To the editor:

I was most interested in the Aug. 4, 2026, news story on Ty Masterson visiting Great Bend and explaining his job at Wichita State University (WSU). Ty described himself as a Non-Traditional Pick to head a program made possible by a generous gift from Wichita Billionaire, Charles Koch. When a donor like Charles Koch, a Koch entity or foundation gives money to a public university foundation or program (such as Wichita State University’s GoCreate), the donor receives a charitable tax deduction.

So Charles Koch, who has a net worth in excess of $73 billion dollars, deducts from his taxable income the cost of the program, including the salary paid to Ty Masterson – who also serves as President of the Kansas State Senate – who purportedly does not show up for work; yet is given a six-figure $217,350 annual salary as the director of GoCreate.

If Charles Koch or one of his organizations is buying influence in the Kansas Legislature, the gift should not be tax-deductible. I find it hard to believe Ty Masterson would have been the Non-Traditional Pick to head up this program at WSU if he was not State Senate President.

Further, I understand Ty Masterson’s defense at the Great Bend event for supporting SB 98, enacted in 2025, which establishes a 20-year state and local tax exemption designed to attract large-scale, permanent data centers was justified, in part, by him saying it is wrong to charge “sales tax on top of tariffs.”

That’s called a 2-tier tax system: one for the special interests who get great property and sales tax reductions while the rest of us continue to write checks to pay our bloated sales and property tax bills.

Democratic Party Nominee for Governor Cindy Holscher recently said, “As Governor, I’ll call for a moratorium on new data centers because people come before profits. That’s a choice you’ll never see from Ty Masterson.” Now we have a choice to make in November.

Kent Roth

Ellinwood