TOPEKA—A nominating commission charged with naming candidates to fill a district judge vacancy in the 28th Judicial District has issued a request for assistance from the public.
The 28th Judicial District includes Ottawa and Saline counties.
The nine-member commission is responsible for submitting the names of two or three nominees to the Governor for the vacancy which will be created by the retirement of Judge Daniel L. Hebert, effective January 2011.
“The nominating commission is especially interested in receiving recommendations of suggested nominees to fill the vacancy from the general public. All of the citizens of the 28th Judicial District are requested to consider this matter and the names of suggested nominees submitted by the general public will be welcomed by the commission,” according to Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss, who is acting as chairman of the nominating commission.
Kansas statutes require that a judge be a resident of the district in which selected, be at least 30 years of age, have been in the active practice of law for at least five years, and have been admitted to the practice of law within the State of Kansas.
Suggested nominees are requested to complete questionnaires for the position. The completed forms should be returned to Norman Kelly, commission secretary, P.O. Box 2388, Salina, KS 67402-2388, no later than 5:00 p.m., October 1, 2010. The forms are available in the office of clerk of the district court, in Saline and Ottawa counties and are available online.
The nominating commission will convene at 8:00 a.m., October 12 in Room 313 of the city-county building at 300 W. Ash in Salina to interview the suggested nominees. The meeting will be open to the public; however, the commission has the authority to adjourn to executive session to discuss personal traits of the suggested nominees.
The law requires that the commission submit at least two names, but not more than three, to the Governor who may appoint any of the suggested nominees.
Notices of vacancy have been mailed to every attorney in this judicial district by the chairman of the commission.
The 28th district judicial nominating commission includes Chief Justice Nuss, as the nonvoting chairman, and Lance H. Cochran, Phyllis A. Anderson, Catherine J. Craft, Norman R. Kelly, David D. Moshier, and Elizabeth (Betsy) A. Wearing, all of Salina; Frank R. Cole, Bennington; and John Pruitt, Minneapolis.