About Tom

Skip down to: Leadership, Photos

Biography

Tom was raised on a small farm in Central New York State where he learned the importance of being reliable and working hard by milking cows twice per day, in addition to all of the other farm responsibilities that fall on the eldest child. He graduated in the top 10% of his class from McGraw Central High School and lettered in baseball, basketball, soccer, and rifle.

He attended Syracuse University on scholarship and graduated 1968 with a B.A. degree featuring a major in Political Science. He earned a Masters Degree in Political Science from Michigan State University and served as a Teaching Assistant. Following a year back on a dairy farm to support a seriously ill family member, Tom returned to Michigan State. Ultimately transferring to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he earned his PhD in Political Science and headed a faculty member’s 30-person research team.

Tom served as Associate Director of the Kansas State Nurses Association and then moved to the Kansas State Senate as Chief-of-Staff for the Senate Majority Leader, Bob Talkington. Leaving the Senate, he represented the Getty Refining and Marketing Company as a Government and Community Affairs Representative for three years before returning to the Kansas State Senate as Chief-of-Staff for the Senate President, Bob Talkington.

Following Senator Talkington’s retirement, Tom served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Corrections; and then Executive Director of KPL/Western Resources’ Government Relations, Corporate Communications, and Economic Development Departments; before seeking the 45th District’s seat in the Kansas House of Representatives in 1994.

Tom has served as Chairman of the Special Joint Committee on Energy, Chairman of the Higher Education Committee, Vice Chairman of the Utilities Committee, and Vice Chairman of the Government Efficiency and Technology Committee.

He has served as Chairman of two Discussion Groups on Electric Transmission Issues at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); is the only state legislative member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s 30-member Electricity Advisory Committee; is a member of the National Wind Coordinating Collaborative’s Steering Committee. Tom is President of the Lawrence Technology Association and Chairman of Rural Water District #1. He also serves as a member of the Kansas Energy Council; and is a member of the Insurance Commissioner’s Telemedicine Task Force.

Tom and Gail recently celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary and have three adult children and two grandchildren. Wendi, Jeremy and their family live in North Carolina; Keith and Michelle live in Texas; and Lynnette lives in Lawrence. Gail developed the natural resources education and mentoring program at Haskell Indian Nations University for the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and other federal and tribal natural resource agencies.

Leadership

Tom is recognized in Kansas and nationally as being very well informed and an innovative policy-maker on energy, water, telecommunications, higher education, and other policy areas. Following is a list of some of the organizations and positions of responsibility that Tom has held or is currently holding.

Energy:

U.S. Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee – only state legislator on 30-person committee to make policy recommendations to the next Administration

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) – organized and chaired two discussion groups on policy options related to expediting the construction of high voltage electric transmission lines to move renewable and other energy from rural areas to urban load centers

National Wind Coordinating Collaborative (NWCC) – only state legislator on Executive Committee of non-partisan organization that engages utilities, environmental groups, public policy groups in research and collaborative advocacy efforts on behalf of wind energy

Council of State Governments (CSG) – Co-chairman of the Energy & Environment Task Force for two years, member for 10 years

Midwest Legislative Council (MLC) – Co-Chairman of Renewable Energy Committee for 2 years

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) – Frequent participant and speaker at Energy Workshops to educate legislators (e.g., Advanced Coal Technologies, Distributive Generation)

Kansas Electric Transmission Summits I-V – Organized and chaired five Summits involving FERC Commissioners, state legislators, regional transmission operators, Kansas utility executives, wind developers, etc. on how to expand transmission lines in Kansas to address wind energy’s potential and electric rate disparity issues

Joint Legislative Committee on Energy – Chairman

House of Representatives’ Utilities Committee – Vice Chairman

Water:

Council of State Governments, Midwest Legislative Council – See above

Kansas Reservoir Sustainability Summit – Organized a Summit involving the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), Corps of Engineers, state policy-makers, and water stakeholders to begin debate on how to extend the productive lives of the large reservoirs (e.g., Clinton, Perry)