What candidates say about disclosure forms

All county commissioner candidate except Randall Eitzen responded to a request for comment on the Statement of Substantial Interest forms they are required to file.

• Jonah Gehring, who filled out his form completely, said: “I can see both sides of the coin. I can understand there might be some reserve about putting everything out there and then not being elected, and now you’ve just shared everything with everybody that maybe don’t need to know. But I’m one of those not afraid to share. I think it’s better to be forthright and put it out there.”

• Amy Soyez, who thanked the Record for “pointing out that I had filled out the filing form incorrectly,” said: “I definitely wasn’t trying to hide anything. It was simply mom-brain, and I filled it out wrong. It’s now corrected.”

• Dave Crofoot, who filled out the form, said he agreed there was a loophole in enforcement, probably because ”there would be way too many [forms] for the state to effectively take care of all local elections.”

• Kent Becker was asked what the point of the forms were if they aren’t vetted. “That’s a good question,” he said. “I mean, I would think that if it’s an issue with the electorate, that it would be brought up. If those that are [voting] have an issue, they need to ask about it … it’s up to the electorate in Kansas, or at least in Marion County, to do their own discovery.”

• Dan Holub said he was going to amend his form because he reported no substantial financial holdings. “I thought they meant substantial,” he said, and [I’ve just] got a military retirement, Social Security, investments, and stuff like that. That’s why I went with [nothing to report]. So there was just nothing here I could do as a county commissioner that I could benefit from short of outright bribes, I guess. I’m not inclined to do that either.”

• Tom Britain, who filed “nothing to report” on his form, said he considered his retirement income and a small parcel of land so “unsubstantial” that “I can’t think of anything that would influence my decisions as commissioner whatsoever. And so, I didn’t put down what I get for retirement because I paid into. I didn’t think it mattered.”

• Greg Wyatt, who filled out his form but expressed leeriness about where the forms go if no one is vetting them, said: “I didn’t mind filling them out except for the ownership interest page. I didn’t feel it was necessary for me to fill out my retirement account. That made me feel a little uncomfortable.”