POLITICAL FIGURES: “Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas was giving a tender goodbye.
Speaking to a roomful of fellow Republicans over lunch at the Wichita Pachyderm Club last month, he mused about his next act, a post in the Trump administration as ambassador at large for international religious freedom, which was announced in July… Jeff Colyer, a plastic surgeon who is the lieutenant governor, was widely expected to succeed Mr. Brownback and kick off the 2018 legislative session, and Mr. Colyer even announced a new cabinet appointment.
But on Monday [1-8-18] afternoon, as lawmakers began meeting in the State Capitol for the start of the new legislative session, Mr. Brownback was still the governor.
And there is no certainty about when he might actually depart this stage, even after the White House on Monday renominated him for the post. The entire matter has left some Kansans befuddled, some Democratic lawmakers smug, and some Brownback supporters a little sheepish.
Some Kansans said that it was not entirely clear who was truly in charge of the state, and for how long.”
-Julie Bosman, “Awkward: Brownback Said He Was Leaving as Kansas Governor. He Hasn’t.,” The New York Times online, Jan. 8, 2018