Insurance commissioner candidate is native of Goessel [The Hutchinson News, Kan.]

May 31--An insurance company executive in Johnson County is running for State Insurance Commissioner in 2014.

Republican Ken Selzer, 60, recently appointed his campaign treasurer and filed the necessary papers with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission.

Selzer grew up near Goessel, in Marion County, and has family in McPherson, Newton, Hesston and surrounding areas, he said in an email response. He previously served on the Fairway City Council in Johnson County.

Selzer emphasized his CPA credentials as he talked about the race. He said he was encouraged to run and said he is running "because the hardworking, productive people of Kansas want an insurance commissioner that is focused on the important insurance issues that are currently in front of them," he said.

Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger, a Republican, isn't seeking re-election next year.

That likely will be the only state office race where the incumbent isn't running, and Selzer expects it will draw even more candidates.

A couple of Republicans -- Aaron Jack and Robert Tomlinson -- have withdrawn from the insurance commissioner race, but two other Republicans are running: David Powell, El Dorado, and Beverly Gossage, Eudora.

No Democrat has filed.

Selzer graduated from Kansas State University with an accounting degree. He obtained an MBA from the University of Southern California, he said.

He has worked in the insurance/reinsurance industry, and is executive managing director for the insurance firm, Aon.

Selzer is active in the Republican Party, and has contributed several thousand dollars to the Kansas GOP in recent years.

Federal election records reveal Selzer also has given to Republican Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran, and Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Overland Park. He donated to the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign, and in 2007, gave $500 to the Rudy Giuliani presidential bid.

Selzer and his wife of 32 years, Deborah Grimes, live in Leawood. They also own and operate a farm near Louisburg, where Grimes grew up.

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