Kansas Governor-elect Sam Brownback last week named Steve Anderson as his budget director to replace Duane Goosen.
Anderson has worked on state budget issues with the Kansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity and the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a free-market think tank.
He is a certified public accountant and managing partner of Anderson, Reichert & Anderson in Edmond, Okla.
Brownback, currently a U.S. senator who will be sworn in as governor on Jan. 10, will announce a proposed budget for fiscal 2012 soon after taking office. He will then announce a comprehensive program of specific economic policies and initiatives within 30 days.
Brownback said his administration will focus initially on the expected $500 million revenue shortfall in the fiscal 2012 budget, and then work on long-term policies to expand the economy.
“The next few years are not going to be easy,” he said. “We’re going to have to make some difficult choices.”
The incoming governor’s cabinet nominees include Rep. Pat George, R-Dodge City, as secretary of commerce and Nick Jordan, a former Republican state senator from Shawnee, as secretary of revenue.
Transportation Secretary Deb Miller, who served under former Gov. Kathleen Sibelius and current Gov. Mark Parkinson, will stay in her post.
