Democrat Files to Run For State Representative in Olathe

OLATHE, KANSAS -- June 10, 2008 -- Sean Tevis filed on Monday for the Kansas House District 15 seat in Olathe. He gathered 193 signatures to file for office by petition and talked to more than 350 residents to help profile the needs of the community.

"There's a sense that we haven't been represented well," Tevis said. "I kept hearing things from my neighbors that also frustrated me: illegal immigration, high gas and food prices, and that our schools were not the priority they should be."

Tevis is an Information Architect for SPX Cooling Technologies, which is better known in Olathe by its former name, Marley Cooling Tower. He studies issues in power generation and water conservation and works to promote sustainable and efficient energy solutions.

"Kansans have been facing an unfolding crisis economically and demographically," he said. "We can keep going as we have, be overwhelmed, and lose our quality of life, or we can fight. I will lead that fight."

Tevis is a Johnson County native. He attended Shawnee Mission West and the University of Kansas, where he majored in Journalism. He's worked for several newspapers including The Palm Beach Post and The Miami Herald. He helped start an Internet business in 1999 that grew to over 120 employees.

He has three years of experience in municipal government working for the city of Coconut Creek, Fla., a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. He moved back to Kansas in 2005 to be closer to his family. His mother is a retired school teacher and his father is a retired union worker.

Sean has been married for 14 years.

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