Key players in 2007 Legislature

? The legislative session may often look like a three-ring circus, but beneath the chaos is a kind of balance that requires trapeze-artist-like political skills to get things done.

In other words, no one has the upper hand, or if they do, it’s not for long.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, was re-elected in November with 58 percent of the vote, but she faces an overwhelmingly Republican Legislature.

And while Republicans hold sizable majorities in the House and Senate, their caucus is fractured between conservatives and moderates.

Meanwhile, Democrats try to build coalitions to get their issues passed.

The session will chug along with shifting alliances on issue after issue. Here are some of the heavy hitters who will be driving the train:

¢ Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton

Soft-spoken Morris is considered a moderate Republican and was hammered by conservatives last year when he revealed that he had a conversation with Kansas Supreme Court Justice Lawton Nuss about public school finance while the school funding lawsuit was pending before the court. The conversation led to an unprecedented warning against a state Supreme Court justice, clouded the school finance debate and probably weakened Morris’ tenuous standing in the fractured Senate Republican caucus.

Other heavy hitters in the Senate on the Republican side are Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, Independence, and Sen. Tim Huelskamp, Fowler, who is considered a leader of the conservatives.

¢ Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley, Topeka

Hensley is the dean of the Legislature with 30 years experience, and his district includes a small part of Douglas County.

Senate Democrats are outnumbered 30-10, but Hensley and his colleagues often are able to cobble together alliances with Republicans to build slim majorities.

¢ House Speaker Melvin Neufeld

The legislative wild card is new speaker Neufeld, R-Ingalls. He won a three-man race for speaker right before the session and was considered the most conservative of the candidates.

Neufeld often has been seen as a partisan in-fighter, but others have said they expect his tactics to change now that he is in a leadership position.

Republicans outnumber Democrats in the House 78-47, but those 78 are divided between conservatives and moderates.

Perhaps the most powerful legislator in the House is Democratic leader Dennis McKinney of Greensburg. His 47 members almost always stick together and with Sebelius, and often can peel off enough moderate Republicans to build majorities.

Other leading House members include Kenny Wilk, R-Lansing, Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, and Lance Kinzer, R-Olathe.