Topeka ? Chris Biggs came up short in his bid to be attorney general, but he has landed a high-ranking job with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ administration as securities commissioner.

Biggs, the Geary County attorney for the past 14 years, will take over the post that monitors the sale of investments July 1.

“Chris brings a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge in the criminal justice system to the Office of Securities Commissioner,” Sebelius said Friday. “He has spent his career protecting Kansans and will continue that mission in this office.”

Biggs, 44, said the new job was “a good fit.”

“This seems to be a natural extension of what my experience up to this point has been,” he said.

Sebelius said she recruited Biggs, a fellow Democrat, after getting to know him on the campaign trail last year. “I found him to be someone of intelligence and integrity,” Sebelius said.

In the 2002 race for attorney general, Biggs, virtually unknown on the statewide political scene, nearly beat Phill Kline, a well-known Republican, in a highly contentious race. Kline won by 4,287 votes out of 821,107 ballots.

Biggs, who received his law degree from Kansas University in 1983, declined to say whether he would run for elective office in the future.

The current securities commissioner, David Brant, will serve until Biggs comes on board. Brant, an appointee of former Gov. Bill Graves, is going to work as risk management officer at Central National Bank in Topeka.

The Governor’s Office said Biggs’ salary had not been set. The current salary is $85,000 per year, said Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran-Basso.