WICHITA, Kan. - I will vote a straight Democratic ticket on November 2nd. I will be voting for Democrats Raj Goyle, the 4th District Congressional candidate, Tom Holland for governor, Lisa Johnston for U.S. Senate, Steve Six for attorney general, Chris Biggs for secretary of state, and Dennis McKinney for state treasurer. I will also vote for Ponka-Wi Victors, who is unopposed in the 103rd House District. I haven't met Victors, but she's a Democrat and is highly regarded by Delia Garcia, my long-time representative, so I will vote for her.
One person stands out for me among all these excellent Democratic candidates, though. That person is Oletha Faust-Goudeau, who is running for the 4th District seat on the Sedgwick County Commission. Oletha is now my state senator. Previously she was the representative from the 84th House district, the district that neighbors mine. Even though Oletha didn't represent my district, I would often call or e-mail her, asking for a vote that supported education or other issues important to me. She almost always listened to my requests and when she didn't, it was because she had good reason to vote otherwise.
I was happy to support her when she ran for senate in the 29th District. I knew she was a lawmaker who listened to her constituents. Thanks to her efforts, the sensible Grandparents as Caregivers Act passed both the House and the Senate and became law, thus giving grandparents the right to be foster parents when their grandchildren needed them to step in. Also, she advocated for funding for male mentoring programs through the Fatherhood Initiative Act.
Oletha listens to people. She attends every event she can that she thinks is of importance to her constituents. 
She is one of the most loving people I've ever met, and while this may necessarily not be the most important attribute a candidate can have, given the current political atmosphere, I would say love could go a long way toward solving our problems.
A few years ago, I spent a day with Oletha doing some door to door campaigning with her. She had some teenaged relatives with her, and we had a wonderful time. I found people in her district to be positive about Oletha and she won that election handily.
This time around, her election might not be so easy. The 4th County Commission district is much larger and the people in that district don't know her as well as some of us who have benefited from having her in the House and Senate. If they're smart, though, they will vote for Oletha Faust-Goudeau, the politician who is a true public servant.
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