Leawood Republican Sen. David Adkins said it’s only natural he’s wants to be the state’s highest law enforcement official.
His father was a Kansas highway patrolman.
“Every day growing up I was proud of his services as a state trooper,” said Adkins, who is an attorney. “As is often the case, children of law enforcement officers are impacted by their parents’ work.”
Adkins, 41, is running for the seat being vacated by Kansas Attorney General Carla Stovall. Because no Democrats have announced yet, his only opponent is Phill Kline, a Shawnee Republican.
Adkins served four terms in the House of Representatives before his 2000 election to the Senate.
In the Senate he chairs the reapportionment committee, is vice chairman of the Ways and Means Committee as well as the Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight and Judiciary committees.
While in the House, he chaired the taxation committee, the appropriations committee and a committee on juvenile crime.
“When Carla indicated she wasn’t going to run for attorney general, it seemed a natural fit for me to pursue my passion to become the state’s chief lawyer and law enforcement officer,” Adkins said during a visit last Wednesday morning to Tonganoxie.
If elected, he plans to push for the death penalty when applicable.
“Since reinstating the death penalty, Kansas has yet to execute someone convicted of a capital offense,” Adkins said. “I do support the death penalty and have consistently voted for it.”
Also, Adkins plans to maintain a high profile in the role of preventing domestic violence.
“I would be very interested in providing resources to community-based organizations to effectively intervene in situations where violence occurs,” Adkins said.
A key means of combating crime, Adkins said, is to invest heavily in early-childhood education.
“In my thinking, that’s a smarter way to approach public safety than building more prisons,” the candidate said.
“We know that when children thrive in their educational setting, they’re much less likely to abuse drugs, to abuse alcohol and to participate in delinquent behaviors.”
And, he wants to assist law enforcement officers in fighting crime.
“Methamphetamine manufacturing is a cancer growing in our state,” Adkins said.
To combat that, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement officers need quicker access to test results.
“The message should be ‘We’re going to find you, we’re going to shut you down and we’re going to put you away,'” Adkins said.
Adkins describes himself as “a moderate traditional Republican.”
Adkins and his wife, Lisa, who also is an attorney, are parents of a 9-month-old daughter.