GOP skeptics raise alarms about governor’s selection of Winter, Lane
By TIM CARPENTER
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Bipartisan majorities in the Kansas Senate voted Wednesday to confirm three nominees to the Kansas Board of Regents recommended by Gov. Laura Kelly.
The process of considering nominations of former BNSF Railway executive Carl Ice, retired school superintendent Cynthia Lane and former banker and state Sen. Wint Winter took on an unusually high level of political intrigue as some GOP lawmakers sought to derail Kelly’s picks of Lane and Winter to the state board with oversight of more than 30 public universities, community colleges and technical colleges.
The Senate Education Committee conducted an extensive inquiry into the nominees despite a unanimous vote of support last year by the interim Senate Confirmation Committee.
Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican and chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, said evidence raised in the extended process resulted in a recommendation Ice be confirmed. She said the other nominees — Winter and Lane — were forwarded to the Senate without a recommendation because some lawmakers were convinced the nominees hadn’t been sufficiently transparent in answers to written and oral questions.
“It is up to this body to assure the nomination process and the confirmation process isn’t perfunctory,” Baumgardner said.
Before the vote, Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, delivered a brief speech endorsing each of the governor’s nominees.
Ice won unanimous support from the Senate with a 38-0 vote on confirmation. The margin for Winter was 24-9, while Lane was confirmed 23-11.
During the Senate committee hearings, questions were raised by GOP lawmakers about political allegiances of people selected by the Democratic governor. They quizzed Winter about his opposition to re-election of then-Gov. Sam Brownback, while Lane was questioned about her involvement in a school-finance lawsuit that led to a finding the Legislature’s approach to funding K-12 public schools was unconstitutional.
The political dimension of the Senate’s consideration of the nominees was unusual given that three of six members of the Board of Regents, aside from Winter, previously served in the Legislature.
In addition, Brownback selected Helen Van Etten, who served as Republican National Committeewoman, to serve on the board in 2013 at the same time she served in that high-level Republican Party position.