by Peggy Bair

Steve Clay a/k/a Steven Clay, is a retired Army Lt. Colonel who has resided in Leavenworth since 1997 and owned his home on N. Broadway since 1999. He is also a historian.

“I did 26 years in the Army,” Clay said. “I retired in 2006. Then, I went back out to Fort Leavenworth working as a civilian. I was either commander or deputy commander from all the way at the platoon level to brigade level. I’ve worked in plans and operations training, logistics, sustain and supply, human resources, personnel management, and education and training.”

Clay is proud of carrying on his family’s legacy of military service, his great grandfather serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, his grandfather, WWI and his father, Raymond, WWII and a brother who served during the Vietnam era. His son Ray served in Iraq.

Clay explained that while the Army is a fighting force, it’s also much more.

“A lot of people don’t realize this but the U.S. Army also educating. It’s the largest educational institution in the world. And cutting-edge education. This is one of the things I’m very proud of.”

Clay’s passion for history grew through his work with Combat Studies Institute, where he was able to provide education that studied combat and battlefield strategies. 

“I was in charge of research publication teams,” Clay said. “And through all that, I am an author or co-author of eight books. Most of those focus on military development, leadership development.”

Clay’s philosophy about writing and communication centers around reaching people of reaching people at many levels of reading.

“So often, people try in their writing to sound so much more intelligent than they need to be,” Clay said. “And they lose a whole bunch of people. You’ve got to shoot for the middle. Because if you’re up there talking all this high language, you’re leaving people behind. People who come to the commission meetings who step up to the mic, this is plain speech. It’s not unintelligent – but you need to be able to speak to people in a basic way. Not only to help each other understand, but also to connect.”

Clay has made several appearances on a history podcast with Paul Woodage, where he shares his insights on military history of WWII. His 17 years with CSI included interactive learning and conducting staff rides.

“CSI is a military history organization,” Clay said. “When I was there, I conducted what are called ‘staff rides.’ Most people think of them as a battlefield tour. But a staff ride is more. When I take a bunch of soliders they already know what happened because they’ve been given a task to read history. Going through the tour, I ask, ‘What can you draw from this as a military leader that will hold you in good stead if you run into the same type of situation in combat in your time? It’s a very practical use of history. It’s not just learning history for history’s sake. 

Clay’s run for city commission sprang from a desire to take action to help his chosen home of Leavenworth through its challenges.

“There’s any number of things you can point to,” Clay said. “If you sit around and do nothing, just complain about it, you know what? You’re part of the problem in a way. There’s an old saying that people tend to be either builders or destroyers and some people purposely destroy things. Other people purposely build things. 

It’s kind of like your yard – If you want to have a nice yard, you have to do something,” Clay said. “You can’t just let it go and do nothing. So, I felt like I needed to do something. Military people have been through a lot, not even necessarily talking about combat, you know, but the military life is a hard life. And you learn that one of the things that make you succeed is perseverance. When you have failures, you learn to say ‘I’m going to learn something from this and dust myself off and get back at it again.’”

As a second-time candidate for elected office, Clay said he understands the need to become more familiar with the inner workings of government and community entities.

“I haven’t spent my life in politics, and I don’t even like to think it’s political because the political part is getting elected,” Clay said. “Once you’re elected, you go to work. You start working toward objectives to succeed.”

Clay brought up some of the issues that he sees the city facing that people are most concerned about now.

“People who are having a real tough time in Leavenworth making it is the guy living in a $80,000, $100,000 home, on a fixed income and he’s having a hard time making payments on his house – tax payments on his house. I’m not worried about me – I can make it – but I know that other people are in that boat. 

When you have a soldier who comes to you and says ‘Hey, I’ve got this problem,’ you don’t say ‘Tough, deal with it.’” Clay said. “If you can help him – and sometimes you can’t – but a lot of times you can. You don’t want a guy going into combat worrying about whether or not he can feed his kids.”

So, it’s kind of the same concept,” Clay said. “The mil levy on houses makes property taxes go up. My Leavenworth property taxes have increased 234% since 2000. 

If we’re having some kind of big vision that we’re going to do something great and wonderful for Leavenworth, then I might get that.”

“I think we have the money but I wonder at times whether we’re spending money on the things we need to do as opposed to some of the things we want to do.”

Clay refers to one of the “need to do” projects as fixing the roads and sidewalks. 

“People come here from other towns – they come here to eat, to stay in our hotels, so it makes sense to build (things like) the pickleball court,” Clay said. “But they have to drive on our roads to get there. I’m not against the pickleball court but who is using the pickleball courts versus who’s using our roads? Virtually everybody uses the roads, which is a priority. That’s where we want to be responsible with our city funds. I’m not suggesting at all that the funds are misused. But, rather, are we using them in the best way? Are our priorities correct?”

In examining Leavenworth’s growth and future, Clay sees positive things coming from the construction of a new river bridge, and how this would tie in with enticing larger businesses into the industrial park. 

“I would like to see a major corporation build something out at the business park because that means jobs and a lot of tax revenue. It’s a solution,” Clay said.

Focusing on attracting larger business revenue, Clay feels this will lead to a better solution for reducing overall property taxes for home owners.

“LCDC and Port Authority are bringing in industry and corporate businesses because that’s where the big money is,” Clay said. “But we need to support small businesses, too.”

CoreCivic is another issue Clay is studying: how the corporation is conversing about it’s past issues, how it will conduct itself with a reopening and in what way that the facility’s revenue would impact the city.

“We need commissioners that are going to hold these people’s feet to the fire, not just simply disagree with them but also not simply just take their word for it,” Clay said. “What are we doing to try and help the city pay for the things that we need? Bring in revenue so property taxes aren’t so high. I look at the upside of this saying what it can do for the city, knowing that Leavenworth needs that money for the sake of its citizens.” 

Following up with these questions about CoreCivic, Clay made a personal visit to the facility for a tour and conversation with Warden Mackey to get a first hand look.

In attracting younger voters, Clay said the key is addressing the concerns that affect them particularly. 

“I mean, how many times have you heard in the news now about how young people are despairing because they don’t think they can afford a home? They’re delaying things like getting married, having children because of the cost of living. I saw on the news that there’s a high percentage of young people still living with their parents because they don’t think they can afford to live away from home. So, for young people, I’m looking into your present and your future. I want you to be able to afford a house. I want to look for solutions.”

If elected to the commission, Clay realizes he is entering a governing body at a time when solutions require consensus – and there will not always be agreement.

“You don’t go into these things thinking everything’s going to be perfect,” Clay said. “You’re dealing with a whole bunch of people, many of whom have a whole range of ideas, thoughts, and opinions. And you’re not going to be able to please everybody. It ultimately comes down to the debates you make – the facts that you bring up, the things that you present.”

Steve Clay also attended the League of Women’s Voters town hall and Leavenworth/Lansing Chamber of Commerce candidate forum. A link to the video of the Leavenworth/Lansing Chamber of Commerce forum, where you can hear Clay’s comments, is available here: https://youtu.be/L8aZx9kP4Vg?si=JhThOlSEg5fI0J87. Once there, you can move the slider on the video forward or backward to different points in the video.