By Tim Carpenter, Topeka Capital-Journal, January 03, 2011
Gov.-elect Sam Brownback nominated secretaries Monday to lead the state's government's environmental and social service agencies.
Robert Moser, a physician and director of rural health and outreach at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Wichita, will be secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Moser was previously in private practice in Greeley County.
The new secretary of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services will be Robert Siedlecki, who is chief of staff with the Florida Department of Health. He is former legal counsel to the Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives in the U.S. Department of Justice under President George W. Bush.
"They are difficult jobs. These are outstanding individuals," Brownback said at a Statehouse news conference.
Brownback said both Republicans would play a role in carrying out his new administration's plan to improve stability of families in Kansas.
"Our administration will work for a strengthening of healthy marriages, a decrease in the percentage of children in poverty and protection from threats to our state's families' well-being," Brownback said.
He said a top priority would be mitigating economic disincentives for people in welfare programs to avoid marriage. He said some Kansans choose not to wed because they would lose government assistance.
"I think this is a crying shame you have to make that choice," Brownback said.
During the brief meeting with reporters, the governor-elect also spoke to people who oppose abortion at all levels. "Every person is a unique and special individual," Brownback said.
The KDHE and SRS appointments came one week before Brownback is scheduled to be sworn into office as governor Jan. 10. Brownback will officially surrender his U.S. Senate seat on Wednesday.
KDHE is responsible for environmental regulation and administers public health programs and coordinates the state's efforts to deal with disease outbreaks and epidemics. Its current budget is $240 million, and it has a staff of more than 1,000 employees.
Siedlecki, 41, has worked in Florida since leaving the justice department in 2009. He was an attorney with Southern Shuttle Services from 2005 to 2007 and worked on children and family issues as a special assistant to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2001 to 2005. He was an associate in three law firms from1996 to 2001.
He said he was eager to work for a governor with "strong convictions, courage to fight for those convictions and the will to make a difference for his fellow citizens."
SRS has 6,000 employees and operates six hospitals for the developmentally disabled and mentally ill. Its budget exceeds $1.7 billion, making it the third-largest in state government, behind the Kansas Department of Education, which distributes aid to public schools, and the higher education system.
SRS oversees foster care for troubled children, with its workers assessing whether children should be removed from their families over allegations of abuse and neglect.
Moser, 52, has been a physician for 22 years and received a medical degree from KU in 1985 and a pharmacy degree from KU in 1981. He practiced medicine in Greeley County until September, when he started work as the KU-Wichita medical school's rural health and outreach director.
"I am honored to have this opportunity to serve Kansas and her citizens in this capacity," he said.