Many of you have seen the pictures from the Inaugural festivities that have been occurring all over the State of Kansas for the past week. Wichita celebrated on January 4 with a theme of “Kansas All-Stars”. On January 6, “A Good Party” was held in Garden City and on January 7, Topeka celebrated with a “Kansas Mainstreet Family Festival. The final two celebrations were held in Kansas City on January 7 with a “Nice and Easy” evening at the Sheraton in Overland Park and the final Inaugural gathering culminated on January 8 with “Thinking Big” as the theme. The six statewide elected officials participated in all of the Inaugural 2007 events.
The members of the House of Representatives were sworn in at 2:00 on Monday, January 8, 2007. Our work has now begun and I want to thank each of the voters, friends, neighbors, and constituents who have given me the opportunity to work and represent each of you!
I will be sending out regular “Neighbor News Updates” and hope each of you will sign up for the online updates. I want to share with you the issues that are coming before us each day and encourage you to e-mail or call me with any concerns you might have.
My committees are Energy and Utilities (9:00), Health and Human Services (1:30), and Insurance and Financial Institutions (3:30). I had meetings today in my first two committees to have introductions and receive rules for the committees. We also met on the House Floor today for a brief session.
At 4:30, the Freshmen Representatives have the honor of meeting with Governor Sebelius to discuss upcoming issues. As our days will be starting early and ending late, I will keep you updated on all things happening here in Topeka.