By RYAN CHRISTNER

rchristner@dailynews.net

Rob Wasinger thinks it's time Kansas starts running with the big dogs in order to secure a more financially solid future.

Wasinger, one of six Republicans vying for the First Congressional District seat in Congress soon to be vacated by a departing Jerry Moran, made a stopover in his hometown of Hays last week and preached the importance of attracting more opportunities to the state to increase economic development.

"The key to growth in Kansas is to secure more big projects," he said, using as examples the 300,000-square-food Siemens Wind Power production facility to be built in Hutchinson and Sunflower Electric Power Corp.'s plans for an 895-megawatt power plant in Holcomb.

"It's things like that that we need to be continually pursuing and developing and building," he said, "and that's what leads to long-term economic growth.

"There's no reason why we can't be competitive (with larger areas)."

The Harvard University graduate began his political career under Gov. Bill Graves before going to work for Moran and later Sen. Sam Brownback, later becoming Brownback's chief of staff.

He said increasing job opportunities and making the state's financial climate attractive will help reverse the trend of out-migration that has driven away 60,000 Kansans - and with them about $2.3 billion in wealth.

That movement, he said, has not necessarily been to other parts of the country, but to other Midwestern states like Oklahoma, Nebraska and Missouri.

"In other words, it's people that want the values and the lifestyle in the Midwest, but they're finding something's difficult about their circumstances here that is making them go somewhere else to make them find a job," he said.

Wasinger also discussed the importance of government getting involved with local projects, like the Wilson Lake reallocation project, the construction of a reverse osmosis plant in Hutchinson, developments and improvements to the Salina airport and acquisition of federal land for increased runway space at the airport in Elkhart.

Those types of projects, he said, make up his vision for improving the state's economy.

But that's not the only important issue facing Kansans.

During his tour of all 69 Big First counties, Wasinger said he has encountered a lot of concern over the Obama administration's policies on oil and gas, and healthcare.

"We have to protect our oil and gas," he said. "(Oil producers) need to be allowed to drill and do what's best. We need to make sure that they have all the tools necessary, and we need to not take things off the table."

Locally, people he has spoken to have indicated less concern for socialized medicine and more about critical access hospitals, access to prescription drugs, rural telemedicine and access to doctors.

"Those are the issues people confront on a daily basis," he said.

Wasinger boiled it all down to an unrest over what people see as a growing divide between the government and their own backyard.

"We all pay our bills on time ... and they see Washington just bailing out one company after another, while at the same time thinking of imposing taxes on our electricity or taking away the ability of our oil and gas producers to be competitive or trying to cram down socialized medicine on the American people," he said. "So, I think people sense a real disconnect between what they see in Washington and what they live in their daily lives, and we're outraged."