time. And so during that interview, I, I was talking to him, I interviewed him for.

If, you know, if anybody knows Jim out there, he, he likes to talk. [00:12:00] Mm-hmm. . And so this interview went for, this interview, went for an hour or two hours, . And during this interview, I I said, you know, well, I'm gonna, I plan on running someday when I'm like 40 or 50. You know, when, when I have a few kids or whatever and I'm more, a little bit more established in life.

And he goes, well, why not just do it now? Have you ever thought about that? And I. Well, no, not really. You know, I've been married for three months and I'm still in college and all this other stuff. He goes, well, why not? How about this? Go talk to your wife and then come to my house and I'll basically interview on the Republican Party platform and, and see where your, see where your thoughts are on the various issues that we as Republicans are supposed to believe.

So I go and talk to the wife and she goes, yeah, you know, that sounds like an interesting idea. Yeah, cool. Go for it. I don't know if she necessarily knew what she was signing up for at the time. Right. But here we are a few terms in now at this point. And so, I go and I, I talk to Jim and his wife Leah, who's Leah Howell's actually a representative now.

And I talked to both of them in their living room for four hours and we talked about all the issues in the Republican party platform. And by the end of it, he goes, [00:13:00] you'd be great. You should, you should absolutely run. You'll have my support. If you run, I'm running for county commission this year. You should definitely run.

Scott Heidner: So he was encouraging you to run for his seat, which he was gonna vacate,

Blake Carpenter: correct. Correct. So he was encouraged me to run for the state representative seat because he was running for the county commission. And so I said, okay, well what do I do? I don't, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I've never campaigned before.

I've never done this before. And so he showed me all the ropes that summer, that fall. I was still taking senior course level classes. I was still passing all my courses. Well, I ended up winning in November. I graduated from WSU in December and then I was sworn in in January up here in the legislature.

And so, it was, it was quite a wild ride that year. And looking back on it, I'm like, okay. So I had a full coursework for college. I had 30 plus hours that I was working for the National Institute of Aviation Research at the time. Had a new wife and then obviously I had a campaign, so he. I, I don't know how I found the time, but I, I, I managed to, yeah.

Scott Heidner: Thank God for youth. That's, that's all I can say. The energy of youth. Yeah. Did you have a [00:14:00] primary or is it just a general?

Blake Carpenter: It was just a general that year. So, no primaries that year. And it was the same Democrat opponent that ran against him two years prior. Mm-hmm. , so she had already had all the signs already had all the machinery basically to run a campaign. And so, but I managed to pull it out with I think about 62% of the vote. So.

Scott Heidner: That's a little more than pulling it out. 62% is a, a route.

Blake Carpenter: Yeah, I well I did a lot of door knocking. I do that every year still and make sure that I try to talk as much as I can with the constituents and yeah, I mean, seems to be a good strategy.

Scott Heidner: You and I were talking over lunch. I made the comment that it is such a rare thing, at least any more, much more rare than it used to be for somebody to come straight out of college or school or, or whatever it may be, and go straight to the legislature. And you kind of open my eyes a little bit. We've got more folks in the house right now than I think I had appreciated that have taken the, the direct course just like you have that.

Years and years [00:15:00] ago, you know, we had minority leader Vic Miller on our podcast as our previous guest, and he talked about when he first came in as a similar path, and there were a few people then, but that kind of went the way of the dinosaur. But we've, we've actually come back and now have a handful over there that really did, this was their first port of call after their education.

Blake Carpenter: Yeah. So there's at least a number. Of my colleagues on, on the Republican side, that that's the case. 23 years old myself, representative Berger, or I guess Representative Blue now, excuse me, she just got married a little while back. And then Representative Anderson, so we all kind of came in at 23 years old.

There was, there was one Democrat who got elected at 19 a few years ago, but he has since moved on. And actually there was another one that got elected a little bit later, earlier this year in 2022, who is in her late twenties. I think she's now 30. But so we do still have some, some younger folks that are, that are joining.

But for the most part though, it is, if you look at the demographics of the legislature, you're right, it's mostly people who are over the age of [00:16:00] 50. They're at that point in life where, you know, their, their kids have moved on, they're going to college. No longer in the house they're independently wealthy or they're retired, you know, the, the legislature unfortunately fits one very type of particular demographic or individual mm-hmm.

And so we'll see if that changes here in the future. But

Scott Heidner: to, to some extent, this is a little bit of a broad brush, but you either need to do it right away before you've had the chance to either make headway in a career and or, you know, build up some wealth or capital or whatever, you know.

Mm-hmm. come to it as a broke student or come to it as a retired person who no longer needs the money. Coming at it in between those is difficult because the pay is so low.

Blake Carpenter: Well, you're not wrong there. And not only that, but a lot of people when they tell their employer that, Hey, I wanna go serve in the legislature, they say, okay, well you're gonna have to find a new job.

Yeah. And so, to, to your point, if, if somebody is in that middle stage in life or they have kids or what have you, it, it's just very difficult to make it work.

Scott Heidner: We have this is a [00:17:00] conversation that happens in, in our firm and with our client base on repeat. And it has for years we will. You know, talk to our clients about the, how incredibly important it is to be invested in public policy.

And of course, the ultimate investment is to run and serve. And we typically don't have any trouble. You know, clients see that we work for a lot of bright folks and they, they get it. But when you then say, okay, well, you get it, you're excited about it, and you, you understand the importance, you know, are you ready now to say yes when Susan or Bob comes and asks you for, you know, the four and a half months they'll need to, to serve, or whatever it is.

And then they're like, well, I don't know about that. You know, Bob's pretty valuable. I don't know that I can cut 'em loose for four and a half months, which from a business standpoint obviously is totally understandable, but Yep. You know, it leaves a pretty big gap in that circle of logic if you're invested in why it matters and how important it is, but, [00:18:00] you know, not willing to accommodate somebody from your team that wants to make the commitment.

Blake Carpenter: Yeah. It's difficult and I mean, That's the reason why you don't see, typically tend to see too many young people sticking around for very long. So for me, I, I hold three or four jobs actually. So last summer I had four jobs. Right now I have three. And that's just in order to make this whole thing work.

And, and so it's, it's kind of a hodgepodge here and there, just enough to gather enough income and everything else to make it just all kind of work together. So if, if people aren't really willing to, you know, have 3, 4, 5 jobs, then, then it, then it becomes pretty difficult to Yeah. To make it work, but,

Scott Heidner: or you have to wait until you're retired and you know, Done. Done all the things and checked all the boxes and filled the coffers. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Well, let me ask you one more thing about your college time before we move into your public service. You mentioned former representative Jim Howell. Was there anybody else that played an in instructive enough role in getting you engaged that you'd want to mention here?

Or, or was it pretty [00:19:00] much just. Broad exposure to median issues, and then Jim coming in as that lynchpin.

Blake Carpenter: Yeah, so I would say that really my, my parents helped a little bit with it. , I think my mom was, was a little hesitant when I told her I was gonna be running for politics cuz you know, people are gonna be beating up on her baby kind of a deal.

You bet. And she didn't really wanna see that. But as far as my father, he, you know, I could talk politics with him or my grandfather, that type of stuff. So always had it at home once they started talking about it. But yeah, I would say that the biggest person to give me the push. The final push there is, is Jim and Leah Howell to make sure that, you know, Hey, we got everything you need.

And then, so once I got into the process, the speaker at the time was Ray Merick. He also reached out, his staff reached out and made sure that I had everything that I needed because they could, cuz it was just gonna be a, a general election. We didn't have to worry about a primary, so they didn't have to worry about.

You know, getting involved in a primary mm-hmm. and who wins or who doesn't. And now it's just me versus, versus Democrats. So at that point it was okay for them to get involved and, and be able to help [00:20:00] with the r HTC and other things like that.

Scott Heidner: Yeah. So, 2014 you campaigned and win elections seated in January of 15.

What was your first reaction to or exposure to the legislative experience coming in as a freshman legislator?

Blake Carpenter: So I actually really enjoyed it. My, my strategy for that first session was to just kind of, keep my mouth shut, open my ears, and just try to learn as much as I could about the process. Learn the personalities, learn the process as much as I could.

and, and then the next year when I came back and tried to get something actually passed and, and then actually it worked out really well. That's, that's exactly how it worked out. So my, my second year I came up here and I passed my, my first piece of legislation for, for my constituents back home.

They brought me an issue and got it across the line for 'em, but All in all, I, I, I honestly gotta say I wasn't very surprised with how the process worked or, you know, what it was all about. Once I got up here, it was just the intricacies of it. Cuz I don't, I don't know how much your [00:21:00] listeners know about house rules or Senate rules or Mason's legislative manual for procedure? I hope for their sake, not much. Yes. Well, cuz Mason's manual is about 800 pages long about legislative procedures. So I didn't know all of those specifics, but it was just something that I started delving into and trying to learn.

And I really think that that allowed me to build a solid foundation to move forward to where I'm at now, where I'm at. So,

Scott Heidner: and your progression between, of course, now, You are recently elected Speaker Pro Tem, which we're gonna get to in a minute. But what about your journey between Freshman legislator and Speaker Pro Tem?

Blake Carpenter: So in that, during that time just try to build as much of a relationship I could with my colleagues. That's really what this is about up here is, is building that relationship with folks. In the process. I ran for Whip, I ran for the House Majority Whip position. I, I was unsuccessful in my first run in 2016, December of 2016, but another two years later I was at, I, I was then successful.

And so I was the [00:22:00] house majority whip from 2019 to 2021. And then I actually left last year for military service, so I actually missed the entire 2022 legislative session. Which I actually think was helpful, being able to disconnect and unplug from the legislature gave me a perspective that, you know, I hadn't really had, which was an outside looking in and just, maybe not taking it for granted, but at the same time going, Wow.

Would I have really fought for something like that in the past? I mean, just, it's such a small little hill to die on, you know? And so I guess it put things into perspective for me. But also I, I would say my military training helped do a little bit of that as well. There's a number of people who have said that they saw a massive change in me and I, I don't know, I, I don't personally see it or feel it, but that's just cause, you know, it's hard to judge oneself in that regard. It is. I've had a number of colleagues say, you've changed a lot since you left for the military, and then you came back. They just said, we've seen a, an improvement in just a, a lot of your leadership style and everything else that you're doing.

And so [00:23:00] I, I mean, that, that means a lot to me. That, that they have made those types of comments, but I think that between freshmen and here, that's a lot of what's come to play into it is the military experience, but also serving on the leadership team for three years as the majority whip and really adding technology and other things to it to where we can function better as a caucus and showing my leadership potential there.

Scott Heidner: So, you mentioned technology in a minute. I want to talk about the fact that you have started a podcast of your own over there for the caucus. But before we do, talk to us a little bit about the decision to run for Speaker Pro tem. You know, we, we asked this question of all of our guests who were in leadership.

For any person. It's a little bit of a leap to run for office period. And we want listeners to understand that it is an entirely new level of leap to say, not only am I gonna run for office, but then amongst my elected peers, I'm gonna run for a leadership role there. It's a very different animal and somebody with four sessions [00:24:00] under their belt, like, or excuse me, four terms eight sessions under their belt as you did at that time, knows that going into it. So, walk us through the thought process there and did you have some folks that were encouraging or recruiting you? Yeah. I, for, for most of our guests, the decision was not reached lightly.

Blake Carpenter: No, it, it wasn't, cuz I mean, here, here's the thing. You don't want to go out there and run for leadership knowing that you don't have the votes.

If there's no path, then you go run for something and you know you're gonna lose, well then why did you do it? So, I mean, nobody wants to, to play a game and know they're going to lose. Right. So whenever people get into this, they wanna at least have a, a shot at, at taking one of these roles.

I mean, in, in the first time I ran for the whip position. I lost by I think about six votes, something like that. But it was okay. I was still a team player. Still wanted to help out the team, still wanted to work with the caucus, that type of thing. And it happens. There [00:25:00] has to be a winner, there has to be a loser.

Mm-hmm. , for me going into This role. When you look at the role of the Speaker Pro Tem, it is something that you gotta know the rules. You got another procedure that's kind of that person's role. They help put out fires. There's not really a defined role outside of that other than, oh, internship program.

And so outside of those rules and procedures, internship program and putting out fires, basically being the backup speaker, it's a largely undefined role. And so what are you gonna do with the extra time that you have? Hence the podcast. Hence, other things that I've been doing behind the scenes with the caucus, working on some really tough bills that People just haven't necessarily had time to put attention towards in order to get past.

And they've just been kind of issues that we've been stewing on for a while. And so I'm trying to get those types of issues passed. And so, for me it was, I have the knowledge and the ability to serve and do well in that position. And so I think I can do pretty well. And so after talking to some of my colleagues and some of them reaching out, you know, it was one of those things.

They, they, they agreed with me and well, obviously, right? [00:26:00] I'm here now, but it was the most contested, the race that I was in was the most contested. It had the most people running for it. But the reason why is because if you look at the last several years, the leadership team really hadn't changed.

And so this is the first time the leadership team had opened up and a lot of people had vacated leadership positions. And so it was free for all. Everybody tried to grab what they can. But for me, I felt somewhat called to it. And, and I knew that I could do the, the role really well.

And with that my mentor when I first came in was actually the speaker pro Tem at the time then too. Who was Peggy Mast. And so, I got a chance to learn a lot about the Speaker Pro Tem role and that type of stuff. From there, so prayed about it, but there's a lot of talking to the wife, talking to the family, making sure everyone's on board with just this time commitment, that type of thing.

It did require a lot of just, do I really want to do this upfront? Cuz you're right. It. Traveling the state is what you have to do right after the election for those of the folks that are listening, you have to travel the state. And, and if you want a real shot at it, you have to travel the state, talk to all your colleagues who are in your caucus in [00:27:00] order to obtain this position.

And I mean, I put over 2000 miles on my car just in that one, one week alone. Yeah. Traveling to every everybody's house and all their districts.

Scott Heidner: If you're an elected official, you know your phone rings a lot right from constituents, and, and that's okay. That comes with a job and that's why you're there.

But once you get into leadership, now your phone rings not only from your constituents, but it rings for your caucus. Yes. And The time commitment differential is pretty seismic. And that's on top of all the travel, all the R HCC meetings and everything else that you're just expected to be at now.

Blake Carpenter: Yep, exactly. And not only that, but with constituents, you say, okay, my, my office hours are from eight to eight kind of a deal. And call me, Monday through Friday, you can call me on Saturdays and Sundays too. But you know, reasonable times, right?

Reasonable office hours. With your caucus and your colleagues? Not so much. It's, yeah. Take that nine o'clock. We'll throw it out. I mean, there's been times where I've been talking to people on the phone at 11 midnight at night, Uhhuh you know, cuz there's some big issue coming up, or they're working on something and they need help now.

And it's like, okay, well, you [00:28:00] know, either late at night or early in the morning. I mean, you Yeah. You're, you're pretty much working all the time.

Scott Heidner: Yeah. That is, that is, yeah. It's so true. It is, it's just a whole different level of investment on the leadership side. Well, let me ask you this, what's your favorite part about being Speaker Pro Tem?

I know just a couple months into the job now, but what's been the most fun? What do you enjoy the most?

Blake Carpenter: Well, my colleagues would probably say I enjoy slamming the gavel down on them. You know, when they break the rules uh, that is the most. But that's not what I enjoy. No. So, so usually whenever you start the session, there's the biennium really you, you get a lot of people who are accidentally breaking rules of procedure in the house and that type of stuff, but they're all whipped into shape now.

They all know the rules. They know where they're supposed to be, but no, the, the part that I've found fun In doing is really working with the leadership team, being able to make an impact, but also working with the internship program. Really my goal with that program is to revitalize it.

So,

Scott Heidner: and can I interrupt you? Would you do me a favor just to make sure all listeners are on the same page? Give us 30 seconds [00:29:00] on what the internship program is, who you're recruiting and the role Absolutely. You serve over at the Capitol.

Blake Carpenter: No, thank you. Appreciate that. So the internship program is college students here in the state of Kansas, and it has to be college students.

People are like, well, hey, what if I have a high school student or if I, it's not, it's somebody that's not in college. And it's not pages. Yeah. That's two different programs. Students. Yes. This is college students. They're actually coming up here to take college credits that go towards their degree in order for them to obtain that degree.

And so if you have any college students out there that you know, or anybody that's gonna be a college student, feel free to send 'em to the Speaker Pro Tim's office. We'd be love to have 'em as a part of the program. There's an application that they can fill out. This session's a little late. You know, for the 2024 session, we're gonna be taking applications, that type of stuff.

So our office actually facilitates the entire internship program for both the House and the Senate over in the legislature. And a lot of people don't know that. We also facilitate for the Senate side as well. So what we do is we break. We break it into proportionality. So there's 40 of them senators, there's 125 house members.

So if we have 50, then you know, 50 interns, then what we do is we break it up. Okay, well [00:30:00] you do a lot of math. Equal percentage. Yeah, equal percentage of based on actually how many representatives and senators there are. And so what we do is we give, let's say we give 10 interns over to the senate side.

We'll give them to the Senate Vice President's office. And then at that point, the Senate Vice President's office will distribute them as they see fit amongst the Senate. And then we will do the same over on our house side. Interns will come in, they'll typically tend to tell you if they're Republican, democrat, or they don't care either or.

And then we'll basically assign those individuals based off of their preference. So if they are somebody that's majoring in education and they have a Democratic lean to them. Then what we'll do is we'll probably pair them with a Democrat who's on the education committee. And that that's one of the things that, that Democrat focuses on so that they can get the best experience that they can from that internship program.

They're learning about the issue that they're learning about in school, but they're also, you know, getting able to dig into the weeds with that legislative member as well. And. We're, well, another thing that we did this year was we actually have legis, we have legislative intern pins for [00:31:00] them now that they can wear on their lapels.

And so that's not, that's something that's never been done before. We've held receptions. We've held a reception for them where lobbyists could opportunity to meet with them. And so that maybe at some point if these interns wanted to become lobbyist, they could if they wanted to become legislators, they could, if they wanted to become party operatives, go work for the G O P or the Democrat Party, they could Trying to open up as many doors for them as they as we can.

And so we've also given them seminars. So my staff has had it to where lobbyists come in and tell 'em about their jobs, their roles, they've had it through. Our legislative staff have done the same leadership has come in and talked about our various roles, that type of thing. So we're just trying to give them a broad depth of information about the entire process, not just from.

Perspective of being a legislator, but what does it look like if you wanna be an activist? What does it look like? If you wanna be a lobbyist, what does it look like? If you wanna go work for an agency? And we want to basically just open up this world to them to where they have a lot of options available to them.

And I think that we're doing a fantastic job so far, if I may toot my own harm. [00:32:00] But then Over the interim, what we're gonna do is we're going to actually go out to college campuses and recruit as well there during intern during intern recruitment processes or in intern recruitment days that they have out, out there at those facilities.

We've even started creating brochures and pamphlets and I mean, so we're, we're rolling out this whole marketing thing and we're trying to recruit as many people as we can in order to get them into this internship program because there are legislators who are currently serving that were interns at one point in time in the legislature.

And so we're really focused on and working towards growing our ranks within legislature, but also just in the various other roles that exist around the legislature. I think

Scott Heidner: it's pretty cool that when asked what some of your favorite parts of the job are, the first place you went to was the in.

Program. Cause that is very much a pay it forward part of the job. You know, so much of what else you do is focused on today in today's public policy decision. And the internship program is very much an investment in the [00:33:00] future of those young folks. And I think for the future of the state

Blake Carpenter: too.

Absolutely. That's the reason why I think it's so important that we refocus and start reinvesting our efforts into that program. And so that's why I'm excited about it and looking forward to see where it really develops and goes. And the thing about it is though, is that we are only here for a very short amount of time.

And so, this year we actually passed what amounts to term limits on the speaker and the speaker pro tem for a total of four years or two terms. And after I vacate the position, my hope and goal is that we've set the bar to where whoever comes in behind picks up the mantle and really continues these recruitment efforts and really continues to try to.

Make it to where these interns have an opportunity moving forward.

Scott Heidner: Couple other things to ask you and then we're gonna transition a little bit into, into your personal life and your family and, and wrap up here for the day. But before we leave your role as Speaker Pro Well, actually, let me start with this.

Let me give you a chance to shamelessly and proudly [00:34:00] talk about your podcast. Tell us a little bit about that. You can even tell us where listeners can go find it in case they want to. Yes.

Blake Carpenter: Well, I I do appreciate that on, on your podcast. Thank you. Yes. So it is something that we started in the Republican caucus this year.

It is called the Kansas Briefing. And it's basically us talking to the representatives who are pushing various forms of legislation, what the specifics about those legislation is the chairs who have these controversial bills in their committees and why it matters that we're fighting the fights that we're having.

And so, it's available on Spotify, apple Podcast and Google Podcast. And so you can find it at those locations. And they're 30 minute episodes, so they're just really quickly trying to get down and dirty into it. Okay. What's the big chunks of this information? And, we're open to feedback too, so if anybody listens to it and is like, Hey, you guys should really consider doing this.

Well, it's still pretty new. So we're comfortable with changing the formats. Say the name one more time. The Kansas briefing.

Scott Heidner: The Kansas briefing. There you go. Check it out folks. Appreciate it. Hosted by our very own representative, Blake Carpenter.

Blake Carpenter: Yep. You can [00:35:00] just call me Blake, by the way.

Yeah.

Scott Heidner: Very good. Thank you. The other thing I wanted to ask you, so one of the fun parts about this podcast, we don't ever ask and don't want anybody to say anything that would reflect negatively on individuals or groups or anything, but we sure do like giving folks a chance to. To share some positive experiences and some appreciation, and so we always ask folks about influences and mentors and other folks that played an instructive role in your life.

In your transition from college to the legislature, we've already talked about Jim and Leah Howell. You did mention one name of somebody you served with Peggy Mast, who was the pro Tem when you came in. But if I had to guess, I would guess there are probably a couple other folks or more, That really, whether it was overtly mentoring you and doing it intentionally, or whether it was just somebody that, the way they carried themselves, they didn't even have to try, they [00:36:00] made an influence on you just by watching the way they do business.

Do you have any other folks like that, that you really feel influenced you and, and helped you grow in your role.

Blake Carpenter: Yeah, actually, so I mean, here the thing is, is that I still have mentors today. Even though I'm one of these top leaders in the house, you still have to have that mentor that person who's there to be a sounding board for you.

Or at least that's my belief. You know, even in these top roles, cuz you don't want to go, oh man, I just wrote the greatest email ever and I'm gonna, I'm gonna really give it to 'em. And then you send it and it's the worst thing ever. And you end up in the media. So it's, it's, wow, that's really good.

And then you run it by your mentor and they go, yeah, that's, that's fantastic. Now delete it. It's one of those things that it, it's always good having that extra advice or just sounding board for you. So for me, I still have 'em here today. Even if they're former legislators, I still give 'em a call because they have many years of experience and you can lay it out for 'em and they go, yeah, here's how you can get around this issue, or Here's how you can, you know, [00:37:00] work it through this, this way or that way.

So, I mean, just some of 'em That I've served with have been like Steve Bronk. Um, He was the former chairman of Fed and State. He's from the Wichita area. Chuck Weber is also former legislator from the Wichita area. Actually, he replaced Steve Bronk. But he, he ended up leaving after the 2018 election as well.

And Jason Watkins is actually a really good friend of mine and he, former legislator from roughly 2000 and. Four to 2007, somewhere in there is when he served. He's still up here. I mean, yeah, he, he's kind of serving in a role that you're, that you're serving in, you know, but he's, he's a registered lobbyist, that type of stuff.

But it's just, I think the relationship that I built with him is cuz he's back home. He's, he was also, you know, involved at the local level with folks and so just being able to build those relationships and. While, while he is a lobbyist, we can also take off our hats and just be like, okay, not as a lobbyist, not as a legislator, you know, just what, what are your thoughts on this?

What did you do back in the day? And [00:38:00] he can just really walk me through it. So there's, there's been a lot of great individuals that have, impacted my life in that way. And even the speaker currently. So Dan Hawkins I was a, I was a freshman member on his health committee.

And so just kind of. Going through that process. And he was also mentoring to me back then too. So really the thing about it is that I seek out a lot of mentors where I can. Obviously you have to build that trust up with people because up here, and I even tell freshmen this is when they come in, is you got maybe about two or three people that you can really tell stuff too.

And they're in your inner circle and you know it's not gonna get out. And then you got three circles, really. You got that inner circle, then you got another circle, which most of the other people fit into. And then you got that third circle, which is, like the opposition party.

If you want it to get out, then you can go ahead and tell them, and they'll tell everybody. But even then, you still have some of that in the second circle. If you think you can trust a colleague, you tell 'em, and the next thing you know, everyone's talking about, you're like, whoa, what the heck just happened?

And so you, so up here, you. Mario Coco, he's, he's a rep, former rep from Wichita. He, he used to [00:39:00] say, if you want a friend in Topeka, get a dog . You know? And and so you gotta really, you gotta really be careful who you trust.

Scott Heidner: Yeah. Well, and particularly with that last note that you know, that's hard to come by.

I appreciate you sharing some of the folks that, that you have developed that trust with and that influenced your life. It's always I have yet to find the person that didn't have. You know, that helps shape shape them to, to who they are today and the roles they've been able to achieve along the way.

So appreciate you sharing those. Well, let's shift gears. Anything else you want to talk about on the, no, lets the speaker pro Tem role. Let's go ahead and push, well, let's ask you about the stuff that really matters. You've, Touched on it just a time or two, but I think you knew we were gonna talk about it more later.

Tell listeners about your family.

Blake Carpenter: Absolutely. So, my wife and I high school sweethearts started dating in high school and continued that all the way through college and we got engaged. So actually she gives me a, she gives me a load of crap about this, but [00:40:00] she, she says I trapped her when I proposed to her.

So, so I'll go into that just a little bit here. And so what happened was we, we've been dating for about four years at this point, and my dad goes, Hey, you know, Mom and I are gonna go to Ireland this year. We're gonna take you with us, the company that he was working for was really good to us that year and so I go, well, can I invite my girlfriend? He goes, well, you can, gonna have to pay her own way. I was like, oh no, it's fine. I'll pay for her. And so, we went out to Ireland and we did this week, week and a half bus tour of Ireland and you know, it was sun up to sun down every single day. We were on the march and it was jet lagged and we'd just pass out on the bus and, you know, oh, hey, we're at the next stop and we get off, you know, kind of a thing.

And so it was pretty difficult. But towards the end of that trip we were on the cliffs of Moher and that's where I was doing it. And it was Friday the 13th. Oh, wow. And they, the bus driver as we were driving up goes, and you don't wanna fall off the cliffs because if you fall off the cliffs, it'll be about a week or two before they can recover your body because of the tides and everything else they can't get in to grab your [00:41:00] body.

So it takes about that long for your body to wash back out to sea. And so we're. Great. Okay, awesome. So knowing that, no, not really. I did not know that beforehand. So I had picked this place to, to propose to her, and so I proposed to her on the edge of this cliff, very beautiful, but on the edge of a cliff with my family there.

And so she turns around, she says yes, and afterwards she goes, you know, what, what, what would you have done if I had said no? And I'm like, that's a great question cuz we still had a lot of days left there in Ireland. And, and she's like, I'm on a cliff. I'm with your family. We're in Ireland. She's like, well, what, what would you, I was like, I don't know.

But she's like, okay, well it's a good thing you said yes. Cuz that would've been a interesting Rest of the trip. Proposed to her in 2012 in Ireland and then got married on Friday the 13th in December of 2013.

Scott Heidner: You got engaged and married on Friday the 13th. I, yep, we did. Was this, are you like thumbing your nose and superstition or are you total happenstance?

Blake Carpenter: So the first time was happenstance. The second time was like, well, let's look to see what dates there are. And so the December, [00:42:00] Friday, the 13th, and I was like, you know, Do it then. And my wife was also born on Friday the 13th as well. So, how funny. Yep. She was born, yeah, June 13th. So anyway, so it seems to be a recurring thing, so I was like, let's just do it.

So December of 13th, 2013, we got married and then from there we, we actually. Moved to Derby shortly before we got married, about a week before we got married, and I mean, it was a short we still had another year left of WSU at this point, but it was a short jaunt from Derby to Wichita State up the highway about 20 minutes.

And even then, at that point, they still had a south campus there in Derby. And so we, there was a few classes that I actually took there, and same with my wife. I would say we were married for about seven years before we had our first kid.

I was 23 at the time. Well, actually I was 22, almost 23 at the time we got married. And then she was 21. And so, what we decided to do was, you know, we got a lot of debt. We got a big mess that we have to clean up college and all this other stuff. So what we did was, After graduation, you know, got a pretty decent job.

Not the [00:43:00] legislature, but got a, got a, got a, a decently paying job outside the legislature that allowed us to start really tackling our debt. And so it, it took us about four or five years to clean all of that up. We did, we got outta debt. And then in 2020 we had our first daughter. Leona so she's gonna be three in April.

And then, actually I'm just shy of two weeks ago we had our second daughter who's Luna. And so she's she's small, but she's doing great. And so we've we've been very blessed to have her as a part of the new family. So, this December we'll be celebrating our 10 year anniversary.

Scott Heidner: That is awesome, Yeah. Much to be proud of.

Oh, yes. And it is a pretty cool story. You know, how many folks marry their high school sweetheart let alone, you know, through a proposal on the Cliffs of Ireland on Friday the 13th. And better yet, it's still working. Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's still, still going. Great. That's awesome. And congratulations, you a brand new dad again for the second time, which is pretty cool.

Blake Carpenter: Oh, yes. And, and, you know, The wife, she wanted to come up here and bring the new baby up here with, you know, so I can suffer at night with her. And, and she said, no, I'm gonna stay here at home. [00:44:00] And, and so her parents are actually about five to 10 minutes away, and so she's over there, so they're paramedics and firefighters.

So they're on 24 or off 48 kind of a deal. And so they're helping take care of the new baby. So

Scott Heidner: did you tell your wife what an unbelievable help those girls would be in garnering votes?

Blake Carpenter: You know, I've, I've tried to say, Hey, I need to have them help me in parades and all this other stuff.

And she's like, yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll see , she's she's like, you're not gonna use our kids for political funds. I was like, okay. Alright. I, I, I can see that. So,

Scott Heidner: God bless that woman. Yes. And her and her being grounded in the real world.

Blake Carpenter: Yes, absolutely is.

Scott Heidner: Awesome. Absolutely. So, well, well, let me ask you this to wrap up.

You've been very gracious with your time with us today. We always like to do a little bit of lightning round with our guests ask you some favorites, just almost a a roar shock test kind of thing. First thing that comes to mind. Music?

Blake Carpenter: Well, it's most, I'll listen to mostly anything, but really if you're gonna ask me my favorites, it's country.

Not new country [00:45:00] by the way. Old country. No way. Yes. Cause old country's far better.

Scott Heidner: Okay, so this conversation just got a little bit longer, but go ahead. Whatever else you were gonna say and then come back to that.

Blake Carpenter: Cause I was getting ready to tell you cuz uh, one of the genres that I don't like to listen to is rap and I feel like the new country is a is, is there's a lot of that to it.

And so I, I just, I, I just do not like it. I really like eighties music though. So, you know, play mini rock band from the eighties and Yep. I'm, I'm on board. But and then actually if I'm working, like if I'm working at just my normal job or I'm, you know, writing an email or drafting legislation I really like listening to movie scores.

No words, just, you know, kind. Just the nice flow of music, just kind of classical type stuff. And yeah, so I'll listen to that while I'm, while I'm actually working or it depends on the type of work, but I might even turn on techno. And, and listen to that.

Scott Heidner: Well, your first two pit stops, at least that's an absolute blueprint of my favorites too.

Classic country in eighties rock. That is as good as it gets. Tell me who you mean and what time period you mean by classic country? [00:46:00] Cuz it means

Blake Carpenter: different people. That's true to different people. So, for me, I'll listen to Conway Twitty, I'll listen to Merle Haggard or, or what have you from, from back in the day.

I mean, so, so that's what I mean by classical. But yes, I'll listen to them, but I typically tend to lean in or listen into more of the eighties, 90. Country. So like, more like Garth Brooks Alan Jackson, Aaron Tippen early two thousands really like his stuff. And then my homeboy, Toby Keith, cuz I was, you know, I grew up in Moore for a few years there, right?

So Toby Keith's from Moore Oklahoma. So it, so that, that's. The type of stuff that I'll typically tend to listen to or Blake Shelton. I mean. So really it's, it's that group of individuals right there in the nineties and early two thousands.

Scott Heidner: That is spectacular answer in my humble opinion. That is awesome.

Also a classic country junkie, and I did grow up on that original, you know, the og classic country, the Merle Hagers, the Conways, the, you know, what have you, but. In my humble opinion, country had a complete majestic rebirth [00:47:00] at the end of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties, and the next 10 years were just, Absolutely sublime.

All the guys you talked about, Travis? Absolutely. Travis Trit, Colin Ray. Oh yeah. Yeah. Magical, magical period of time. That is awesome. Well, I, I don't wanna imply that your, you know, your, your stock wasn't already extremely high, but it's It is peaking right now, knowing that there will be more discussions to come offline about this.

Blake Carpenter: This is, you know, you know, I don't know. I might have, I might, I I would say that my, my musical taste is that, is, is very familiar with my constituents. I'm very in tune with them. Yeah. Pun intended, . So, no. Anyways. I don't know about that, but I, I just, yeah, had to make the, the dorky, the dorky pun there.

So.

Scott Heidner: Okay, well, I will save a longer conversation with you offline. All right. About that topic. What about movies?

Blake Carpenter: So I'm a complete, in, total nerd or geek, whatever you wanna call me. So Star Wars really love Star Wars. Lord of the Ring. Really love those trilogies. You know, the Matrix, I actually really liked that growing up quite a bit.

Not a big fan of the new one [00:48:00] that they just came out with. Indiana Jones also. So grew up on that. Really, I mean, those were, those were the movies that were on repeat. Yeah. I mean, obviously we had Disney movies, but I mean, when I got. Older to that age where I wasn't watching just Disney movies.

It was definitely those movies. And I mean, anything Star Wars related these days, I, I still go out and watch and I, big Marvel franchise person. So I mean like anything that's typically dealing with Marvel Cinematic Universal typically watch that as well.

Scott Heidner: Can you believe they're rolling out an 80 year old Harrison Ford for New Indiana Jones movie?

Blake Carpenter: I saw that. You know, and yeah. Yeah, I mean at some point they have to do the handoff. I really thought that there, I mean, kingdom of the Crystal Skull, that was okay, but it seemed like they were trying to do the handoff to Shai Labouf, but it just didn't, it didn't take, and he's also taking a step back from acting as well.

And so I think, if they're really gonna do a handoff and do it well, they're gonna have to find somebody that they're gonna have to be able to do a new trilogy with if they're really trying to go that route and [00:49:00] do a successful handoff to somebody that is willing to. The next couple movies.

Scott Heidner: Yeah. I don't know if the new movie will be good or not, you know, with him at, at 80 and whatever. But the one thing I can promise you is I will be parked in the theater to see it.

Blake Carpenter: Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, no doubt. I'll go see it. I, I just really like, I mean, it's hard, it's really hard to, you know, get a, get a really good, bad guy.

I mean, cuz the Nazis are like the premier bad guy. That we know and love Harrison Ford fighting, but it's like, oh man. I mean, I, I know in the kingdom of the Crystal Skull, they tried to get the Russians in on it, but it's like, yeah. You know, it's, it's really hard. It's like, again, it's really hard to beat the Nazis, right?

Because everybody hates the Nazis. So

Scott Heidner: they were just ahead of their time on the Russians. They should have waited till February of last year.

Blake Carpenter: Yeah, exactly. Didn't released it. They never even like, yeah. So ,

Scott Heidner: well, one last question and we will let you go. Most of our, you know, guests between family and commitments don't have a lot of free time.

We know that. But at least in the theoretical world, if you had a free day, and when I say [00:50:00] free not spending it with family either. Let's say just hypothetically, your wife took the girls somewhere and you had a 24 hour window with no responsibilities, how would you fill it?

Blake Carpenter: Shooting. Yeah, so, so I'm actually, so one thing I didn't cover is that I'm actually in the military for one of my jobs.

And I'm on the 184th McConnell shooting team. And so I do like shooting a lot, so I'd probably go shooting maybe even hunting as a part of that. Got my first deer this last December, actually. So usually up until then I hunted a smaller game and I'm probably gonna go deer hunting again.

Hunting would be great. Shooting would be great. But really one of the things that I really just like to do is just unplug. I mean, if, if it's late in the evening and all the kids and the wife are down, just unplugging, one of the things that I do to still do that is, is kind of what I did back in my childhood.

And I'll go pull up a game of Skyrim and I'll just, I'll run around this make believe world and shoot bows and arrows and whatever else. And it just allows me to just not think about [00:51:00] life as it's going on and be stressed out, especially if we're working on heavy legislation or something like that, or something's not going the way I need it to.

It just for me, my, my mind is always thinking of new ideas of how I can attack a different problem. And so, The great thing about me turning on the video game is that it focuses that attention somewhere else and it allows me to actually feel like I'm relaxing instead of sitting there. Cuz like if I was sitting there watching TV or a movie.

Yeah. For the most part, I'm, I'm, I'm watching it, but, and there's some stuff I turn on that's pretty mind numbing, just. Just to unplug, but there's always that, well, what, what if I start doing this and then I'll start, and then I, then I realize I've missed 10, 20 minutes of that show because I was trying to think about whatever it is that, you know, strategy wise we could do and what have you.

So I would say that that's the biggest thing is, is just being able to unplug at the end of the day and, and, The video games really give that for me. Yeah. At this point. So sounds like a pretty good day. Yep.

Scott Heidner: Shooting and gaming . Yep. Very good. So, well, [00:52:00] I can't tell you how much we appreciate you making time to join us on the podcast.

It has been a ton of fun to have you here and I know you get a lot of invitations. We sure appreciate you saying yes to this one.

Blake Carpenter: Well, thank you Scott. I really appreciate you guys having me on. Hope folks learn something from this. And yeah, if I mean, just running office is running for office.

It's a, it's a, it's a thrill, but you know, it's, it's one that I hope everybody gets to maybe try at some point in time. Yeah.

Scott Heidner: Well, boy, I tell you, we encourage our clients every chance we get to, to, to consider it. All right, I'm gonna end with this. Give us the name of your podcast one more time. The Kansas briefings.

The Kansas Briefing. You heard it here, folks. Go out and check it out if you want to know all the issues and policies being worked on in Kansas that are fit to print. Very good. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here. Listeners, thank you for joining us. We will catch you on the next edition of the podcast. [00:53:00]