A more honest Q&A with Dr. Spiehs - Part 2

Article - 3 minute read

This is part 2 of ‘A more honest Q&A with Dr. Spiehs.’ To read part 1, click here.

The commission has been pretty plain in recent months in its prioritization of boosting the county's capacity for affordable housing units, illustrated through the ARPA allocation process (nearly $10 million went to agencies dedicated to affordable housing or other housing issues). What other work would you like to see the commission do to move the needle further on that front?

What LJWorld said,

“Spiehs said he doesn’t support paying for more affordable housing, but does recognize and understand many people are struggling financially right now. Instead of adding housing, he said he would propose putting money in residents’ pockets by way of tax relief as he outlined in his earlier answer. That way, Spiehs said, residents won’t need to rely on the government for affordable housing because they’ll just have more money to live on.”

What Dr. Spiehs actually said,

Who pays for affordable housing? The taxpayer. Therefore, I won’t support anything that puts more unnecessary financial burden and strain on taxpayers, especially right now during a recession, 40-year record-high inflation, and increasingly high gas prices. That said, I do recognize and understand that many people are struggling financially right now due to national and local Democrat policies and may need some assistance. What I’m offering for assistance is to put money in Douglas County citizen’s pockets by way of tax relief as I outlined above with: 1. Tax refunds from the county’s $42 million savings account and $12.6 million in untouched sales tax revenue, 2. Eliminating, reducing, suspending, or capping the one-cent and quarter-cent sales taxes, and 3. My modified TABOR policy. This way citizen’s won’t need to rely on the government for affordable housing because they’ll just have more money to live on. Not rocket science. The fact that Democrat Patrick Kelly does not understand this and once again raised your property taxes should be reason enough for the community to vote him out on November 8th. If you don’t vote him out then all I can say is enjoy your tax increases the next four years.

On top of these questions and answers, The Lawrence Journal-World added more to their article that needs further context to get a better understanding of what they allude to. For one, they say in their article, “Spiehs was asked by Lawrence’s mayor to leave the Lawrence City Commission meeting after he called the mayor, who is Hispanic, a Nazi and said she was being racist against him because he is white. Spiehs was asked to leave under a new City Commission policy requiring commenters to focus on topics germane to the commission.”

Spiehs did call Mayor Shipley a Nazis for her racist remarks that were directed toward White people, as Nazis are racists, Dr. Spiehs explained. However, it was not until the next meeting that Mayor Shipley asked Dr. Spiehs to leave the commission meeting.

Also, an editor’s note at the end of the article said that Dr. Spiehs created a “disturbance” with “companions” at the Lawrence Journal-World office. What happened was Dr. Spiehs and two female friends entered the building to ask to speak with editor of the paper Chad Lawhorn and were told he was “in a meeting.”   The editor’s note also said, “Spiehs and two companions left the office before police arrived on scene,” making it sound like they tried to flee when, in reality, they were asked to leave and did so after some back and forth with an employee of the paper. Lawrence Journal-World still proceeded to call the police which Dr. Spiehs and his friends waited for outside the building. To get a fuller picture of the incident, refer to the above video of Dr. Spiehs going to the Lawrence Journal-World offices.