Topeka ? The manager of Democrat Paul Morrison’s 2006 campaign for attorney general is now a member of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission.

Anti-abortion groups and conservative legislators are upset with Mark Simpson’s appointment to the commission by House Minority Leader Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat.

Morrison, an abortion-rights supporter, was forced to resign at the end of 2007 because of a sex scandal.

After managing Morrison’s campaign, Simpson finished law school and became an assistant Douglas County district attorney. He says he understands that politics and the commission’s work are “fundamentally different.”

The governor, legislative leaders and other state officials each appoint members to the commission.