THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL NEWS TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 201212A www.cjonline.com

Merrick: Previous House tenure

spanned 10 yearsthe state chairman and a national board member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a controversial non-profit that press-es for free market legislation and counts a number of corporations among its members.

ALEC named Merrick its "Legis-lator of the Year" in 2010, at the end of his 10-year House tenure.

Suellentrop also said that Mer-rick has raised some $250,000 to support Republican candidates.

Merrick's nomination was sec-onded by Rep. Pete DeGraaf and Rep. Richard Carlson, R-St. Marys, the chairman of the House Taxa-tion Committee.

DeGraaf, R-Mulvane, said the two years Merrick spent in the Senate after replacing Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer gave him an important perspective on how to advance 200 House bills that "never saw the light of day" in the Senate last year.

Carlson said Merrick is "strong, conservative, unwavering and, im-portantly, he is tactically smart."

Like Suellentrop, Carlson high-lighted Merrick's role in support-ing Republicans and helping them gain their supermajority.

"Ray has been a major factor in bringing the caucus to 92 mem-bers strong," Carlson said.

Rep. Tom Phillips, R-Manhat-tan, nominated Siegfreid, R-Olathe, saying Siegfreid is a consensus-builder, not a leader who attempts to impose his will on others.

"Simply put, he’s a stand-up guy, who inspires you to stand with him,” Phillips said.

Phillips highlighted Siegfried's work on autism issues.

Rep. Ramon Gonzalez, R-Perry and Rep. Bob Montgomery, R-Olathe, seconded the Siegfreid nomination. Gonzalez, who will represent part of Topeka after re-districting, advised the many new House members that leadership style makes a difference and noted that Siegfried remained poised

and respected as majority leader last year during "one of the ugliest sessions" in memory.

“I believe his approach will pro-vide us the best opportunity to succeed,” Gonzalez said.

Montgomery said Siegfreid's door was always open and he had many times patiently explained specific issues to Montgomery.

"Even when we disagreed, Arlen would not attempt to re-direct my vote," Montgomery said.

Kinzer was nominated by Rep. Kasha Kelley, R-Arkansas City, who alluded to his national stature in the anti-abortion community without mentioning the issue di-rectly.

“Through the years Lance has earned the respect of this body and actually many throughout the na-tion,” Kelley said.

Kelley said Kinzer possesses "honesty, integrity, competency and authenticity, intelligence, vi-sion and steadiness." Her nomina-tion was seconded by Keith Esau, who was elected this year to repre-sent part of Kinzer's previous dis-trict.

"I’ve watched his work in the House and the excellent leader-ship he’s provided as chairman of the judiciary committee and on important legislation," Esau said.

Kinzer gained only 13 votes in the initial round of voting, though, while Merrick gleaned 38 and Sieg-freid got 41.

Rep. Peggy Mast, R-Emporia, was elected House speaker pro tem, defeating Rep. Richard Proehl and Rep. Steve Brunk. Rep. Jene Vickrey, R-Louisburg, defeated Rep. Marc Rhoades, R-Newton, in the race for House majority leader. Rep. David Crum, R-Augusta, de-feated Rep. Virgil Peck, R-Tyro, to become assistant majority leader.

Democrats re-elected Rep. Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, as House mi-nority leader and Rep. Tom Bur-roughs, D-Kansas City as his assis-tant. Rep. Annie Tietze, D-Topeka, retained her position as minority agenda chair.

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