Winn to run for commission

Longtime Johnson Countian and political activist Larry Winn III, Overland Park, has announced he will seek the 4th District County Commission seat being vacated by Ed Eilert.

Eilert is running against incumbent Annabeth Surbaugh for the county chair position.

Winn said he decided to seek the 4th District position because he is concerned with the budgetary issues the county will be facing during the next four years.

“I’ve been through four recessions in the past 42 years and I think it is going to be four or five years before the real estate market begins to come back,” Winn said. “With commercial real estate, I don’t think we’ve even hit bottom yet.

“With less revenue from valuations and with the state Legislature likely to force unfunded mandates onto the counties and cities, the county is going to be forced to make some critical fiscal decisions.”

He said those decisions could include tax increases and service reductions.

“I would think that it probably would be a little bit of both,” he said. “The future is going to be much different than what we have experienced in the past. I think we’re going to have to look at having a lot of interlocal agreements for issues such as fire, police and ambulance service to help make county government leaner and more efficient.”

Winn is a senior partner with Polsinelli Shughart PC, Overland Park, and his law practice has centered on real estate development in Johnson County the past 42 years. He was instrumental in securing the approval of the original Sprint Campus, two regional malls, more than a dozen neighborhood retail centers, single-family developments and regional office facilities.

He has been a member of the Shawnee Mission School Board for eight years and currently serves as president. Winn founded the Committee for Excellence in Shawnee Mission and co-founded the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation.

Winn has served nine years as a member of the Johnson County Airport Commission, three as chairman, and also has served as president of the 19-county Heart of America Council of Boy Scouts; as a chair of the Legislative Affairs Committee for the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce; as a chairman of the Third District Republican Party; as a board member of Kansas City Public Television; and he was selected Man of the Year in the Kansas City area for his contributions to his social fraternity.

He also successfully chaired or co-chaired several election campaigns in which Johnson County citizens voted to either expand or add to park facilities and the county’s library system.

He and his wife, Jill, have been married 43 years. He attended schools in the Shawnee Mission School District and later the University of Kansas and KU Law School.

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