The guys repairing Mark Hamill’s car told him they have to live outside of Johnson County and drive over an hour to work because they can’t afford to live there.

“I want them to be able to live in a reasonable place, reasonably close to their work – and be able to buy it, actually buy a home and experience the American dream here in Johnson County,” the candidate for suburban Kansas City’s District 2 county commissioner tells The Heartlander.

The problem, Hamill says, is “out of control” taxing and spending by the county commission – and a wayward set of priorities including DEI, rampant apartment building, and homeless shelters the community doesn’t want.

Hamill is currently serving on the Johnson County Community College Board of Trustees after being elected in 2021. Running for office and walking neighborhoods back then, he recalls “people telling me they were concerned about their kids’ or grandkids’ future.

“They’re like, ‘I’m fine, but I’m worried about them paying off their student loans. I’m worried about them buying a home, paying it off, being able to afford having a family and kids.’”

But now, remarkably, they’re worried about their own financial futures.

“This year, I mean legitimately, every day on average I have at least one person tell me that they can’t afford to live in Johnson County anymore and plan on selling their home.

“So, it’s a very different experience, even just a few years have made.

“I think home ownership is under attack. I don’t think that the county commission really understands the people of Johnson County. Obviously they know some; they’re not really thinking holistically of everybody that lives here.”

A lifelong Kansan, Hamill knows the meaning of home better than most – having once built homes by hand as a carpenter, and the past few years working in real estate and accounting, following stints in logistics at Target, Kohls and Smithfield Foods.

Now he’s worried that Johnson Countians are being priced out of the home market, in large part by county spending that’s increased nearly 50% in four years.

“We have never seen this kind of spending, ever in the 100 years of Johnson County, in four years,” he tells The Heartlander.

Hamill is concerned that his opponent, incumbent Jeff Meyers, is too trusting of county staff who, while highly talented, need to be challenged on spending more often. He compares it to his coaching of single-platoon “iron man” football, in which the same players play offense and defense and can tire easily.

“And you’ve got to say, ‘Hey, we need you to find more. You got more in there. Give me more.’ 

“Same thing with the county managers, and the accountants and everybody else that’s working on these budgets. And they say, ‘Hey, here’s what we can cut. That’s all we can cut,’ or ‘What’s my new budget? I want to spend.’ And you’ve got to say, ‘Hey, look, I need you to do better. I need you to get leaner. I need you to figure out another plan, because we’ve got to be good partners with Johnson County [taxpayers].’

“I feel like the people of Johnson County have been good partners with our government. We don’t mind paying a fair share of taxes, and we understand how great Johnson County is, and the benefits we want we have to pay for. 

“But a 47% increase in your budget in four years is not responsible. It makes no sense. There’s no excuse, even with inflation. I think if you go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they’ll tell you inflation is about 21% approximately over the last four years, which is definitely high. But to this level, there’s no reason for it. 

“And this is the time when we should be more careful with our spending – while people are really struggling.”

Hamill says a big concern of his is “corporate welfare and any money we’re giving away to businesses, corporations, big developers.  

“I’m not opposed to development or apartments by any means, so I want to make that really clear because I spent about a third of my life in an apartment. And there’s nothing wrong with living in an apartment. There’s great things in it; it provides great benefits. And you have to have healthy apartments for a good community. We have a mix of different people in different places in their life, and apartments are vital for us. 

“But quite often, people go to the extremes that there are all apartments or no apartments, You’ve got to have a healthy mix.”

Hamill says his attempts to hold the line on spending and tuition as a member of the JCCC board were usually thwarted, often by 6-1 votes. Without a sweep by conservatives Nov. 5, he’d face similar headwinds on the county commission.

Indeed, the current Johnson County Commission recently blew $500,000 or more on a failed plan for a low-barrier homeless shelter in Lenexa that city officials ultimately rejected. Not only was that a financial disaster, but Hamill says after he studied the matter he learned the county’s approach was in error; he says the lesson from Lawrence, where he was born, showed that tight congregations of homeless folks can exacerbate their problems and actually lengthen their status as unhoused.

Some may see it as ironic — that the commission was wanting to spend up to $10 million on a homeless shelter while its taxing and spending threaten to add to the homelessness problem.

“We’ve had a lot of reckless policy going on, and reckless spending, in particular in the last four years,” Hamill says.

“I want to get back to focusing on infrastructure and public safety. Those are really what we need to be doing: medical services, EMS – those kinds of things are what we need to be focusing on, not the other things that we’re just spending money to spend money, it feels like a lot of times.”

Noting his opponent is head of the county’s DEI coalition, Hamill says, “Diversity and inclusion are beautiful words when used correctly, but what they’re doing is they’re hiding equity in there, which is not equality. 

“I’m a big fan of equality. I love Martin Luther King’s vision and dream of equality. It’s probably one of my favorite lessons I learned in school, and it may be even one of the reasons why I like history so much. Someone who could love somebody that was hating them is beautiful. It’s Christ-like. It’s one of the best Christ-like examples I can think of in modern history – turning the other cheek and changing hearts and minds.  

“Equity is demanding to take from somebody else to give to somebody else. And that doesn’t change hearts minds; that hardens hearts and minds. And I don’t want that. I want a community that can live together and love and respect each other appropriately. 

“I don’t think DEI is the way to go to make this happen.”