By: Ryan Duey
Photo Courtesy of Ryan Duey
Reid Petty, District Director for Senator Jerry Moran, was the guest speaker at the Clay Center Lions Club regular meeting on June 17th. Petty spoke about his time as a State Legislator and teacher, leading up to his time as a District Director for Senator Moran.
Petty served in the Kansas Legislature in 2013, out of Liberal. In that year, he met his wife and decided to leave politics after his first term so that he could be closer to home and his future wife. After leaving teaching to work for KDOT, he was asked by Senator Moran if he’d like to join his team. This is now his second stint with Moran.
Petty works out of the Hays office; he covers 29 counties in Kansas. Petty spoke about his main role as the Director.
“Basically, my role is attending events such as this on his behalf when he’s not able to. So obviously, he’s in Washington quite a bit. When he comes back, he’s able to go to a lot of different things, but Kansas is a very big state, so he can’t be at everything all at once.”
“My job is to kind of look after those counties I cover when he’s not able to be here. When he is here and visits one of my counties, I am usually with him as well.”
“I pretty much try to be his eyes and ears, and we have other staffers in other offices that do the same thing.”
Petty said being Chair of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is one of Moran’s most important Committees, as his father was a Veteran, and it means a lot to him. He also recently joined the Senate Ag Committee.
“Senator Moran wanted to play a big part in trying to get a Farm Bill passed and across the finish line, so he joined the Senate Ag Committee.
“Now we have both US senators from Kansas on the Committee. They also have two on the House Ag Committee, Congressman Mann and Congresswoman Davids, I believe.”
“Kansas obviously has a lot of representation on the AG Committee, and a Farm Bill is a big priority to all of them.”
Petty also highlighted the other various Committees and legislation Senator Moran is currently working on in Washington, D.C.
