Controversial former state board of education member Steve Roberts running for state treasurer – The Topeka Capital-Journal

A former state board of education member, best known for invoking the "n-word" at a board meeting in 2013, is running for state treasurer.

Steve Roberts, who served on the state board until 2020, confirmed his candidacy in an interview Monday. He filed in Marchwith the secretary of state's office to run in the race as a libertarian.

Roberts said he was running for the office in an attempt to improve education policy, saying his principal goal was to"build bridges between the governor's office and the state board of education."

"The public is ready for an upgrade (on education)," Roberts said. "And as a treasurer, I think I'll have a unique position to help move the needle."

The state treasurer's office has a number of roles, though the office does not play a major partin education policy. The treasurer operates the state's 529 education savings program and serves more broadly as the caretaker of the state's cash deposits and other assets.

State Treasurer Lynn Rogers, a Democrat, is running for re-election and he has drawn two Republican opponents, Sen. Caryn Tyson, R-Parker, and Rep. Steven Johnson, R-Assaria.

While Roberts has a website touting his campaign, he appears to have done minimal campaigning. Rogers, by contrast, has a considerable public profile that comes from advertising the treasurer's office and Johnson and Tyson may well air television ads of their own.

Still, Roberts insisted his intent was not to disrupt the race and draw votes away from the Republican candidate.

The election, he said, was his for the taking, even though a third party candidate has not won statewide office since 1899.

"I'm not in it to be a spoiler," he said. "I'm in it to win it."

Serving as a Republican on the state board of education from 2012-2020, Roberts burnished a reputation as a conservative who made provocative comments.

That includes the 2013 controversy stemming from his use of the "n word" during a debate over new state history standards. Democrats, including some of Roberts' colleagues on the board, called for his resignation over the matter.

Roberts said he felt the new standards were too "politically correct" in some areas. He said the racial slur had become anathema, even though it is in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From a Birmingham Jail."

"I would almost do a test to see what the effect on Twitter would be. You know that Roberts guy said (expletive)in a school board meeting," Roberts said at the time."'And he said it as, its probably the ugliest word in our vocabulary. Its an utterly repugnant, absolutely horrific word that we should rise above. But I did get it out there, and I appreciate the opportunity to do that..

He also drew statewide attention for a speechwhen the board of education debated an executive order fromGov. Laura Kelly delaying the start of the 2020-21 school year because of COVID-19.

The remarks did not mention the pandemic but touched on topics ranging from teacher pay to eliminating the federal free-and-reduced price lunch program.

Roberts also ran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2020, earning 2% of the vote in the race won by current U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall.

Andrew Bahl is a senior statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at abahl@gannett.com or by phone at 443-979-6100.

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Controversial former state board of education member Steve Roberts running for state treasurer - The Topeka Capital-Journal