Career
He was a Representative for the 19th district in the Kansas House of Representatives from 2002 until his election as Senator. From 1981 to 2005, he served as a council member for the Overland Park City Council, 3rd District. Senator Owens has made national news as a leading liberal-Republican in the Kansas Senate, blocking the state"s Health Care Freedom Amendment, an effort to push back parts of the Affordable Care Acting, and arguing that judges should be selected by a committee of lawyers rather than the governor.
As a consequence of his independence, Owens and seven other modersates were targeted for primary defeats by Koch Industries.
Owens served on these legislative committees:
Judiciary (chair)
Confirmation Oversight
Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight
Education
Federal and State Affairs
Joint Committee on Kansas Security
Some of the top contributors to Owens"s 2008 campaign, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics:
Kansas Republican Senatorial Committee, Hallmark Cards, Kansas Contractors Association, Kansas Association of Realtors, Kansas Medical Society, and others
Finance, insurance, and real estate companies were his largest donor group.
