Celebrating Mother's Day with Governor Laura Kelly and Kathleen Kelly Daughety

[00:00:00] Welcome back to the next episode of The Political Life.

[00:00:19] This is my first solo hosting experience since officially joining the podcast and thanks

[00:00:25] to Jim for seating the floor.

[00:00:28] Things are quite busy at the end of session up in Connecticut, so he is off to the capital.

[00:00:33] But I am honored to host a very special Mother's Day episode with one of my lifelong friends

[00:00:41] and her mom, Governor Laura Kelly of Kansas and Kathleen Dottie, Kansas native but New York

[00:00:47] resident.

[00:00:48] So thank you for joining us today.

[00:00:51] Looking forward to the conversation.

[00:00:55] You know full disclosure to our listeners.

[00:00:58] I have known this family, the Kelly Dottie family for decades now.

[00:01:06] When I first met the governor she was Kathleen's mom.

[00:01:10] It was before she entered public service and Kathleen and I met when I think she was 13

[00:01:15] or 14 we were choir partners and then dance team teammates and then she became my pledge

[00:01:23] daughter at the University of Kansas.

[00:01:25] We are both Chi Omega's.

[00:01:26] So a long time friend and family friend.

[00:01:31] I got to know Governor Kelly in her professional capacity not Kathleen's mom when she entered

[00:01:37] the legislature and got to know her and her really sharp policy chops when she was an

[00:01:45] active member of the council of state government eventually becoming the president when she

[00:01:50] was governor in 2020 and so during my tenure there was able to support her work and engagement

[00:01:57] there.

[00:01:58] So let's hop into the conversation.

[00:02:01] Governor Kelly you and Kathleen are two of the most you know Kansans of Kansans

[00:02:09] I can't meet anybody who loves the state more but you're Kansan by choice.

[00:02:15] So can you share with us kind of your road I will I will do a yellow brick road pun but

[00:02:20] what was your road to Kansas and what made you choose to you know raise your family

[00:02:26] there and spend your life there.

[00:02:29] Well I actually just took I 70 from Denver to Salina on my way into Kansas.

[00:02:36] I met and married my husband when I was living in Denver and he got a job offer

[00:02:42] in Salina Kansas back when Kathleen was about a year 15 months old and he wanted to go into

[00:02:50] clinical medicine instead of academics so he took the job and I came along for the ride.

[00:02:57] We stayed in Salina for about a year and a half decided that well actually he got an

[00:03:04] unsolicited offer in Topeka to move his practice to Topeka.

[00:03:09] We thought long and hard about it because I had grown up in the military and moved

[00:03:14] frequent basis and I didn't want that to be my life going forward so we would make one more move

[00:03:23] and that would be it.

[00:03:25] So we chose Topeka Kansas to be our forever home and we did that because there were wonderful

[00:03:34] career opportunities for both my husband and for myself but even more than that

[00:03:39] you know by that time I knew what a terrific place Kansas was to live and certainly a fabulous

[00:03:46] place to raise your kids.

[00:03:50] Nothing compares to Kansas public schools and nothing compares to what communities do to

[00:03:57] ensure that kids have lots of opportunities to explore all different facets of life.

[00:04:03] So pretty easy choice so we just relocated to Topeka in 1987 I think Kathleen was about

[00:04:13] two and a half at that time and Molly my younger daughter was a week away from delivery.

[00:04:20] Wow that is a big move.

[00:04:22] My sister did a move like that moving houses right before you go into labor it must be

[00:04:27] a Kansas thing can take it on.

[00:04:30] So you were in the public policy space but what kind of moved you into the desire to enter

[00:04:39] public office?

[00:04:42] I really didn't have any desire to enter public office.

[00:04:47] At that time I was executive director for the Kansas Recreation and Park Association

[00:04:51] which was a terrific job allowed me to do a lot of different things and go a lot of

[00:04:56] different places and meet a lot of different people and it was pretty flexible too and my

[00:05:02] kids were at that age when it was important.

[00:05:06] So it turned out to be location, location, location we happened to move into a neighborhood

[00:05:11] that was incredibly political little did I know.

[00:05:15] My entire social life became going to fundraisers for different candidates for different positions

[00:05:21] whether it was city council all the way up and across the street lived my state representative.

[00:05:29] We ended up moving across the street right next door and that was Kathleen Sebelius who

[00:05:37] most people know was governor of Kansas and then secretary for health and human services

[00:05:43] under the Obama administration.

[00:05:46] Way back though Kathleen was going to run for insurance commissioner here in the state of Kansas

[00:05:52] and she asked me if I would run for her house seat and I said no.

[00:05:57] I think Kathleen was about seven and Molly was about five at the time and my husband

[00:06:03] didn't have a very flexible job.

[00:06:04] I really needed the flexibility that I had and quite honestly we needed the salary

[00:06:12] that I drew down.

[00:06:14] Legislators don't get paid much here in the state of Kansas so I said no and then put it out of my mind.

[00:06:19] Ten years later though my other neighbor who was my state senator was defeated and you know so I was asked again

[00:06:30] would you run for the Senate seat and by that time Molly was a senior in high school

[00:06:35] Kathleen was off college and so I said yes I just didn't have the excuse anymore

[00:06:41] to not do it and I was pretty much ready to move on from my other job.

[00:06:47] So that was really at the location and I got asked and I really needed to, I felt like I needed to take that incumbent out.

[00:06:57] He was not representing the district not supporting our public schools or our state employees and so I did it.

[00:07:05] You felt compelled.

[00:07:06] Yeah I think that both of you will get into Kathleen's career too but you both have had these decisions based on policy aspirations

[00:07:14] versus political ones is my kind of observation of both of you over the years.

[00:07:19] But I do want to kind of hone in on the neighborhood but also kind of the special sauce that is Topeka.

[00:07:25] I think of Topeka as kind of has bipartisan bones.

[00:07:30] I think it's the nature of having the state capital kind of in the shadow of many of the businesses and the churches and the schools

[00:07:37] where Kathleen and I went but Kathleen just a flavor for the audience.

[00:07:42] You know when we were in middle school and high school a number of our friends parents were starting to step forward in the next part of their careers.

[00:07:50] Do you want to just share like all of our classmates and just the dynamics of growing up in a kind of bipartisan you know some of us are Republicans

[00:07:58] some of us are Democrats our parents were all serving in these different capacities but we were all still friends.

[00:08:05] Yeah I mean on the bipartisan front I think that's how a lot of communities were when we were growing up I think the sort of like stratification has gotten just worse as we've gotten older

[00:08:14] but I also think it's true that like there's more of that than is discussed.

[00:08:19] I agree also like Topeka is sort of a weirdly special place I think it's really underrated but it has all these incredibly tight knit really special neighborhoods that have all these

[00:08:29] cool traditions we went to Topeka high which is the stunning school that is even more stunning on the inside for the dynamics and the diversity and all the opportunities that it has for people.

[00:08:40] Menagers was in Topeka so I think this all of these doctors and mental experts were there and really thinking about innovating on that front.

[00:08:50] Which was a really unusual thing to have right there in the middle of the country and then it's like to your point the capitals there but you've got Brown v. Board Museum there history and so it's like a pretty special place.

[00:09:03] But it's also like in some ways like a really small town because you're right like you know our next-door neighbor was running for governor another friend his mom was running for is the current insurance commissioner and that wasn't like

[00:09:15] because we're you know we're at the big public school that was just like the nature of the beast like people were involved in civic duties and roles there.

[00:09:25] And then in terms of your entering the political landscape I think that you probably had a successful political career before you could even vote so what kind of spurred you into you know helping candidates win and you know just a little bit more you

[00:09:43] know flavor on on your ascent into policy and politics.

[00:09:48] Yeah well my successful political career before I could vote was I was a field kid and I did register a lot of people to vote but that was that was the extent of it.

[00:09:57] I think you know we like politics was again part of the fabric growing up like when our neighbors were running for office we were like on the floats throwing out candy or not throwing out candy hoarding candy.

[00:10:13] Like I went to take your daughter to work day with civilians because she was next door again not because it was like I was special or whatever she just didn't have a daughter so she needed one.

[00:10:23] So when I went to college.

[00:10:27] Spillies was running for governor the first time and as I was walking into orientation the first night it was like this big production in the football stadium.

[00:10:39] There were people handing out flyers for her and I said I want to help you and they said would you like to be paid and yes and that was sort of the start of it.

[00:10:47] And I stayed in politics for throughout college and then when I graduated fortunately she was running for reelection and then just continued on from there.

[00:10:59] So you took a turn out of politics for a time and went and got your masters but now you're back so what did that pivot look like and what pulled you back towards public policy.

[00:11:10] Well I think most people I feel like politics is a career that you like try to retire from multiple times I certainly have and you try to go do other things and then you get pulled back in so one of those was after Michael Bennett ran for Senate in 2010 and it was the most competitive

[00:11:26] Senate race in the country and we raised a whole bunch of money and sort of very narrowly one I was looking for something else to do and went to business school and I was really interested in the role that the private sector plays in job creation.

[00:11:42] And so that's what I was interested in I spoke with startups and worked at a couple small companies and then worked at Uber for a while which was still somewhat early stage.

[00:11:53] And that was like a really incredible experience but I do think when you come out of politics.

[00:12:00] I mean part of what I liked about startups is they're like scrappy like politics you're just a resourceful and you do things and you execute quickly.

[00:12:09] But like it is nice back now that I'm at an acceptable and a nonprofit that the primary focus is the social element not like that's not just a side benefit.

[00:12:22] So in terms of your work to date as governor you know what are your biggest policy wins. What are you most proud of and I think you have two and a half more years in your second term.

[00:12:38] You know what do you hope to get done by the end.

[00:12:43] Well Maggie went up when I came in.

[00:12:44] I think you might remember that Kansas was in pretty bad shape. You know we had just lived through the great tax experiment and we're broke one thing and and so much damage had been done during those eight years when we weren't funding our schools we weren't building our roads or fixing our bridges.

[00:13:08] You know our all of our agencies were decimated so that they could not fulfill their mission. So when I came in it really was put Kansas back together again and and that's what we did.

[00:13:22] Unfortunately when I was in the Senate in 2017 we essentially repealed most of the Brownback tax experiment and so the monies were starting to come back into the coffers.

[00:13:34] And we were able to craft a budget that started funding our schools again. We were able to close the bank of K dot that's what we called our transportation fund.

[00:13:45] We were able to close that about three years into my administration.

[00:13:49] We had 8000 kids in our foster care program because we didn't have any resources to keep them out and then we didn't have any resources to get them out and get them back to their biological family or into an adoptive home.

[00:14:04] So I focused like the late laser on that have a terrific secretary for that agency and we have been piecing that program together again and actually making great strides and becoming a model for the rest of the country.

[00:14:19] So that's what I wanted to do and we were able to accomplish that. So when I was able to get it gets out of the gutter, you know then I could turn my attention to other things that were incredibly important.

[00:14:32] I put you know Kansas is one of 10 states that has not expanded Medicaid and it's it's senseless but just ideological at this point so I have spent six years now trying to get Medicaid expanded.

[00:14:48] I will spend the next three sessions trying to get Medicaid expanded.

[00:14:55] But even more than that, when I was campaigning for my second term, I was out in Western Kansas just at a roundtable on somebody's farm.

[00:15:05] And in fact I did several round tables out in Western Kansas and everywhere I went.

[00:15:11] The conversation always turned to water and the issues with water and so I have made water and coming up with a solution for our water issues, a high priority for my second term.

[00:15:26] You know I put I put together a sub sub cabinet focus on water I brought in a guy who used to be on my staff went and did road scholar work for two years. So I brought this brilliant guy back in a real public policy was he's my waters are so he's helping coordinate all of all of these efforts I brought back my former secretary of transportation who was absolutely fabulous at putting

[00:15:54] together a really comprehensive long range of plans and funding sources brought her back to focus on water. And that's what that's what I would like to accomplish.

[00:16:06] As I leave office is have a plan in place that begins to move us towards a sustainable future when it comes to water.

[00:16:18] I read an editorial PCS today that where they cited us being a rock star. And a couple weeks ago you were named again one of the most popular governors in the country I think you're sitting at number seven right now so your favorability ratings are very high among cans and I think that you have brought this high level

[00:16:38] high level of pragmatism and approach ability to the office that I think Kansas is very much appreciate. And we were just a couple episodes ago debating the the future of the trifecta in states the number continues to dwindle down and Kansas continues to

[00:16:56] dwindle down and historically has held these a trifecta position with civilians who you read reference before. So do you know what what do you think in terms of the strengths of split government

[00:17:11] and you know the future probability for Kansas. I'm hopeful. You know when I first got into elected politics here in Kansas. I think again Kansas was a model for the way to do it. There was a lot of bipartisan cooperation

[00:17:31] in working towards solutions that went away again quite honestly when when Sam Brownback became governor he went after all of the moderate. I think we may have lost your mom.

[00:17:50] We'll probably show a reference.

[00:17:53] Welcome back in the legislature quite successfully and so we went through it to get anything done and so you know the Democrats were just sort of put in the closet and for four years we had absolutely no influence on what happened here in the state that started to that did change temporarily

[00:18:11] and we were able to get some more moderates in here and like some more Democrats we broke the super majority. Unfortunately we're back to that right now in both chambers.

[00:18:22] But I'm optimistic and I'm going to work hard to ensure that it comes true that we will be able to break those super majorities this November and go back to having that much more collegial cooperative consensus approach to politics.

[00:18:41] It's the only way a good policy gets done. So I'm optimistic there and then I'm actually going to put my money where my mouth is I created a pack and I've raised a ton of money into that pack plan to raise some more to help us achieve our goals in November but then also to build a foundation for the 2026 gubernatorial campaign.

[00:19:07] I would like nothing more than to make history here in the state of Kansas. While Kansas has elected a number of Democrats as governor never had they done it twice in a row.

[00:19:19] And so I would I would really like to leave that as my legacy because that will ensure that you know everything that we've been able to do all the things we've been able to fix all the progress we've been able to make make for instance you know we've been breaking records

[00:19:39] day in and day out on economic development. We've we've brought in more new capital investment, more new jobs than has ever happened in the history of the state of Kansas.

[00:19:51] I would hate for all of that to go to Helen handbasket the day I walk out of office. And so I'm going to work real hard to ensure that whoever takes my place is a reasonable moderate thoughtful person who will be a team leader.

[00:20:06] I think that that is the emerging trend for popular moderate Democrat governors with Andy Bashir in Kentucky where I now live and yourself founding these packs to really find a path forward and for the future of trifectas in the future of

[00:20:23] middle of the ground policy compromise.

[00:20:27] Right one last policy conversation Kathleen tell us about inseparable.

[00:20:32] Sure. So inseparable is a mental health advocacy organization that's focused on increasing access to mental health care.

[00:20:41] It was founded in 2020 so it's relatively new and we're coming up on a pretty big milestone.

[00:20:48] We may meet it by the time this comes out but we basically passed dozens of laws across the country and I think by the time this comes out will probably hit the 50 new laws mark.

[00:20:58] So that's very exciting. We're really we pride ourselves in being sort of campaign focused or campaign style so doing everything we can to move things quickly and get things passed.

[00:21:10] And then the other piece is we are launching a pack and a C4 that's really focused on fleshing out the the electoral consequences of how you vote on mental health policies.

[00:21:23] So we want to elect champions and really give people the backing they need to take on health insurance companies who may not be covering care or other special interests who are sort of getting in the way of these sort of

[00:21:35] incredibly popular like 90 percent of people say they want their leaders to lead on mental health. It's just a really top of mind issue right now. So we're trying to put some heft behind that.

[00:21:45] Nice. All right let's talk a little bit about raising daughters.

[00:21:53] All of us are moms of girls. I'm curious you know governor you've raised two formidable women and leaders with Molly being a doctor and then Kathleen entering the public policy path as well.

[00:22:10] You know what are one to two things that you think that you did right. I mean I think that you're in a period of your life where you can probably reflect on now that the girls are women and doing so well.

[00:22:22] You can own probably some of that through you know maybe one or two things that you you did right as a working mom and there are a lot of working moms listening to this conversation that maybe we can all benefit from hearing about.

[00:22:35] Well I think the first thing I did right was right after high school. I went to New York to work with kids from the inner city. Some of them and these were hot times. This was back in the late 60s early 70s when you know we had all of the

[00:22:55] rioting going on in the city. So these kids were struggling quite honestly and acting it out. And I think just having an opportunity to work with kids gave me a leg up when I actually became the parent and these were all girls.

[00:23:16] There's no girls camp. And it really gave me a leg up when I had my own daughters because I particularly when they got to those wonder years from about 10 to 14 16 that you know I had a sense of what was coming and I prepared for it.

[00:23:35] And I also knew that it wasn't the end of the world that you know it wasn't for everything so I could I could deal with it in ways that allowed them to express themselves allowed them to solve their own problems and you know get out of their own messes.

[00:23:57] Obviously with some support but for all intents and purposes. I think really teaching them by letting them be as independent as possible. And it's interesting because I'm watching my daughter now raise her daughter.

[00:24:13] And I think I'm sort of seeing how I parented with the way that Kathleen now parents and it's it works.

[00:24:27] I was actually that was going to be my next question. What do you think you've taken from your mother's parenting style into your own to benefit Rory?

[00:24:36] Well, you know I think all like kids vary in their needs but I do think the other piece here is like mom has mom and I have kind of similar personalities and reactions to the world and Rory kind of has like a similar she wants to be independent she wants to do things herself she wants to figure it out herself.

[00:24:55] And so I do find myself like channeling mom in terms of like let it trying to let her safely figure things out rather than really having like a view on how things should be done or how she should be.

[00:25:10] And I think that comes from mom and sort of my own preferences.

[00:25:17] I also think like this is I really wanted a girl because I think girl literature is just like vastly better than boy literature and I don't totally know that because I just refuse to read any boy literature growing up but when you think about little house in the prairie and little women and secret garden and little princess it just go and

[00:25:36] like Anna Green Gables it just goes on and I really wanted to share that with my daughter and I think like I always laugh because like almost every newspaper article describes mom as like a no nonsense governor and I was like I love nonsense.

[00:25:53] I don't know what that's about but she was in on it too like when I was little and I wanted to sort of like live out my literary fantasies and only drink from 10 cups and just wear bonnets like she was enabling that so I do think also a Pete like the creating a magical childhood even with all these

[00:26:12] sort of rules and boundaries and those sorts of things is a big part that I try to take from her.

[00:26:16] Well the fact that you could walk toward me park in your.

[00:26:21] We'll have to have a lot to link Ward Mead Park and the show notes it's a very special historical property inside to be cut but right next to the neighborhood where you all lived for decades.

[00:26:35] I guess one last question for Rory if she's listening to this in 20 years what would you want to tell her on this Mother's Day.

[00:26:50] Who is that question for yeah maybe have like maybe both.

[00:26:56] First month.

[00:26:59] Well you know I am not likely to be here 20 years from now so.

[00:27:04] So.

[00:27:06] I would.

[00:27:09] I just want Rory to know.

[00:27:12] How much I love her and.

[00:27:16] How much she's made my life complete and.

[00:27:21] And I hope that she's well.

[00:27:27] She will be.

[00:27:30] Yeah I would.

[00:27:32] I don't know I thought this isn't like exactly advice but I thought a lot about sort of the modeling that I had growing up I mean there were a lot of women figures in my life I had aunts and I had neighbors and all sorts of things.

[00:27:46] But with my own mom it was nice to it's nice now as a mother to be like.

[00:27:52] If you cut I'm not going to cut back at work but if you do cut back at work and take a more flexible role to like take care of.

[00:27:59] Your kids like that's not the end of your career you can go on.

[00:28:03] If you do like start a new career when your kids are at college again it could like out outpace your first career and you could be governor so I think that those sorts of modeling like.

[00:28:14] And mom had like a bit of her circuitous path like you had a million jobs you worked at a psychiatric hospital you worked at prisons you worked at hospitals and.

[00:28:23] Like I think I want Rory to know that history and know that like sort of her path will get her where she's supposed to be.

[00:28:31] You know God willing but like I think that's that's like a nice thing to keep in mind as you're trying to navigate the world.

[00:28:38] Well thank you both I do have to close with thanking Kathleen for her constant friendship over all these decades and to the governor for you know her and her peers and neighbors for just being incredible mothers to my friends but really in terms of.

[00:28:58] My professional aspirations and modeling you know I was watching you and I was watching the key Schmidt and Kathleen's ability and just watching these women.

[00:29:10] Ascend in such smart ways so thank you for being just such a model for me and for others and such a leader for our country today so thank you both for joining us for Mother's Day and.

[00:29:25] Shout out to Beth and horse my own mother and to birdie make my daughter an eight son but since this is a girl center kept episode hello to birdie.

[00:29:34] So your mother moved to Kentucky in time for Mother's Day she did which I didn't I didn't want to open with that that felt like I was calling home talking to you both but yeah I was a little emotional this morning thinking she's here now and our stakes have been picked up from to pica which.

[00:29:51] Like Kathleen said is such a special place for both our families so we'll be home we'll be home we'll be to visit gauge park still has to be visited by our kids so we'll see you back there.

[00:30:04] But thank you both for the time.

[00:30:06] You're very welcome thank you.

[00:30:08] And thanks to our listeners for joining us for this special episode again you can find us on LinkedIn and Twitter and I hope that you subscribe and join us for next week's episode.

[00:30:22] We'll just continue this co hosting adventure and thanks to Jim again for the opportunity to join him and we'll see you next week.