Kan. Governor Names Former Insurance Agent to High Court

A state Court of Appeals judge who once worked as an insurance agent will join the Kansas Supreme Court this week.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius announced that she appointed Lee A. Johnson. He will replace Justice Donald Allegrucci, who is retiring after two decades on the state’s highest court.

Johnson, a 59-year-old native of Caldwell, in Sumner County, has served on the Court of Appeals since 2001, having been appointed by Gov. Bill Graves. He is the third appointment to the seven-member Supreme Court by Sebelius, a Democrat.

Sebelius said one factor in Johnson’s appointment was the varied law practice he had before joining the Court of Appeals. Someone working in a small town “sees a little bit of everybody.”

The newest justice spent two years on active duty in the Army’s Corps of Engineers after graduating from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1969.

He worked as an insurance agent before starting law school at Washburn University, in Topeka, in 1977.

Johnson said he took over his family’s insurance business for six years because his grandfather had died and his father began managing his grandfather’s farm and ranch. He always planned to go to law school after leaving the military.

The other finalists for the Supreme Court position were Court of Appeals Judge Tom Malone, appointed to that position in 2003 by Sebelius, and Douglas County District Judge Robert W. Fairchild, another Graves appointee.

Johnson becomes a justice following more than two years of intense scrutiny and criticism from legislators of the high court, much of it over the court’s decisions forcing spending increases for public schools. Conservative Republicans have pushed unsuccessfully to change the process of selecting justices, and one proposal would require them to be confirmed by the Senate.

Sebelius doesn’t favor a change, saying that the current system, in which a nine-member nominating committee screens applications and names three finalists, has worked well. Johnson also said the current system has worked well, and he said it’s natural for some people to criticize how the court rules.

“Lawsuits, like horse races, generally have a winner and one or more losers, so part of the system is you’re going to have displeasure in every lawsuit,” Johnson said.

The governor’s previous appointments to the high court were Carol Beier in 2003 and Eric Rosen in 2005.

Johnson praised his predecessor, saying, “I must confess to being somewhat apprehensive about the rather large shoes that Justice Allegrucci is going to leave me to fill.