Your feedback ensures we stay focused on the facts that matter to you most—take our survey.
Patrick Wiesner
Patrick Wiesner (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Kansas. Wiesner lost in the Democratic primary on August 2, 2022.
Wiesner completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Wiesner was a 2016 Democratic candidate who sought election to the U.S. Senate from Kansas.[1]
Wiesner was a 2014 Democratic candidate who sought election to the U.S. Senate from Kansas.[2] Wiesner was defeated by Chad Taylor in the Democratic primary on August 5, 2014.[3]
Biography
Patrick Wiesner graduated from Ellis High School in 1974. Wiesner earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Fort Hays State University, a law degree from the University of Kansas, and a graduate law degree in taxation from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. His career experience includes working as a tax attorney and a CPA.[4]
Elections
2022
See also: United States Senate election in Kansas, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. Senate Kansas
Incumbent Jerry Moran defeated Mark R. Holland and David Graham in the general election for U.S. Senate Kansas on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jerry Moran (R) | 60.0 | 602,976 |
 | Mark R. Holland (D)  | 37.0 | 372,214 | |
 | David Graham (L) | 3.0 | 29,766 | |
| Total votes: 1,004,956 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Kansas
The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Kansas on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mark R. Holland | 38.1 | 101,429 |
 | Paul Buskirk | 20.2 | 53,750 | |
 | Patrick Wiesner | 17.6 | 47,034 | |
| Mike Andra | 12.6 | 33,464 | ||
 | Robert Klingenberg | 8.0 | 21,413 | |
 | Michael Soetaert | 3.6 | 9,464 | |
| Total votes: 266,554 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Kansas
Incumbent Jerry Moran defeated Joan Farr in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Kansas on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jerry Moran | 80.5 | 383,332 |
 | Joan Farr | 19.5 | 93,016 | |
| Total votes: 476,348 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Libertarian convention
Libertarian convention for U.S. Senate Kansas
David Graham advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. Senate Kansas on April 23, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | David Graham (L) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2016
Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated Kansas' U.S. Senate race as safely Republican. Incumbent Jerry Moran (R) defeated Patrick Wiesner (D) and Robert Garrard (L) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Moran defeated D.J. Smith in the Republican primary, while Wiesner defeated Monique Singh to win the Democratic nomination. The primary elections took place on August 2, 2016.[1][5]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Jerry Moran Incumbent |
62.2% | 732,376 | |
| Democratic | Patrick Wiesner | 32.2% | 379,740 | |
| Libertarian | Robert Garrard | 5.6% | 65,760 | |
| N/A | Write-in | 0% | 46 | |
| Total Votes | 1,177,922 | |||
| Source: Kansas Secretary of State | ||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Patrick Wiesner |
62.9% | 59,522 | ||
| Monique Singh | 37.1% | 35,042 | ||
| Total Votes | 94,564 | |||
| Source: Kansas Secretary of State |
||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Jerry Moran Incumbent |
79.1% | 230,907 | ||
| D.J. Smith | 20.9% | 61,056 | ||
| Total Votes | 291,963 | |||
| Source: Kansas Secretary of State |
||||
2014
Wiesner ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. Senate, representing Kansas.[2] Wiesner was defeated by Chad Taylor in the Democratic primary on August 5, 2014.[3]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Chad Taylor |
53.3% | 35,067 | ||
| Patrick Wiesner | 46.7% | 30,752 | ||
| Total Votes | 65,819 | |||
| Source: Kansas Secretary of State |
||||
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Patrick Wiesner completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wiesner's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
My profession is law. My private practice expertise is tax; my military specialty was federal fiscal and contract law. My motivation is to stop the unfettered giveaway of our tax dollars by the Democrat and Republican incumbents in Congress. Thousands of contractors are getting government payouts for unneeded purposes. I saw this on Army duty. My job is to halt this looting of the US Treasury. Washington’s blowout spending has corrupted politics and divided our country. I have no faith in Washington leadership on energy and climate. The green solutions pushed are set up for failure. I will advocate for a mix of reliable energy sources including nuclear with the recognition that the intermittency of wind and solar means there must always be backup sources. We now import wind turbines from Germany who made them using Russian natural gas. Our solar panels come from China who burns coal to make them. This is nuts.
- Ban assault weapons. intend to push for laws that prohibit ownership or possession of weapons capable of mowing down advancing troops. No more Uvaldes.
- Fix the Medicaid spenddown. Private long-term care costs $7,000 to $8,000 per month and keeps going up. This bankrupts families. Retirees needs affordable nursing home options.
- Six percent interest minimum for savers. Congress gave the Federal Reserve Board the power to set the interest rates for savers. That law will change.
A budget is not rocket science. As your Senator, I will be doing the hard work of going through each word of every appropriation and authorization bill and inform the others of what programs have expired and no longer need money. This will save billions. According to the Congressional Budget Office report of January 2021, for just this year alone, Congress approved spending $432 billion on unauthorized or completed activities. I intend to look at every item of automatic spending to see if it can’t be cut.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Wiesner's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Assault Weapons Ban I intend to push for laws that prohibit ownership or possession of weapons capable of mowing down advancing troops. This includes the AR-15 – the firearm involved in the Uvalde, Texas killing of two precious teachers and 19 grade school kids. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller provides good policy guidance on gun ownership rights and public safety. Justice Scalia wrote this opinion with great care. First, the Court again recognized the right of individuals to possess firearms for traditional lawful purposes such as self-defense within the home and for hunting. I agree with that. Second, that ruling also held that Second Amendment rights are not unlimited. Justice Scalia went out of his way to declare longstanding laws designed to protect the public are valid and enforceable. States and cities – right now - have the constitutional clearance to pass local laws and regulations that prohibit possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill; that will keep guns out of sensitive places such as schools, airplanes, and courthouses; and that could put conditions and qualifications on the sale of firearms. You can't own bazookas; you can't own machine guns; you can't own rocket-propelled grenades. This is good law. We can use it to save lives and make our boys and girls feel safe. City councils, school superintendents, university chancellors – at this moment – have positive Supreme Court authority to protect students. We don’t need the NRA’s permission to do what’s necessary to protect our kids. I will take the lead in the Senate with promoting a federal ban on assault rifles, requiring no loop-hole background checks on gun sales, and giving police authority to seize the weapons of the dangerous mentally ill and those who threaten the peace. In Uvalde, the adults failed the children. No more. I watched a Republican Senator on CSPAN defend AR-15s as needed to kill prairie dogs and other varmints. I’ll win him over with a law that permits charging any animal with a hate crime if they shoot first. We’re going to rid our country of weapons of mass killing. And if some right-wing nut gets in our way, we’re going to run him down.
In Kansas, private long-term care costs $7,000 to $8,000 per month and keeps going up. This bankrupts families. Retirees needs affordable nursing home options. Baby boomer demographics compel decisive action. There will be about 65 million persons born between 1946 and 1964 who will enter the age where long-term care is needed. Likely, one in five will end up in a nursing home. That’s about 13 million residents. Once their money is gone, Medicaid is on the hook for the bill and that will cost taxpayers $104 billion a month or $1.25 trillion per year. America does not have enough facilities, personnel, or money for business as usual. The current Medicaid spenddown requirement is not sustainable. No cost controls are in place. I will lead development of a new business model with a target cost of $2,000 a month. I expect the next industry version to reach the scale with the oversight precision necessary to enable best practices use of medical and dental resources, food services, and mental health care to deliver an excellent quality of life for every resident while meeting our country’s public and private affordability goals. I will not neglect this problem.
Congress gave the Federal Reserve Board the power to set the interest rates for savers. The Board used this power to put interest rates at near zero. The reasons were to bail out the stock market, hedge funds, and mortgage companies. This has been going on for 15 years. It ends when I get to the Senate. Former workers - now retirees - who saved their earnings for a rainy day got the shaft. The damage doesn’t end there. Zero interest rates for savers got us inflated home prices, unaffordable farmland, 84-month car loans, and college students buried in debt. Amending Federal Reserve Board and other banking laws will fix this injustice. Congress can set interest rates on savings accounts and certificates of deposit at a minimum of six percent. I will fight to make it a 15-year law so savers can be made whole after a decade and a half of being taken advantage of. Wall Street will have to adjust.
I have served with Hispanics in the Army and have had dozens as clients. They are hard workers who take care of their families and faithfully serve our country. A robust immigration policy will help the Kansas economy grow when these workers become employed by our businesses. State revenues would increase as more payroll taxes would be paid into the treasury. From my experience, Mexican immigrants seem to be natural builders. They look for construction jobs; roofing, drywall, siding, you name it. Several presidents have botched border security. And many Congresses have dodged their constitutional responsibilities regarding immigration. Due to these failures, we are beyond the point where mass deportation is the answer. According to estimates by law enforcement and the Census Bureau, there are 11 million undocumented immigrants. The United States government does not have the resources or public support to carry out a deportation program dealing with all these people. Amnesty is not necessary. My solution for those here illegally is to establish special immigration facilities in northern Mexico to process those who want to apply for legal status. Those here illegally can return to that country and then reenter in accordance with US law. The reward will be a path to full citizenship. The charge will be about $4,000 per person. This will cover the costs of processing, security, and facilities. The program would probably take six years to complete. The American people will support this plan.
I intend to lead the movement to remove Donald Trump's influence from our state’s politics. Kansas gave our country Dwight Eisenhower, Father Emil Kapaun, and Amelia Erhardt. These heroes demonstrate leadership, sacrifice, and courage. Donald Trump claimed bone spurs to dodge the Vietnam draft, he intentionally doesn’t pay contractors, and hires porn stars. Who could expect Donald Trump to step into the shoes of Dwight Eisenhower? No one; we know Trump would get out of it by saying "his feet would hurt." Father Kapaun, Kansas’ Korean War Medal of Honor recipient. A brave man who followed the Bible to help prisoners of war and gave his life doing so. Donald Trump uses the Bible as a publicity stunt. You all remember the picture of Trump holding up the Bible in front of a Washington church. You can bet Donald Trump tells his supporters the “Art of the Deal” would have outsold the Bible if his books hadn’t been stolen. When the “defund the police” police movement was going strong, Trump was upset because it didn’t include him. He bragged no one can defund like him, he knows what to do, just send him the bill. Trump doesn’t quite get why we honor Amelia Erhardt. In 1937, Ms. Erhardt was lost somewhere in the Pacific Ocean while trying to fly solo around the world. Trump also considers himself an aviator. For three years in the early 1990s, Trump owned Trump Shuttle which was an east coast regional carrier with about 20 aircraft. The company never made money, ran out of cash, and in less than three years, ceased to exist. But Donald Trump thinks he deserves more tributes than Amelia Erhardt. Ms. Erhardt had one plane which ended up under water. Trump thinks that’s no big deal because he put a whole airline under. It’s way past time to permanently fired this chief executive apprentice.
The war on drugs is winnable and worth the fight. The reports indicate that heroin, opioids, and other drugs are produced in China and smuggled into the United States through Mexico. Failure to stop this drug trade is a failure of our government. The President and Congress have the duty, tools, and public support to interdict. Yet we still have more overdoses, more addicted, and more ruined lives. Legalizing marijuana or any these drugs would be surrender. I support building a wall and equally support strengthening security at our ports. The purpose is to keep drugs out. Drug trafficking targeting our young means war. Somehow this stuff comes into America from China and Mexico. In the Senate, I will push for legislation giving our President authority to search for, kill, and destroy those individuals who pour drugs into our country. The force can be a combination of law enforcement, military, and intelligence. The scope of operations can be anywhere in the world. Our weapons can include 50 caliber machines guns and flame throwers. No Miranda warning on the battlefield. Due process comes after capture. Shame on us voters for tolerating do nothing Washington incumbents. It's time we take ownership of the problem, elect capable legislators, and rip this scourge from our lives.
America is majority pro-choice. I’ve seen numbers of around 70 percent. I think 80 percent of women and half of men are pro-choice. This tells me pro-choice candidates - mostly Democrats - will be elected to federal and state legislatures. When that happens, you will see Republicans flip flopping to pro-choice faster than you can say Arlen Spector. This is the party of bone spurs. I’ve watched Republicans since Nixon. There is no policy principle as important to the GOP as staying in power. To wit, Republicans used to be against Medicare, school lunches, raising the debt ceiling, Obamacare premium subsidies, and Export-Import Bank types of corporate welfare. Lobbyists and the DC swamp will not give campaign contributions to losers. America will be pro-choice by statute rather than by Supreme Court precedent. In the short term, the overruling of Roe v. Wade will help Democrats. After just one election cycle, Republicans will be a pro-choice party. I trust a woman's judgment. I have seen where choice is sometimes necessary to avoid suffering and brutal hardship. That's why I am pro-choice.
Democrats are the party of good paying manufacturing jobs needed to support families. On this front, we get a D minus. We need the jobs here; not in China, Vietnam, or Taiwan. For the good of our economy, Americans need to make as much or more than we consume. Our trade deals haven't led to more US jobs. In our country, companies must pay, in addition to wages, the costs of Social Security, health care, worker’s compensation, litigation risk, taxes, and environmental protection. Foreign companies don’t have these costs burdens. And because the United States military’s world-wide presence keeps the peace, most of our trade competitors don’t pay for their own national defense. Few, if any, respect our copyrights and patents. The countries that export to us are getting by on the cheap. That is how foreign businesses can afford to ship manufactured products from other continents to US markets. Foreign corporations avoid US taxes by pricing their products at levels that show little no profit on US sales. Democrats need to step up and forever fix this unfairness to US workers.
I have no faith in Washington leadership on energy and climate. The green solutions pushed are set up for failure. I will advocate for a mix of reliable energy sources including nuclear with the recognition that the intermittency of wind and solar means there must always be backup sources. We now import wind turbines from Germany who made them using Russian natural gas. Our solar panels come from China who burns coal to make them. This is nuts. I frequently drive through the Smoky Hills Wind Farm in central Kansas. On I-70 from mile markers 206 to 232 you can see most, if not all, of the 240 wind turbines. Some are on the south side of the highway but most are north. One third of the time less than ten are turning; on some days all are rotating. This service intermittence is the challenge to getting wind generated electricity to be reliable. As of now, nuclear and fossil fuel backup is required. If these backups aren’t profitable, then they won’t be around. Oil, natural gas, and coal will be America’s primary energy sources for decades to come. Wind and solar can be in the mix, about 10 to 15 percent max, but only if fossil fuels and nuclear are there to carry the load. If the politicians want a carbon free economy, one or more workable energy alternatives must first be found. At present, there are none.
I want young farmers buying land not foreigners or Wall Street. Our federal agriculture policy inflates the costs of farming to the point where even veteran farmers can’t afford to buy cultivated land. America's cost of production - in seed, fertilizer, herbicides, insecticides, machinery, and insurance - is wholly out of whack with the revenue generated from current (even though elevated) crop prices. US agriculture can be profitable without subsidies if our input costs were reduced to be commensurate with global grain prices. Federal subsidy programs - crop insurance and market facilitation payments - as currently configured, inflate the cost of land, chemicals, and equipment. Farmers are gaining nothing through farm policies as the government payments are effectively a conduit for Congress to transfer money to agribusiness suppliers. Also, I have seen where absentee ownership of farmland gets the return equivalent of a 6.0 percent government bond. Getting rid of the federal subsidies will remove inflation out of farming. Deere (tractors), Syngenta (seed), and Bayer (Roundup) will cut prices to move products. This is the cost relief that farmers need and doesn't cost the taxpayers a dime. The current cost of farmland is a big reason young farmers are staying away or getting out. Farmers want to own land; they don't want to be sharecroppers.
I have been in private law practice for almost 30 years. I am also a Certified Public Accountant. My practice is focused on solving tax and debt problems. I intend to be the Senate’s expert on the tax code. My experience working with businesses and families trying to comply with tax law gives me the real-world expertise the Senate needs to write the revenue code that is fair to all taxpayers, is simple to understand, and generates the funds necessary to run the government without deficits. The many cases I have handled have shown me the government, the Internal Revenue Service in particular, is not properly staffed for its revenue collection mission. I am the first candidate to tell voters that, contrary to recent public discussion, the IRS has a culture of integrity and is committed to excellence in customer service. I will advocate for three immediate changes. The first is to adequately fund the Treasury Department with a focus on the IRS. The second is to emphasize prevention of running up balances due rather than collection of past due taxes. The third is to remove the subsidy code from the tax code. To fulfill its mission, the agency must have more Revenue Officers (collectors) and Tax Compliance Officers (auditors). This requires putting money into recruiting, training, and technology. I believe the professionals that work for the IRS are committed public servants who will produce exceptional services. They need the means and authority to collect the taxes Congress has imposed on the economy. Putting adequate resources to facilitate tax compliance will be a good investment for our country. The United States has many residents who have run up huge tax balances. Most have no capability to pay in full. Billions of dollars are owed by employers who don’t pay over their employees’ withholding taxes. Most people don’t realize this, but our government guarantees and honors the withholding of taxes shown on W2s even when the employer uses the money for other things. Collecting money owed is always a challenge. It is futile when the person that owes can’t afford to pay. This is true for both public and private sectors. The IRS presently is no better than average at collecting. Many of the uncollected taxes are five years old and more. My solution is preventing the run-up of delinquent taxes in the first place. At the business level, Congress must give the IRS the tools to intervene early before employers are allowed to leave unpaid, for month after month and then year after year, payroll tax withholdings that should go to the government. This current circumstance is unfair to both the country and to businesses that do pay. It’s unfair to the country as we are denied funds to pay for necessary government services and, thus, requiring more and more borrowing. It’s unfair to taxpaying employers who have to compete for workers against companies whose labor costs are lower because they don’t pay the withholding taxes. As a tax attorney, I have met with hundreds whose lives have been impaired and sometimes wrecked because of unmanageable tax debt and unfiled returns. From my experience, I know that at least 80 percent of taxes owed on late filed returns are never paid. In the Senate, I will be the voice leading that chamber to enact policy preventing debilitating run-up of impossible to pay tax bills. The third change needed is to remove government subsidies out of the tax code. Washington incumbents and lobbyists prefer tax subsidies because these costs don’t show up as expenditures in appropriations bills. Stopping this accounting gimmick will end the politicians’ avoidance of accountability for these special interest favors. Further subsidies, such as tax credits for wind energy, railroad track maintenance, and agri-biodiesel fuels credit, as now written, are beyond the necessary expertise of both Congress and the Treasury to determine compliance. The better policy is when a business or industry wants a federal subsidy, the House and Senate must publicly approve by vote of an appropriation.
As an Army Reserve fiscal law attorney, I learned the federal budget process. I extensively studied federal appropriations law and became an expert on what the Constitution requires before the government can spend your tax dollars. I know about mandatory and discretionary spending and how each are funded. In private law practice, I’ve been a tax attorney my entire career. I will take this knowledge and expertise to the Senate. A budget is not rocket science; but it does require hard work. As your Senator, I will be doing the hard work of going through each word of every appropriation and authorization bill and inform the others of what programs have expired and no longer need money. This will save billions. According to the Congressional Budget Office report of January 2016, for just this year alone, Congress approved spending $310 billion on unauthorized or completed activities. My Senate mission is paying off the government’s $30 trillion debt. Those of us who follow federal budgets know that neither the Washington Democrats nor Republicans have any intent, plan, or capability to make the government smaller. In DC, the two parties are one – their unified theory of government is to award trillions in public benefits so that hundreds of billions of lobbyist initiated special projects can buried into spending bills. Any claim there are fiscal conservatives in Washington is a hoax. Avoidance of debt is a fundamental Kansas value. In his farewell address, President Eisenhower told the American people: “As we peer into society’s future, we - you and I, and our government - must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.” I intend to work on other public policy such a fixing immigration, tax simplification, and coming up with an energy plan, but my focus will be on baby boomers, myself included, paying off our appalling level of public debt and doing it within 30 to 35 years. Controlling spending requires Congress to link tax revenue with federal disbursements to include paying principal on our public debt. It requires reinstatement of the debt ceiling. Congress should remove frivolous subsidies from the tax code, collect what is owed, and authorize only programs inherently governmental so that tax revenues will be enough to fund standard expenditures and retire the federal debt as fast as possible.
Senators and House members don’t read legislation they vote on. This is a throw the bums out moment. Washington dumps two to three thousand pages of legislation on the House and Senate and expects voting in an hour. None of the members read the bills but they vote anyway. On August 2 when you’re in your precinct looking over the ballot, you will have read more before casting your vote than Congress does before voting on major programs or spending trillions. I pledge never to let a lobbyist draft the law; never to depend on my staff to write out the questions I am supposed to ask at a hearing; and will never vote on legislation I haven’t read. My policy is before a Senator can vote on new law, he or she must read the entire bill, acknowledge understanding all of the provisions, and swear that no lobbyist has made a campaign contribution to get their vote. If the Senator can’t say yes to all three, they are disqualified from voting. This is the first step to ending the spectacle of Congress dumping thousands of pages of incomprehensible law on the public and then expecting businesses and government workers to figure out what they and the lobbyists meant. From my active duty Army experience, I will bring unique government acquisition and property disposition knowledge to the Senate. As Senator, I intend to take the lead in descoping the government. While deployed, I was tasked with giving legal advice to commanders on base closures, retrograde of equipment, and donation of US property in both the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters. No other Senator has been involved in government reductions at that level. In Washington, I intend to make changes. I’ll be the Senator who’ll stop the give-away of our tax dollars to the clients of well-connected lobbyists. I will tell the big government Senate incumbents that I won’t vote for conglomerated spending bills that neither they nor the rest of Congress have read. I pledge all spending proposals will be evaluated through an evidence-based and transparent authorization process. No more secret spending projects buried in thousands of pages of appropriations law. An approved expenditure will involve only a government duty that the people are willing to pay for. Yearly budgets will be passed on time and in surplus. Lobbyists are hired to keep US Treasury money flowing to special interest groups, contractors, and foreign governments. The lobbyists’ control over the timing, amount, and placement of campaign donations gives them unfettered influence over all US Senators. The threat of a well-funded primary opponent and negative ads deters all debate on federal spending reform. These lobbyists - unaccountable to voters - have taken the power of the purse away from Congress. I take it as my senate duty to defeat this power-grab of lobbyists. Only then will America have a Congress free to enact the people’s will on spending, taxes, and public debt. I have the experience, expertise, and enthusiasm to be the change the voters want. The tax code, Social Security, and immigration will be fixed. The Supreme Court will not have vacancies. The practice of giving access in exchange for campaign donations ends with me. I don’t need any favors from Washington donors. I am free to vote my conscience. This will be real change.[6] |
” |
| —Patrick Wiesner's campaign website (2022)[7] | ||
2016
The following issues were listed on Wiesner's campaign website. For a full list of campaign themes, click here (archived).
| “ |
|
” |
| —Patrick Wiesner's campaign website, http://www.wiesnerforsenate.com/patricks-promise/ | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
|
Candidate U.S. Senate Kansas |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kansas Secretary of State, "Candidates for the 2016 Primary," accessed June 2, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kansas Secretary of State, "Candidates for the 2014 Primary (official)," accessed June 2, 2014
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Associated Press, "Primary Results 2014," accessed August 5, 2014
- ↑ Wiesner for Senate, "About Patrick," accessed July 28, 2022
- ↑ Politico, "Kansas House Primaries Results," August 2, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Wiesner for Senate, “The Issues,” accessed July 27, 2022
