Candidates for public office typically get a lot of mail – everything from questionnaires from media outlets to queries from would-be constituents.

But several candidates for open seats in the Kansas Legislature said they were somewhat surprised to receive correspondence Thursday not from a Kansas citizen or a media outlet – but from film star Robert Redford.

It turns out the Sundance Kid, a long time environmentalist, is a heavyweight in an effort by environmental groups to quash the development of new coal burning power plants.

In the letter, Redford briefly recounts the battle over the expansion of a coal plant in Holcomb that was waged during the last session of the Kansas Legislature, and urges candidates to “lock arms” with Gov. Sebelius and Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby and continue to oppose the plant’s construction.

Julia Lynn, a Republican who is seeking election to an Olathe Senate seat to which she was appointed after the retirement of Sen. Kay O’Connor, said she wondered, “What the heck is he doing,” when she saw the return address.

She gave the letter due consideration, she said.

But will it sway her one way or another? “I don’t think so,” she said between gales of CO2-emitting laughter.

Lynn voted in favor of the power plant, and supported efforts to override three vetoes issued by Sebelius on the issue.

Joy Bourdess, a Republican candidate for the 11^th District seat in the Kansas House, said she found the letter “quite humorous.”

“It made me laugh. I read one paragraph and totally knew what side of the issue he was going to be on,” she said.

Bourdess, who also supports the coal plant, said she didn’t resent Redford’s intrusion into a Kansas political issue.

“It kind of comes with the territory for a candidate,” she said. “I get a lot of campaign-related stuff, some from inside Kansas and some from outside.”

Steve Fitzgerald, a Republican seeking election to the Kansas Senate in Leavenworth, also received the letter and gave it all the consideration he said it deserved.

“It went in the round file pretty quickly,” he said. “What’s Robert Redford know about making electricity?”

Fitzgerald wasn’t surprised to hear from the screen star.

“I figured he was on another of his environmental crusades,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said if elected, and if the coal plant issue emerges in the Legislature next year, he would support it.

“I think the Governor is really out of step with the people and with Republicans and even some Democrats on this whole climate issue,” he said.

Fitzgerald said he believed Sebelius’ national ambitions had caused her to find common cause with the extreme environmental wing of the Democratic Party.

As a Kansan, he was unhappy with Sebelius’ opposition to the plant, but as a candidate, he’s thrilled.

“As I go door to door in this heavily Democratic district, working people aren’t feeling like all this environmental baloney is helping them,' said Fitzgerald, "so I think Sebelius gave me as a candidate a gift when she vetoed the coal plant.”

Despite the celebrity’s plea, a spokesman for Sunflower Electric Power Corp. said the company still intended to pursue every avenue to allow the plant expansion to proceed.

Currently, Sunflower is seeking a hearing before the Board of Administrative Hearings to review the plant’s rejection. Sunflower alleges that KDHE Secretary Rod Bremby exceeded his authority when he disregarded the recommendation of his professional staff and denied an air permit sought by Sunflower.

Bremby said concerns over greenhouse gas emissions led to his decision. However, Sunflower pointed out in its appeal that the state does not have any laws or regulations on emissions standards.

A spokesman for the Department of Administrative Hearings said a decision on whether to hold a hearing would be announced Sept. 22.

But Steve Miller, a spokesman for Sunflower, pointed out that the administrative hearing officer’s recommendation – if a hearing is held – would be non-binding, and that company officials did not expect Bremby to change his mind if the issue returns to his desk.

Depending on what happens with the Board of Administration appeal, the issue could wind up in the lap of the Kansas Supreme Court, which has assumed jurisdiction in the case.

Miller added that company officials were ready to launch another effort on behalf of the plant in the Legislature, if a hearing is not held or if a finding supports Bremby’s decision.

Miller said he wasn’t particularly surprised Redford weighed in.

“It shows the connected nature of all sides in this debate,” he said. “The coal industry has our allies and our opponents have theirs.”

Waging environmental battles is nothing new for Redford – he was opposing coal plants long before it became the cause de jour for environmental groups.

In 1975, he participated in a successful campaign against construction of a coal plant in Southern Utah, an area that was designed years later by President Bill Clinton as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Since then, Redford has opposed coal plant projects from Kansas to Kent, England.

He also has financed, produced and narrated a $60,000 film, free for the viewing, which has become sort of a coal plant anthem for environmental groups. The film, “Fighting Goliath: The Texas Coal Wars,” documents a battle over construction of coal-fired power plants in Texas.

The Sierra Club, which is at the forefront of a campaign to cripple the coal industry, has hosted showings of the film throughout the country, as have other environmental groups.

Redford has been linked to numerous environmental groups over the years. He founded the Institute for Resource Management in the early 1980s, and during his time managing that organization he hosted in 1989 a global warming summit, Greenhouse Glasnost, at a resort he owns in Utah. He also has been a board member and spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

He has won numerous awards for his environmental work, including the 1989 Audubon Medal Award and the 1987 United Nations Global 500 Award, the 1993 Earth Day 5 International Award and the 1994 Nature Conservancy Award.

- Phil LaCerte

The Week in Review