So Bob Montgomery said he was going to resign. Stick with me here, because this episode has more twists than General Hospital.
The story really begins last June. You'll recall there was a giant rush to find candidates to fill out all of the Republican tickets after judges, instead of the legislature, redistricted. Montgomery, at the time, was living in a different district. He promptly moved into one of his other properties in order to appear on the ballot as a candidate in the 15th District.
Montgomery had a primary opponent, but no general election opponent in that race. Sometime after the August primary, Montgomery quietly told people he would be resigning from his post. I've heard two reasons for this: 1. financial concerns -- he's in real estate and well, real estate. Right now. It's not that good, especially when you spend all of your time in Topeka drinking cocktails with lobbyists and campaigning instead of working. 2. I heard marital issues. I can confirm marital issues were indeed an issue, because his divorce became final in August.
Montgomery formally and publicly announced his intention to resign as he was making a speech to nominate Arlen Siegfried for Speaker of the Kansas House. The plan, I understood, was to be sworn in on Jan. 14 and then to go immediately to the Secretary of State's office and tender his resignation, at which point, approximately 17 precinct people would elect his replacement shortly thereafter.
Fast forward to last week:
As far as I know, Montgomery has not yet resigned from office, though he was sworn in.
He's also been missing from the House without permission.
What does all this mean?
The 15th District in Olathe has a representative, but not a very effective or responsible one.
What is the hold-up on Montgomery's resignation?
That, I honestly don't know. I can only speculate -- and my speculation goes something like this: Montgomery had hand-selected his replacement in the position and his replacement does not have the votes from the precinct people to win the seat.
There are open precinct committee positions in the 15th District. Maybe Montgomery is waiting for Johnson County Republican Party Chair Ronnie Metsker to place those people so Montgomery's choice replacement has a chance, but I don't see that happening.
Maybe Montgomery is having second thoughts about giving up his seat.
The people in his district should be outraged, but to date, I don't think anyone has reported on the topic. That's unfortunate.
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