Topeka ? A Topeka attorney soon will be joining the state commission that regulates utilities.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius announced Wednesday that she has named Thomas Wright to the Kansas Corporation Commission. His appointment must be confirmed by the Senate.

Wright will replace Commission Chairman Brian Moline, also a Topeka attorney, who plans to retire June 15. Moline served eight years on the commission, as well as 10 years as its chief attorney.

Wright, 69, will serve a term that expires in March 2010.

He served as chairman of a commission on gambling issues appointed by Sebelius in 2003 and as chairman of a commission in 2005 that drafted a plan voters later rejected for consolidating the governments of Topeka and Shawnee County.