Rep. Huntington interested in Wysong's Senate seat

Senate Vice President John Vratil said whoever replaces David Wysong in the Kansas Senate will have some extremely difficult shoes to fill.

Wysong, R-Mission Hills, who was first elected to the Senate in 2005, last week announced he will resign his position Dec. 13 in order to spend more time with his family. Wysong chaired two committees: Commerce and Special Committee on Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation; served as vice chair for the Joint Committee on Economic Development; and served on the Ethics and Elections, Public Health and Welfare, and Ways and Means committees.

“Personally, I think this is a real loss for the Kansas Senate and the people of Kansas because David was an outstanding senator and played a major role in the Senate’s business,” Vratil, R-Leawood, said. “But I respect his decision and the reasons for it. He’s the only person that can make that decision. I’m not going to try and change his mind. I respect he is putting his family and his concerns about his family in a first priority position, and that’s what he ought to do.”

Although his replacement will not be selected until after Dec. 13, the process has already begun, and one person, State Rep. Terri Huntington, R-Fairway, wants to fulfill the final three years of Wysong’s term and has received Wysong’s endorsement.

“I am actively seeking that position,” she said. “I think experience during these economic times is important and I think the next senator should know the legislative process and be able to hit the ground running, especially when you’re fulfilling a term in the middle.

“I think it’s going to take somebody with experience, somebody that is familiar with the budgeting process. Some people say the non-budget because we don’t have any money, but how can we allocate the funds we have left in the Kansas coffers.

“I think I have that expertise.”

Huntington is in the middle of her fourth term in the House, where she serves as chair of the Higher Education Committee, co-chair of the Engineering Success for the Future of Kansas Taskforce Committee, and a member of the Education Budget Committee, Select Committee on KPERS, and the Joint Committee on Pensions, Investments and Benefits.

Selecting Wysong’s replacement will be up to the precinct committee members of the Johnson County Republican Party. The party has 22 days after Wysong’s official resignation date to meet and select a replacement.

Party Chairman Ronnie Metsker said the initial steps to pick Wysong’s replacement have already begun in accordance with state law.

“We will be calling a convention consisting of the appropriate precinct committee members of the Johnson County Republican Party,” he said in a statement.

If Huntington is selected, she would resign her position in the House and the county precinct process would select her successor.

In both instances, it is an open process with interested individuals able to submit their names for consideration. No one other than Huntington has yet come forward to seek Wysong’s seat.

“I’m sure there always are people out there who are interested,” Huntington said. “Sen. Wysong has only spent a year in this term. I want the job; it has been a huge privilege to represent the folks in the 26th District; they’re friends and neighbors and people I’ve known for 25 years; my children have gone to school here.

“And I think I can serve a broader district.”
Metsker said he wishes the best to Wysong and his family.

“He has unselfishly served the Johnson County area for 10 years,” he said. “David’s record of public service includes Mission Hills city councilman, Johnson County commissioner, chairman of the Johnson County Republican Party and most recently the 7th District state senator.”

Wysong has been an influential part of the Senate, Vratil added.

“David was a very valuable member of the Kansas Senate,” he said. “He had unique experience and knowledge of business and economic development and all the complexities of those topics that nobody else in the Senate had so we came to rely on him for information in those areas.

“That’s going to be very difficult to replace. I don’t know of anybody who has that kind of knowledge and experience.”

Whoever is selected to replace Wysong will be required to take part in the 2010 election cycle to complete the final two years of his term, according to Bryan Caskey, assistant state election director for the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office.

“KSA 25-321 applies to this situation,” he said. “It states, in part, ‘Any person appointed to the office of senator under the provisions of this act may hold office: If the vacancy occurs prior to October 15 of the second year of the term, until the next general election, when a senator shall be elected to fill the term.’

“Therefore, there will be an election in 2010 for the remainder of the Kansas Senate District 7’s term.”

As a result of his resignation from the Kansas Senate, Wysong must also resign his appointed position on the Johnson County Education and Research Triangle Authority.

Ed Eilert, Johnson County 4th District Commissioner and chairman of the JCERT Authority, said when Wysong is no longer an elected official he is no longer eligible to be an Authority member.

Wysong’s resignation from the Senate becomes official Dec. 13.

“Mr. Wysong is an appointment by the (University of Kansas) chancellor, so I will communicate with Bernadette Gray-Little and request that another appointment from her office be made to replace Sen. Wysong who no longer will be an elected official and will not be qualified, therefore, to be on the JCERT Authority board,” Eilert said.

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