Lana Gordon (born August 20, 1950) is an American politician who served as the Kansas Secretary of Labor under the administrations of

Governors A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Sam Brownback Samuel Dale Brownback (born September 12, 1956) is an American attorney, politician, diplomat, and member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party who served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Fr ...

and

Jeff Colyer Jeffrey William Colyer (born June 3, 1960) is an American surgeon and politician who served as the 47th governor of Kansas from January 31, 2018, to January 14, 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 49th lieutenant governor of Kansa ...

. A member of the Republican Party, Gordon previously served as a member of the

Kansas House of Representatives The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for crafti ...

, representing the 52nd district from 2001 to 2012.

Early life and career

Lana Gordon was born on August 20, 1950, to Myron and Hariette Goodman in Kansas City, Missouri. Growing up, Gordon worked for her family's local hardware store in Kansas City before graduating from

Shawnee Mission East High School Shawnee Mission East High School is a public high school in Prairie Village, Kansas, United States, for grades 9 through 12. It is one of five high schools operated by the Shawnee Mission USD 512 school district. Shawnee Mission East High Sc ...

in 1968. She graduated from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

with her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in elementary education in 1971. From 1971 to 1972, Gordon worked as a substitute teacher before working as a full-time third grade teacher at Lee's Summit Elementary School in

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

from 1972 to 1973. She then worked as a test administrator for the Kansas Department of Education from 1978 to 1980. Gordon was the secretary of the Topeka Unified School District 501 Citizens Advisory Council from 1982 to 1985, where she later served as a board member of the Topeka Unified School District from 1994 to 1997. From 1997 to 2001, she worked as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Cardinal Building Service Solutions before being elected to the

. She worked as an Account Representative for BG Service Solutions/ISS from 2005 to 2012. Gordon was also a small business owner, previously owning four gift shops in the

Topeka Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Uni ...

area. She is a member of the Topeka Chamber of Commerce and

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016. United Way organizations raise funds ...

. Gordon and her husband, Arnold, have three children and five grandchildren.

Kansas House of Representatives

Tenure

Gordon was first elected to the

in 2000 and was sworn in on January 8, 2001. She was elected to a total of six two-year terms, winning with more than 60% of the vote in every election. The Kansas Policy Institute gave her a 75% evaluation on its Freedom Index and the Kansas Chapter of

Americans for Prosperity Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States funded by Charles Koch and formerly his brother David. As the Koch brothers' primary political advocacy group, it is one ...

gave her an evaluation of 90 on conservative issues.

Committee assignments

* Education * Health and Human Services * Economic Development and Tourism (Chair) * Local Government * Joint Committee on Arts and Cultural Resources * Joint Committee on Economic Development (Chair)

Kansas Secretary of Labor

On September 21, 2012, Governor Sam Brownback nominated Gordon to serve as Kansas Secretary of Labor.

References

External links

Kansas Legislature - Lana Gordon

Project Vote Smart profile

State Surge - Legislative and voting track record
* Follow the Money campaign contributions: *
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Lana 1950 births State cabinet secretaries of Kansas Republican Party members of the Kansas House of Representatives Living people University of Kansas alumni Women state legislators in Kansas Jewish American people in Kansas politics 21st-century American politicians School board members in Kansas 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American Jews