Jeffrey William Colyer (born June 3, 1960) is an American surgeon and politician who has served as the 47th Governor of Kansas since 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 49th Lieutenant Governor of Kansas from 2011 until 2018, as a member of the Kansas Senate from 2009 to 2011, and in the Kansas House of Representatives from 2007 to 2009.
Video Jeff Colyer
Early life, education, family, and medical career
Colyer was raised in Hays, where his father, James Daniel Colyer (d. 2015), worked as a dentist from 1955 to 1985. He graduated from Thomas More Prep High School in 1978 before enrolling at Georgetown University, where he took pre-med courses and earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics in 1981. After receiving a Master's degree in International Relations from Clare Hall, Cambridge in 1982, he obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Kansas in 1986.
Colyer had residency training in general surgery at the Washington Hospital Center (1986-1988, 1989-1991), in plastic surgery at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (1991-1993), and in craniofacial/pediatric plastic surgery at the International Craniofacial Institute in Dallas, Texas (1993-1994).
Colyer was a White House Fellow under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, working in international affairs.
In 1994, Colyer opened his own plastic/craniofacial surgery practice in Overland Park, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri in 1994. He volunteers with the International Medical Corps, providing care in such areas as Kosovo and Sierra Leone; in this capacity, he has performed both trauma and reconstructive surgery as well as training local doctors. Colyer's work as a volunteer surgeon in combat zones has taken him to Afghanistan and Iraq, and to Rwanda during that country's genocide.
Colyer has been married to his wife, Ruth, since 1991. They have three daughters.
Maps Jeff Colyer
Political career
In the 2002 U.S. House of Representatives elections, Colyer was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination in Kansas's 3rd congressional district; he was defeated by Adam Taff, who lost the general election to incumbent Democrat Dennis Moore.
In 2006, Colyer was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives from the 48th district, receiving 62% in a three-way race. As a freshman legislator, he was selected to serve as chairman of the 2007 Legislative Health Reform Task Force. In 2008, he was elected to the Kansas Senate to represent the 37th district, receiving 63% in another three-way race. According to the National Institute on Money in State Politics:, Colyer financed $25,000 of his own campaign.
Lieutenant Governor of Kansas
2010 gubernatorial election
On June 1, 2010, U.S. Senator Sam Brownback announced that Colyer would be his running mate in his bid to become Governor of Kansas. Brownback and Colyer were elected on November 2, 2010, and assumed office in January 2011. Colyer resigned his State Senate seat on January 10, 2011, prior to taking the oath of office as Lieutenant Governor.
2014 gubernatorial election
In October 2013, Kansas state representative Paul Davis, the Democratic minority leader of the Kansas House of Representatives, announced he would challenge Brownback in the 2014 Kansas gubernatorial election. In July 2014, more than 100 Kansas Republican officials endorsed his Democratic opponent Davis. These Kansas Republicans said their concern was related to deep cuts in education and other government services as well as the tax cuts that have left the state with a major deficit.
In late September 2014, Tim Keck, chief of staff for Colyer, unearthed and publicized a 1998 police report that noted that Davis, 26 and unmarried at the time, had been briefly detained during a raid on a strip club. Davis was found to have no involvement in the cause for the raid and quickly allowed to leave. Responding to criticism of Keck's involvement in the campaign, Brownback spokesman Paul Milburn commented that it was legal to use taxpayer-paid staff to campaign. Media law experts were amazed after learning Montgomery County's sheriff released non-public investigative files from 1998 with just a records request. Brownback and Colyer were reelected, defeating the Davis ticket by a 3.69 percent margin.
Tenure
Despite numerous judges having rejected challenges to the natural-born citizenship of Barack Obama since before he was elected president in 2008, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach persistently demanded proof of citizenship before allowing Obama's name to appear on the 2012 Kansas presidential ballot. In September 2012, Kobach, with the support of both other State Objections Board members, Colyer and Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, requested additional evidence that Obama was born in the United States. CNN reported that "the Kansas ballot measure is one of several examples of the birther movement's still-persistent presence." The New York Times editorialized that the actions of the Kansas authorities "reignited long-running conspiracy theories that the president was not born in the United States". According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, the three said they did not have sufficient evidence regarding whether or not Obama was eligible to appear on the Kansas ballot as a candidate for the 2012 presidential election. They stated a need to review his birth certificate and other documents from Hawaii, Arizona, and Mississippi before they could respond to a complaint alleging that the president was not a "natural born citizen". "Given the cursory response from President Obama, the Board is merely attempting to obtain additional information before making a decision," said Kobach's spokesperson.
As Lieutenant Governor, Colyer "took the lead in designing KanCare, the state's privatized Medicaid program".
Colyer "and others in the Brownback administration were investigated and cleared by a federal grand jury as part of an inquiry into loans made in 2013 and 2014 to [Governor Brownback's] re-election campaign".
Governor of Kansas
On July 26, 2017, Governor Sam Brownback was nominated by President Donald Trump to be U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom in Washington, DC. When Brownback resigned the governorship on January 31, 2018 to be sworn in as Ambassador, Colyer became Governor of Kansas.
Colyer has declared his intention to seek a full term as governor in the upcoming gubernatorial election.
Electoral history
References
External links
- Kansas Governor biography
- Project Vote Smart profile
- Campaign contributions: 2006, 2008
- Appearances on C-SPAN
Source of article : Wikipedia
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