Mark Parkinson (Kansas politician)

Mark Vincent Parkinson (born 24 June 1957, Wichita, Kansas) is an American lawyer and politician. The former Republican -turned- Democrat practiced from 2009 to 2011 the office of governor in the state of Kansas from. He followed from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Sebelius on, after it was confirmed on 28 April 2009 as the new Minister of Health of the United States.

Life

Parkinson's family is originally from the Scott County in the extreme rural western Kansas, where it has still a farm. He attended the High School in Wichita, then made his 1980 Summa cum laude - 's degree from Wichita State University and was finally 1984 years valedictorian of the Law School at the University of Kansas. Then he made as a lawyer independently and opened his own law firm with Parkinson, Foth & Orrick. In 1996 he retired from this industry and started to develop facilities for assisted living.

Policy

His political career began in 1991 when he entered for the Republicans in the House of Representatives from Kansas, where he remained until 1992. From 1993 to 1997, Parkinson was then a state senator. Between 1999 and 2003 he stood in front of the Republican Party of Kansas as Chairman. In 2004 he became chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of Shawnee, the following year he took over the management of all six chambers of commerce in Johnson County.

In May 2006, Governor Kathleen Sebelius announced that Parkinson had changed his party affiliation and had joined the Democrats. At the same time, she presented him as its candidate for the office of lieutenant governor in the upcoming election; Incumbent John E. Moore, also a Republican, who had converted to the Democrats for lieutenant governor shortly before his election, opted not to run again. The Republicans criticized Parkinson sharp for his change of party and pointed out that he had Governor Sebelius four years earlier still referred to disparagingly as " left-wing and liberal Democrat ." In his reply, Parkinson admitted to have made ​​a mistake with his then assessment. His substitution of parties was isolated as opportunistic act referred, but also as an example of the bitter struggle between moderates and conservatives in the Republican Party of Kansas considered.

After the confirmation of Kathleen Sebelius as U.S. Minister of Health by the Senate Mark Parkinson took its successor. He was thus the 45th governor in the history of the state. The term of office ended in January 2011; Parkinson had announced early on that he did not want to re-apply for the post in the gubernatorial election in November 2010. Instead, he was CEO of the American Health Care Association. He was succeeded by Republican Sam Brownback.

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