Print edition: 
A Sedgwick County employee has launched a write-in campaign for District 4 commissioner.
Carol Bevelhymer is a training coordinator in the finance department who has worked for the county for 10 years.
"I feel like I'm applying for a job," she said Wednesday. "I'm not a politician."
Bevelhymer, 66, said her experience working for the county and in the private sector would help her serve District 4.
"I think we have to be more cognizant of spending because of the economic conditions," she said.
Bevelhymer started with the county as a purchasing agent and moved about three years ago to training. She has served on the board of directors of the Wichita chapter of National Association of Purchasing Management and is one of two people from the chapter to receive a district award from the organization.
Bevelhymer is an independent and tried to file for office but did not have enough signatures to run as an unaffiliated candidate. Election Commissioner Bill Gale said state law requires that unaffiliated candidates for that district have at least 1,857 signatures — 4 percent of the number of registered voters in the district.
So Bevelhymer is turning to a write-in effort. People know her as "Carol B," she said, and because her last name is unusual and difficult to spell, she asked the election office if people could write in "Carol B." Gale said that would be OK.
Bevelhymer said she views her write-in campaign as "an opportunity to give those people a chance for their vote to count."
District 4 covers the northern part of the county. Kelly Parks now represents the district. He is not seeking re-election.
Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau won the Democratic primary for that seat, and political newcomer Richard Ranzau, a physician assistant, won the Republican bid.
Jay Laessig, owner of Village Barber and Style Shop at Lincoln Heights Village, has been friends with Bevelhymer for 20 years.
Laessig said he's supporting Bevelhymer's effort because "she kind of tells it the way it is. She has a lot of insight on what's going on and how things work in government."
