Kel Seliger

Kelton Gray "Kel" Seliger
Member of the Texas Senate
from the 31st district
Assumed office
March 2, 2004
Preceded by Teel Bivins
Mayor of Amarillo, Texas
In office
1993–2001
Preceded by Keith Adams
Succeeded by Trent Sisemore
Personal details
Born (1953-06-16) June 16, 1953
Amarillo, Potter County, Texas, USA
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Nancy Meredith Seliger
Children Jonathan and Matthew Seliger
Residence Amarillo, Texas
Alma mater Dartmouth College
Occupation Businessman; Flight instructor

Kelton Gray Seliger, known as Kel Seliger (born June 16, 1953), is a Republican member of the Texas State Senate representing District 31, which stretches from the Panhandle south to the Permian Basin.[1]

Background

Born in Amarillo and reared in the Panhandle city of Borger in Hutchinson County, Seliger is a graduate of Borger public schools and Dartmouth College in Dartmouth, New Hampshire. He spent 35 years in the steel industry[2] and is co-owner and executive vice-president of Lake Steel, Inc., a steel service center. He is also a licensed commercial pilot and flight instructor.

Seliger is currently a member of the National Rifle Association, the Texas Farm Bureau, and the Harley-Davidson Owners Group.

Seliger and his wife, the former Nancy Caroline Meredith (born October 11, 1960), reside in Amarillo with their two sons, Jonathan and Matthew.

Political life

Seliger served four terms in the nonpartisan position as mayor of Amarillo (1993–2001). He is also a former city commissioner and a former member of the Amarillo Civil Service Commission. He also served on former Texas Attorney General John Cornyn's Municipal Advisory Committee and, in 2002, he was appointed to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission by Governor Rick Perry.

Seliger was sworn into the Texas Senate on March 2, 2004, to complete the term of Teel Bivins of Amarillo, who obtained a diplomatic appointment as United States Ambassador to Sweden from the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. Seliger was reelected to serve a full, four-year term on November 4, 2004. The district spans twenty-six counties and includes mostly conservative voters in Amarillo, Midland, Odessa, and Big Spring.

Seliger is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), serving as Texas state leader.[3]

Seliger was appointed by Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst to serve as Vice-Chair of the Criminal Justice Committee for the Seventy-ninth Texas Legislature. In addition, he was appointed to the Natural Resources, International Relations and Trade, and Administration Committees.

Seliger filed and sponsored over seventy-five bills, fifty of which were passed in one form or another during the regular session of the 79th Legislature. As the vice chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, Senator Seliger passed House Bill 2577 requiring local law enforcement agencies to report to the state the reason for a peace officer's termination to protect the integrity of the state's law enforcement officers. This legislation prevents those peace officers with a history of poor performance or unethical behavior, termed "gypsy cops," from taking advantage of police departments that lack the resources to investigate their employment history.

Seliger's membership on the Senate Natural Resources Committee aided him in passing several important bills for West Texas. House Bill 2161 ensures that effective pipeline safety standards are in place for all construction work around oil and gas pipelines. It also establishes a program to address abandoned or orphaned oil and gas wells and includes considerations for potential future periods of decline in oil and gas prices. Additionally, House Bill 951 will establish a notice and remediation process for construction around pipelines.

The Texas Municipal League presented Seliger with its 2005 Distinguished Legislative Service Award for his dedication to protecting and promoting local control. He also received the 2005 Rural Legislator of the Year Award from the Association of Rural Communities in Texas.

Seliger won re-nomination to a full four-year term in the state Senate in the Republican primary held on March 4, 2014. He defeated attorney and former Midland Mayor Michael Jackson "Mike" Canon, Sr. (born 1946), 36,623 (52.4 percent) to 33,223 (47.6 percent).[4]

Seliger is considered one of the most moderate of the twenty (as of 2015) Texas Senate Republicans, along with Kevin Eltife of Tyler, according to an analysis by Mark P. Jones of the political science department at Rice University in Houston. Jones also found that these Republicans saw passage of 90 percent of the bills for which they voted.

In February 2015, Seliger filed proposed legislation backed by many school districts that a graduation committee be appointed for each pupil who twice fails an end-of-course assessment. With a unanimous committee vote, the student would be allowed to graduate from high school. The committee would consist of a principal, counselor, teacher, and parent and would consider course grades, standardized test scores, and regularity of attendance as factors to permit graduation in such situations. A. Marcus Nelson, superintendent of the Laredo Independent School District endorsed Seliger's bill, which he said would impact 172 pupils in Laredo who have twice failed the end-of-course assessments. "We need to find the right balance in the number of assessments and the accountability that goes with it," Nelson said.[5]

Seliger is the recipient of the Bell Helicopter 2012 Legislative Leadership Award, the Texas Municipal League's 2011 Legislator of the Year, the Texas District and County Attorneys Association's 2009 Law and Order Award, Legislator of the Year 2009 from the Associated Security Services and Investigators of the State of Texas and the citizens of Odessa honored him with the 2009 Heritage of Odessa Foundation Community Statesman Award in Government.[2]

Election history

Election history of District 31 from 1992.[6]

Most recent election

2014

Texas general election, 2014: Senate District 31[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Kel Seliger (Incumbent) 107,885 90.43 -9.57
Libertarian Steven Gibson 11,416 9.57 +9.57
Majority 96,469
Turnout
Republican hold

Previous elections

2012

Texas general election, 2012: Senate District 31[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Kel Seliger (Incumbent) 195,878 100.0 +9.79
Majority 195,878
Turnout
Republican hold

2008

Texas general election, 2008: Senate District 31[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Kel Seliger (Incumbent) 180,267 90.21
Libertarian Lauren Poindexter 19,569 9.79
Majority 160,698
Turnout
Republican hold

2004

Texas general election, 2004: Senate District 31[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Kel Seliger (Incumbent) 170,299 78.53 -21.47
Democratic Elaine King Miller 46,556 21.47 +21.47
Majority 123,743 57.06 -42.94
Turnout 216,855 +82.33
Republican hold

2004

Special Election Runoff: Senate District 31, Unexpired Term[11]
17 February 2004
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Kirk Edwards 32,094 43.85 [12]+43.85
Republican Kel Seliger 41,102 56.15 +20.44
Majority 9,008 12.31
Turnout 73,196
Republican hold
Special Election: Senate District 31, Unexpired Term[13]
20 January 2004
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Bob Barnes 9,478 13.65
Republican Kirk Edwards 14,273 20.56
Republican Lee Gibson 2,429 3.50
Democratic Elaine King Miller 5,738 8.27
Republican Jesse Quackenbush 1,488 2.14
Republican Kel Seliger 24,793 35.72
Republican Don Sparks 11,216 16.16
Turnout

References

  1. ↑ Texas Department of State Health Services, Vital Records (1953-06-16). "Birth Certificate for Kelton Gray Seliger" (Third party index of birth records for Potter County). Rootsweb.com. Retrieved 2006-12-26. External link in |publisher= (help)
  2. 1 2 "Senator Kel Seliger: District 31". Texas Senate. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  3. ↑ http://www.alec.org/about-alec/state-chairmen/
  4. ↑ "Republican primary election returns, March 4, 2014". team1.sos.state.tx.us. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  5. ↑ Judith Rayo, "Senate Bill 149: State exit exams eyed; More students could graduate", Laredo Morning Times, February 26, 2015, pp. 1, 14A
  6. ↑ Uncontested primary elections are not shown.
  7. ↑ "2014 General Election". Office of the Secretary of State (Texas). Retrieved 2015-04-30.
  8. ↑ "2012 General Election". Office of the Secretary of State (Texas). Retrieved 2015-04-30.
  9. ↑ "2008 General Election". Office of the Secretary of State (Texas). Retrieved 2015-04-30.
  10. ↑ "2004 General Election". Office of the Secretary of State (Texas). Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved 2007-01-05.
  11. ↑ "Special Runoff Election, State Senate, District 31". Office of the Secretary of State (Texas). Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved 2007-01-05.
  12. ↑ Change from Special Election
  13. ↑ "Special Election, State Senate, District 31". Office of the Secretary of State (Texas). Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved 2007-01-05.
Texas Senate
Preceded by
Teel Bivins		 Texas State Senator
from District 31 (Amarillo)
2004-present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Keith Adams		 Mayor of Amarillo, Texas

Kelton Gray "Kel" Seliger
1993–2001

Succeeded by
Trent Sisemore
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