Candidate Throws Hat In Ring For Kansas Governor

TOPEKA, Kan. – A new candidate is emerging for next year’s Kansas Governor race.

Tom Wiggans, 57, will be running on the Democratic Party ticket.

Wiggans, a retired Olathe pharmaceutical executive, filed the paper work to run on Tuesday in Topeka.

“I have never run for political office before, but what I have done is started and managed businesses, balanced budgets and created jobs,” said Wiggans in an e-mail statement.

Wiggans is the first Democrat to announce his candidacy.

He appointed a campaign treasurer on Tuesday. That step is necessary under state law for a candidate to raise money.

Wiggans said he was motivated to run because he feels his potential Republican opponent Sen. Sam Brownback, is a career politician.

He began his pharmaceutical career after graduating from the University of Kansas.

Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson said he will not seek another term in office.

Parkinson served as Lieutenant Governor until Kathleen Sebelius because the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Statement From Tom Wiggans

Today I filed paperwork with the Secretary of State's office establishing my campaign committee in the race to become the next Governor of Kansas.

Now more than ever as our state and our families deal with this difficult economic climate, we need a successful business leader in the Governor's office.

I have enjoyed a rewarding career starting and leading various bioscience and pharmaceutical companies, creating hundreds of jobs while developing new treatments for infertility, heart disease,
Lou Gehrig's disease, and kidney, liver, and skin cancers.

I have never run for political office before, but what I have done is started and managed businesses, balanced budgets and created jobs. This experience makes me the best candidate to lead our state through this financial storm, create economic growth and good-paying jobs and keep our young people in Kansas.

Our state needs a Governor who can speak the language of business, jobs and prosperity - not a career politician like Senator Brownback who's spent nearly 15 years in Washington, D.C. as Congress added over $7 trillion to our national debt.

Kansans deserve a full-time Governor - someone who will remain committed to the job. In 2007 while Senator Brownback was running for President, he missed thirty-one-percent of the votes cast in the Senate.

Brownback had the seventh-worst attendance record of all one hundred United States Senators. If the rest of us missed work thirty-one percent of the time, we'd be fired. Yet, like too many career politicians, Sam Brownback thinks missing work ought to earn him a promotion.

I want to thank former Republican State Senator Wint Winter Jr. for serving as my campaign Treasurer. Wint's been a long-time moderate voice in Kansas and I greatly appreciate his commitment and ongoing advice to my campaign.

The election for Governor is nearly one year away and I look forward to hearing from thousands of Kansans about their priorities and offering voters a clear choice in the race for Governor.