Barnett To Resign

Republican Jim Barnett of Emporia is

resigning from the Kansas state Senate with two years left in his

latest term.

The Emporia Gazette reports Barnett announced the decision

Wednesday in a statement that didn’t give a reason. He’ll step down

Oct. 1 and will announce his future plans within the coming week.

Barnett is a physician who retired from an Emporia medical group

earlier this year to campaign for Congress. He is serving his third

four-year term in the Senate. Messages seeking comment were not

immediately returned.

He was the Republican nominee for governor in 2006, losing to

Democrat Kathleen Sebelius. This year he ran unsuccessfully for the

GOP nomination in Kansas’ 1st Congressional District.

Barnett’s current Senate term runs through 2012. The Republican

Central Committee for the 17th District will hold a convention to

pick his replacement, who will finish his Senate term.