TOPEKA – A nominating commission charged with naming candidates to fill a district judge vacancy on the 30th Judicial District has issued a request for assistance from the public.

The 30th Judicial District includes the counties of Barber, Harper, Kingman, Pratt, and Sumner.

The eleven-member commission is responsible for submitting the names of two or three nominees to the Governor for the vacancy which will be created by the January 3, 2012, retirement of Judge Robert J. Schmisseur, Pratt, who has been a district judge since 1986.

“The nominating commission is especially interested in receiving recommendations of suggested nominees to fill the vacancy from the general public. All of the citizens of the 30th Judicial District are requested to consider this matter and the names of suggested nominees submitted by the general public will be welcomed by the commission,” according to Justice Carol A. Beier, departmental justice.

Kansas statutes require that a judge be a resident of the district in which selected, be at least 30 years of age, have been in the active practice of law for at least five years, and have been admitted to the practice of law within the State of Kansas.

Suggested nominees are requested to complete questionnaires for the position. The completed forms should be returned to Justice Carol A. Beier, Kansas Supreme Court, 301 SW 10th Avenue, Room 387, Topeka, KS 66612, no later than 5:00 p.m., January 4, 2012. The forms are available in the offices of the clerk of the district court in Medicine Lodge, Anthony, Kingman, Pratt, and Wellington.

The nominating commission will convene at 8:30 a.m., February 2, 2012, in the Pratt County Courthouse to interview the suggested nominees. The meeting will be open to the public; however, the commission has the authority to adjourn to executive session to discuss personal traits of the suggested nominees.

The law requires that the commission submit at least two names, but not more than three, to the Governor who may appoint any of the suggested nominees.
Notices of the vacancy have been mailed to every attorney in this judicial district by the commission chair.

The 30th Judicial District judicial nominating commission includes Justice Beier, as the nonvoting chair, and Robert R. Eisenhauer, Pratt; Alan C. Goering, Medicine Lodge; John A. Potucek, Wellington; Gordon B. Stull, Pratt; Lance S. Dixon, Kingman; Victor M. Elliott, Anthony; Howard K. Loomis, Pratt; Melvin E. Matlock, Belle Plain; and Richard L. Swayden, Medicine Lodge.