Topeka ? It’s all about relationships.

Facing a tight budget, a court order to overhaul school finance and a daunting numerical disadvantage in political affiliation, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius insists she is looking forward to the 2004 legislative session that starts Jan. 12.

“I like the action of the Legislature,” Sebelius said in a recent interview with the Journal-World. “I know there are people who tend to dread the Legislature coming to town, but to me that is where the action is.”

As she starts her second session as governor, Sebelius, a Democrat, will present a budget and proposals on school finance and expanded gambling while facing large Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

But personal relationships with lawmakers are more important than partisan politics, Sebelius said.

In her first session as governor, Sebelius invited every legislator, individually and in small groups, for discussions over a breakfast, lunch or dinner at Cedar Crest.

“A lot of legislative decisions are made about relationships, finding out where people’s interests lie, and try to find common ground,” Sebelius said.

“There were some conservative members of the Legislature that came into my office last year at my invitation who were frankly stunned. They were stunned to be invited,” she said.

A former lawmaker who served in the Kansas House for eight years, Sebelius said it was important for lawmakers to meet with her, so that — at very least — they can tell their constituents “I gave her a piece of my mind.”

Despite a bleak budget outlook and other challenges, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is looking forward to the Jan. 12 start of the Kansas Legislature's 2004 session. In a state that leans heavily Republican, Sebelius says being a Democrat allows her to build coalitions.

Sebelius said she was willing to take those sorts of political shots because “it may help me next time I need to talk with that legislator about an issue that hopefully we can get some agreement on.”

In the House, Republicans outnumber Democrats 80-45; in the Senate it’s 30-10.

But Sebelius said being a Democrat gave her a chance to build coalitions. Her predecessor, Republican Bill Graves, was often at the center of moderate-conservative wars within the GOP.

“He never knew exactly where his base was. He never knew on any issue who he could count on in his own party,” Sebelius said.

Democrats in the Legislature stick together on most issues, she said, thanks to the work of Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka and House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney of Greensburg.

“I knew I could start in the Senate with 10 votes on a number of issues, and I knew I could start in the House with 45 votes, and then I could count from there,” Sebelius said. “But if you don’t even know what you start with, it makes counting a little trickier.”

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During the interview, Sebelius revealed little about her upcoming proposals on the state’s finances and education system. In the 2003 session, Sebelius and the Legislature produced a budget without a general tax increase, though critics said the state’s books were balanced with accounting tricks that now must be resolved.

The state’s continued sluggish economy and tight revenue picture have forced her administration to be creative when it comes to budgeting, Sebelius said.

For instance, she said, a group of agencies that deal with natural resources worked together to present a joint budget proposal instead of the usual practice of each agency fighting for every dollar it could find.

“They actually put money on the table and said, ‘We don’t need this money in our specific agency.’ It was really a sweeping change from the way business was done in the past,” Sebelius said.