Sometime this evening we will know who will face off on Election Day in county commission, and congressional, gubernatorial and other state races.
Those selected will start, as early as the sun rises Wednesday, using every device known to mankind to persuade voters they are the absolutely correct person to serve in whatever position they seek.
Millions of dollars will be spent in Kansas to convince voters of supposedly the better choice, that result being of utmost importance to the individual parties, and more so this year
for obvious reasons.
The Second District congressional seat might make the difference as to which party controls the lower house of Congress, and keeping a Republican in Cedar Crest is the aim of the Republican National Committee.
In November two-thirds of Allen County voters also will have responsibility to decide who fills two seats on the county commission.
For all practical purposes the third seat will be decided next Tuesday, when precinct men and women from the Second District gather in the courthouse assembly room to nominate a replacement for Tom Williams.
Williams resigned a week ago to accept a position as a special agent in Attorney General Derek Schmidts office, to put his long-practiced skills as an investigator to use for the advantage of Kansans who have suffered from fraud or abuse.
No candidates have publicly surfaced as of today to replace Williams.
For those so inclined, they should know the district comprises Iolas Second Ward, Gas, Mildred and LaHarpe, and Carlyle, Elm, Deer, Geneva, North Iola and Osage townships.
Whoever arrives at next Tuesdays convention with designs to serve will have to be nominated by one of the precinct representatives. They also should come prepared to give a short commentary about themselves and their qualifications.
Then, precinct representatives will vote. The winner will have his or her name forwarded to Gov. Jeff Colyer for appointment. Governors rarely deviate from the lead of local nominators.
Darolyn (Cricket) Maley, Allen County treasurer, will moderate the meeting as county GOP chairperson.
A good idea is for potential candidates to make their interests known to Maley ahead of the convention. Also, they may learn names of nominators at County Clerk Sherrie Riebels office.
For the record, commissioners meet at 8:30 a.m. each Tuesday. They are paid about $21,000 a year and participate in the countys life and health insurance plans, as well as the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System.
AN ADDENDUM: Larry Walden told the Register Monday he had retired his petition, which meant to require a vote to increase county commission size to five.
His rationale was the possibility of the county soon having two, maybe three, new commissioners was enough for now, without voters having to stew over increasing the number to five.
Bob Johnson
