 Commissioners
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Commissioners
The 2006 Legislature passed, and the governor signed, House Substitute for Senate Bill No. 337, which established the Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance. The bill was effective July 1, 2006. The members of the Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance are appointed by the Judicial Council pursuant to K.S.A. 20-3202. The current members are: City: Topeka
City: Girard
City: Wichita
City: Mission
City: Topeka
City: Wichita
City: Wichita
City: Hays
City: Topeka
City: Overland Park
City: Hutchinson
City: Des Moines, Iowa
City: Lawrence
1. Richard F. Hayse, chairman The chairman of the Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance, Rich Hayse of Topeka, was appointed July 1, 2006, for a term ending Dec. 31, 2010. Hayse has been in private law practice in Topeka since 1975. He is a director and shareholder of Morris, Laing, Evans, Brock & Kennedy, Chartered, in charge of the firm's Topeka office. His practice is concentrated in business organizations, banking, real estate, bankruptcy and estate planning. He practices in both state and federal courts in Kansas, as well as before the Kansas Legislature, state administrative agencies and the U.S. Supreme Court. Hayse has lectured on business and commercial law topics for professional and lay groups, is a chapter revision author of the 1998 edition of "Kansas Corporation Law and Practice" and has been the author of several law journal articles and the Business Organizations chapter for the Kansas Bar Association's Annual Survey of Law. He is past president of the Kansas Bar Association, a member of the American Bar Association and a member and past director of the Topeka Bar Association. He graduated from Washburn Law School in 1969 after serving as editor-in-chief of the Washburn Law Journal. Prior to entering private law practice, he was an assistant Kansas attorney general in the civil division. He was also a Foreign Service Information officer for the U.S. Information Agency in various roles in U.S. embassies overseas, including press attaché, information officer and cultural officer. He is a 1964 graduate of Kansas State University. Top 2. Sara S. Beezley Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance member Sara S. Beezley of Girard is a lawyer representing the Second Congressional District. She was appointed July 1, 2006, to a term that ends Dec. 31, 2008. Beezley, an attorney in private practice, is chairman of the Kansas Board for Discipline of Attorneys and a member of the Pittsburg State University Board of Trustees. She is a former president of the Kansas Bar Association. She received a bachelor's degree from Southern Methodist University and a law degree from Duke University. Beezley is a delegate to the American Bar Association, a member of Kansas Criminal Defense Lawyers and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Kansas Bar Foundation. From 1992 to 2002, she was a member of the Board of Governors of the Kansas Bar Association. She also is a board member of the Crawford County Mental Health Center, First National Bank of Girard and the Pittsburg Family YMCA. Top 3. Sen. Donald Betts Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance member State Sen. Donald Betts of Wichita is a non-lawyer serving in an at-large position. He was appointed July 1, 2006, for a term that ends Dec. 31, 2008. Betts has served in the Kansas House and Senate, representing the 84th House District and the 29th Senate District, since 2003. He is the ranking minority member of the Elections and Local Government Committee and also serves on the Judiciary and Ways and Means committees. He is the youngest person elected to the State Senate in Kansas history. He is a graduate of Friends University in Wichita, where he was student body president and a delegate to the Harvard National Model United Nations Conference. Betts is a counselor for at-risk juveniles and works in the juvenile justice and Wichita public school systems. He was chosen by the American Council of Young Political Leaders to study government in Australia, where he met his wife, Tania. Betts has been recognized by his community with the 2007 Progressive State Network Legislator of the Year Award and the 2008 Val Wall Circle of Friends Arc Inner Circle Award. Top 4. A. Dale Chaffin Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance member A. Dale Chaffin of Mission is a non-lawyer representing the Third Congressional District. He was appointed March 25, 2008, to complete the term of Gary Alexander, which will expire Dec. 31, 2010. Chaffin is an adjunct professor in the School of Business and Administration at Baker University. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas, with a double major in marketing and accounting, and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Missouri. From 1987 to 2005, he was chief operating officer of Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P., overseeing the company's growth from a single office to an international firm with 500 lawyers and 1,500 employees in 10 offices. Prior to joining that firm, he was president and chief executive officer of Business and Industry Health Group, a joint venture company owned by Hospital Corporation of America and Research Medical Center. Chaffin also is board treasurer of Johnson County Developmental Supports (JCDS), the agency of Johnson County government that facilitates career and personal development for Johnson County residents with developmental disabilities, and is a board member of Friends of JCDS, the private fund-raising arm of the agency. He also is treasurer for Kansas Special Olympics. Top 5. Professor James Concannon Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance member James M. Concannon of Topeka is a lawyer serving in an at-large position. He was appointed July 1, 2006, for a term ending on Dec. 31, 2010. Concannon is Distinguished Professor of Law at the Washburn University School of Law, at which he was dean from 1988 through 2001. He received a bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Kansas. He has been a Kansas delegate to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws since 1998. He is a member of the Kansas Judicial Council's committee on pattern jury instructions for both civil and criminal cases and its Civil Code Advisory Committee. He was co-reporter for the Kansas Citizens Justice Initiative from 1997 through 1999 and received the Kansas Supreme Court's Award for Contributions to the Judiciary in 1997. A member of the American, Kansas and Topeka bar associations, he received the Kansas Bar Association President's Outstanding Service Award in 1983 and again in 2003. He has been chairman of the Kansas Bar's Law in Education Committee (1979-1984), Public Information Committee (1987-1988) and Continuing Legal Education Handbook Task Force (1981-1985). Concannon participated in the American Bar Association's State Rules of Evidence Project from 1984 through 1987. Top 6. Gloria Farha Flentje Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance member Gloria Farha Flentje of Wichita is a lawyer representing the Fourth Congressional District. She was appointed July 1, 2006, for a term ending on Dec 31, 2010. Flentje is senior vice president, Corporate Administration and Human Resources, for Spirit AeroSystems Inc., a role she assumed in 2007. She was vice president, general counsel and secretary from 2005 to 2008. Flentje previously worked for Boeing as chief legal counsel, BCA-Wichita, for five years. Prior to joining Boeing, she was a partner in the Wichita law firm of Foulston & Siefkin, L.L.P. Flentje graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.A. in mathematics and international relations. She received a J.D. from Southern Illinois University. Flentje is on the board of The United Way of the Plains. Previously, she served on the boards of the Wichita Area Girl Scout Council, WSU Student Athletes Scholarship Organization, Music Theatre of Wichita, Music Theater for Young People, Wichita Children's Museum, Arts Partners, Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice, The Regional Prevention Center and the WSU Women's Studies Community Council. She has also been president of the Wichita Bar Association and president of the Board of Trustees of the Kansas Bar Foundation. She is a member of the American, Kansas and Wichita Bar Associations and the Wichita Women Attorney's Association. Flentje has received a number of recognitions from her profession and the community, including the Kansas Bar Association Distinguished Service Award, Wichita Women Attorneys' Louise Mattox Award, the Wichita Bar Association's Howard C. Kline Award and the YWCA's Woman of Vision Award. Top 7. Martha Garcia Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance member Martha Garcia of Wichita is a non-lawyer representing the Fourth Congressional District. She was appointed July 1, 2006, for a term that ends Dec. 31, 2008. Garcia has been a medical technologist at Via Christi Regional Medical Center St. Francis Campus for 35 years. She has a bachelor's degree from Wichita State University. She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists and was a member of the Wichita State University Center for Women's Studies Community Council Advisory Board from 1997 to 2003. Top 8. Dr. Richard P. Heil Dr. Richard P. Heil of Hays is a non-lawyer representing the First Congressional District. He was appointed July 1, 2006, for a term that ends Dec. 31, 2008. Heil retired in 2006 after a 41-year career in the Department of Political Science at Fort Hays State University. He taught courses in American politics, Kansas politics and the Constitution. He received three degrees in political science: a B.A. from Fort Hays State, an M.A. from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. During his tenure at Fort Hays State, he was Faculty Senate president; senior policy fellow at the Docking Institute of Public Affairs and; the last nine years before retirement, chairman of the Department of Political Science and Justice Studies. Heil also served seven years on the Board of Directors of the Kansas Golf Association. He is the immediate past president of the Hays Optimist Club and is the current Optimist of the Year. Top 9. Nancy Kindling Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance member Nancy M. Kindling of Topeka is a non-lawyer representing the Second Congressional District. She was appointed July 1, 2006, for a term ending on Dec. 31, 2010. Kindling is a retired registered nurse and received a bachelor's degree from Washburn University. She was appointed to the State Task Force on Ethics Reform in Gov. Joan Finney's administration and to the State Public Health Task Force in Gov. Bill Graves' administration. Kindling was chairwoman of the YMCA of Topeka Foundation, the YMCA Downtown Board of Managers, the Topeka/Shawnee County Drug and Alcohol Agency and Florence Crittenton Services. She was a member of the Stormont Vail Foundation Board of Trustees and the Advisory Board of the Shawnee County Health Agency and was the interim chairwoman of the Topeka Youth Project. She was chairwoman of the Board of Deacons at First Presbyterian Church and was a community representative on the editorial board of the Topeka Capital-Journal for three years in the mid-1990s. She is a member of the League of Women Voters and legislative chairwoman of the Stormont Vail Auxiliary. Top 10. Honorable Larry McClain Retired District Court Judge Larry McClain of Overland Park is a member of the Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance representing the Third Congressional District. He was appointed July 1, 2006, for a term that ends Dec. 31, 2008. McClain retired in 2004 after 20 years as a judge for the Tenth Judicial District. He served as chief judge of the district from 1996 to 1999. He is a graduate of Wichita State University and Washburn University Law School. He was an assistant district attorney in Shawnee County for two years and in Johnson County for eight years. He now serves as a private mediator and has conducted more than 500 mediations. He is past president of the Kansas District Judges Association and is a former board member of Safe Home and the Johnson County Bar Association. He is active with Johnson County Bar Association Habitat for Humanity projects and serves on the 10th Judicial District Judicial Nominating Committee. Top 11. Rep. Michael R. O'Neal Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance member State Rep. Mike O'Neal of Hutchinson is a lawyer representing the First Congressional District on the commission. He was appointed July 1, 2006, for a term ending on Dec. 31, 2010. O'Neal has represented the 104th district in the Kansas House for 24 years. He is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. He is a shareholder in the Gilliland & Hayes law firm in Hutchinson and a member of the Kansas Bar Association, Kansas Association of Defense Counsel, Kansas Trial Lawyers Association and the Defense Research Institute. He received bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Kansas. In 1986, he received the Outstanding Young Men of America award and in 1987 was an American Council of Young Political Leaders delegate to the Biennial Assembly in Strasburg, France. In 1997, O'Neal accompanied a group of Kansas State University educators and fellow legislators on an educational exchange mission to Voronezh, Russia, to assist that nation's emerging democracy. O'Neal is also a recipient of the Friend of Small Business Award from the Kansas Chapter of the National Federation of Small Business, and recipient of the Kansas Bar Association's Making a Difference Award. He currently serves on the Kansas Judicial Council and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. He has also served on the Kansas Sentencing Commission, KU Law Society Board of Governors, the Kansas Tourism Commission and the Hutchinson YMCA Board of Directors, and was chairman of the Wesley Towers Advisory Committee. Top 12. Dr. Malia Reddick Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance member Malia Reddick of Des Moines, Iowa, is a non-lawyer serving in an at-large position. She was appointed July 1, 2006, for a term ending on Dec. 31, 2010. Reddick is director of Research & Programs at the American Judicature Society (AJS), a national nonpartisan organization that works to maintain the independence and integrity of the courts and increase public understanding of the justice system. One of Reddick's responsibilities at AJS is directing a two-year project to preserve and expand judicial merit selection systems. From 2001 to 2003, she oversaw the development of AJS's Judicial Selection in the States Web site, a comprehensive resource for information about the selection and retention of judges nationwide. In 2005, she was the reporter for the American Bar Association's Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee that was revising the ABA's guidelines for evaluating judges. She received a master's degree and Ph.D. from Michigan State University. She has taught undergraduate courses on constitutional law and the judicial process at the University of New Orleans, Arizona State University and the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has presented her research at numerous professional conferences, and her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, academic volumes and educational materials for court reform groups and practitioners. Top 13. Honorable Fred N. Six Retired Kansas Supreme Court Justice Fred N. Six of Lawrence is serving in an at-large position on the Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance. He was appointed July 1, 2006, for a term that ends Dec. 31, 2008. Six was appointed to the Kansas Supreme Court in 1988 and retired in 2003. He received bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Kansas and a master of the judicial process degree from the University of Virginia. He is a United States Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War. He received the Kansas Bar Association's Outstanding Service Awards in 1977 and 1989, the University Of Kansas School of Law Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1994 and the Kansas Bar Association's Phil Lewis Medal of Distinction in 2008. He served on the Commission on Judicial Qualifications from 1974 to1987 (chairman 1978-1982), the Kansas Bar Association Board of Governors (1984-88) and the Kansas Judicial Council's Death Penalty Advisory Committee (2004) and the council's Judicial Performance Evaluations Committee (2005). Top |
