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State Democratic chair to speak in Fort Scott
The Bourbon County Democrats will hold a meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center, Fort Scott Community College, 2108 Horton.
All interested Democrats are welcome to attend. More precinct committee men and women will be appointed by County Chair Shirley Palmer, and plans for upcoming events will be discussed. All potential people interested in running for an office are invited to attend.
Featured speaker for the evening will be Joan Wagnon, State Democratic Chairwoman from Topeka.
Wagnon recently retired after serving as Secretary of Revenue for the State of Kansas for eight years under governors Kathleen Sebelius and Mark Parkinson. She was appointed to the post on Jan. 13, 2003. During this time she served as president of the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board, Chair of Multistate Tax Commission and on the board of directors for the Federation of Tax Administrators. She also served as treasurer of the Information Network of Kansas and as Chair of the Kansas Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.
Prior to her appointment, she was President of Central National Bank, Topeka, a position she took after leaving office as mayor of Topeka, Kansas on April 10, 2001.
Wagnon was elected mayor of Topeka on April 1, 1997 and was the first woman to serve as mayor since the city's incorporation in 1857.
Prior to her election, Wagnon was Executive director of Kansas Families for Kids, an organization started in January, 1995 when the W.K.Kellogg Foundation awarded the new organization a $2.6 million grant for adoption privatization and child welfare system reform.
Wagnon is well known to many as a legislator from Topeka for 12 years, serving six terms from 1983-1994 in the Kansas House of Representatives
She also served as executive director of the Topeka YWCA from 1977 to 1993.
In addition, she has worked as a schoolteacher, medical researcher and community volunteer.
She also taught political communication as adjunct associate professor, Washburn University Department of communication, 2001-2002.
She was elected in February to serve as the State Chair for the Kansas Democrat Party.