these students. Avery met with Kansas State University President Jim McCain to discuss the topic. McCain said, "Bill [Avery], we need state support for junior colleges. The war babies, they are just hitting the college level now. We're out of space, we're out of teachers. And some of these students are coming here before they are ready for a four-year college. And instead of opposing that I think you should support junior colleges so they can prepare some of these students for leaving home and adjusting to the curriculum that we have on the collegiate level in Kansas." Avery was very proud of what his reform did, and how it has weathered the test of time. Avery said, "They didn't repeal any of them. They didn't repeal the withholding tax and didn't repeal the increase in the sales tax. That provided the support for the education programs. Even though none where repealed, that did not change public sentiment towards the raising of their taxes." Bid for reelection Governor William Avery's bid for reelection took place in 1966. Avery was the Republican incumbent to the Governorship and was seeking reelection during a time where he had raised taxes, a big no-no to the Kansas citizens. His opponent was Democrat Robert Docking. Seeing as Avery's tax hike was controversial, Docking ran on a tax reduction platform. Docking's running strategy focused less on what his policies were, and more on the unpopular policies of Avery. During the summer before the election, Avery's approval rating was 46%. Towards the end of his campaign, Avery began coming up with gimmicks for reelection. "At the end of the campaign the incumbent governor was looking for anything to help, including doing two hours of "Ask Avery" TV five days before the election, where he took questions from viewers across the state." Avery lost his bid for reelection, 380,030 to 304,325. There were many reasons Avery believed he lost the election. "On election night Avery blamed the tax issues for his loss, but also noted that voters were frustrated over national problems such as inflation, rising crime rates, the Vietnam War, and student protests. Avery also believed that Kansans continued to be frustrated by school district unification which occurred during Governor John Anderson's term, but which Avery believed had a strong negative lingering effect on him." Legacy At the time of his death, he was the second oldest