City Commission vacancy applicant Scott Morgan

Having run for secretary of state in 2014 and served two terms on the Lawrence School Board, Scott Morgan said his name is probably a familiar one around the city.

“I am what I am,” he said. “It would be hard for me to show up and say anything but what a lot of people already know, for better or for worse. There are no surprises here.”

Morgan was on the school board from 1999 to 2003 and again from 2007 to 2011. Last year, he lost to Kris Kobach in the Republican primary of the Kansas secretary of state race.

He previously worked for Republican senators Bob Dole and Nancy Landon Kassebaum and represented the U.S. Senate on the Federal Election Commission.

City Commission vacancy applicant Scott Morgan

Morgan wanted to join the City Commission because he’d be “a good fit,” he said, “It’s just something I want to do.”

“It’s not real noble or anything. It’s a small town, and that’s just what you do,” Morgan said. “You step forward and you try to help in any way you can. People do it every day.”

The most important action the current City Commission will take is to hire a city manager, Morgan said. He noted his experience with hiring two school district superintendents and advised that the City Commission be “on the same page and “find someone who is a good match for Lawrence.”

Morgan also said he was “leery” of candidates “who have a particular issue that is stuck in their craw.”

“The important thing is this commission is making itself whole again and moving forward in a cohesive fashion so they can hire a city manager,” Morgan said. “Trying to do that in limbo is — at best — a complicated process. I think what the commission is really trying to do is right the ship and get going again, get this person hired and move on to all other issues.”

In his application for the position, Morgan wrote that his approach to governing was “Listen, Respect, Prepare, and Listen Again” — a line praised by members of the advisory committee helping select the next city commissioner.

Morgan was the top vote-getter when the committee narrowed the pool of candidates from 14 to 12, and then again when it cut the number of applicants from 12 to six.