Former legislator Steve Brunk trying for political comeback

Two years after leaving the state Legislature, Steve Brunk is on the comeback trail, running for a seat on the Sedgwick County Commission.

Brunk filed papers on Wednesday to run in District 1, the northeastern section of the county.

The seat, which will be up for election in November, is currently held by longtime commissioner David Unruh, who said he’s decided not to seek re-election.

Brunk, a Republican, said he talked with Unruh before deciding to run. “It’s an open seat,” he said. “I wouldn’t run against Dave.”

Brunk served in the Kansas House of Representatives from early 2003 to January of 2016, when he resigned to take a job as executive director of the Kansas Family Policy Alliance. The group is affiliated with the Focus on the Family religious network that advocates against abortion and same-sex marriage and for religion in government.

He left that group and now works in real estate and property management.

He said he doesn’t plan to pursue a conservative political agenda on the commission and is not interested in being part of the kind of factional ideological conflict that has drawn attention to the county in recent years.

“At the Kansas Legislature, there was 125 of us (representatives, plus 40 in the Senate, so world views and ideology was more important there,” he said. “Here, it’s more about forming good working relationships with the other commissioners and also good working relationships with the city councilmen as well.”

He said he’s more interested in roads and bridges, the Sedgwick County Zoo and the Intrust Bank Arena.

“The County Commission is less about conservative or liberal ideology,” Brunk said. “It’s more about managing resources and assets.”

This story was originally published January 31, 2018 at 6:28 PM with the headline "Former legislator Steve Brunk trying for political comeback."