Kansas House - District 41

• marticcb@lvnworth.com
• Marti Crow.com

phone: 9136821544

About

After completing high school, Marti decided to make Kansas her permanent home. She graduated with honors from Baker University in 1966 with a B.A. in secondary education with a concentration in English and social science.

After college, Marti taught 8th grade English and American History from 1966 to 1968 in Shawnee Mission school district. In 1968, Marti and Mike Crow were married and Mike entered the Army. Mike was wounded in Vietnam and the Crows spent 8 months in San Antonio while Mike recovered at Brooke General Hospital.

Upon rehabilitation, Mike began law school at Washburn University. In 1974, soon after Mike graduated, the Crows moved to Leavenworth and Mike began his law practice. Marti devoted her time and energy from 1974 until 1990 to raising her children. The Crows started their family with Jennifer, who was only two years old when they moved to Leavenworth. Emily and Bryan were born soon after in 1976 and 1978, respectively. All three graduated from Leavenworth Public Schools.

While raising her children, Marti also became a dedicated community leader. She served on the Leavenworth City Planning Commission and the Leavenworth City Board of Zoning Appeals for 17 years, including several years as Chairman of each city zoning board. During her tenure, the Leavenworth City Zoning Ordinance was amended extensively and the Leavenworth City Comprehensive Plan was rewritten.

Marti was elected and served on the Leavenworth School Board for USD 453 for over 13 years, including four years as president. She represented the Leavenworth Public Schools at many regional and state school board meetings and two national conferences. In 1986, Marti was selected as a member of the 1986 Leadership Kansas Class by the Kansas Association of Commerce and Industry. She was a member of the founding board of Leadership Leavenworth Lansing, which crafted the local leadership program at the Leavenworth-Lansing Chamber of Commerce.

By 1990, Marti's children were grown and she began a new, exciting chapter of life. She entered Washburn Law School at the age of 46 to obtain her juris doctor. While at Washburn, she wrote an article that was published in the Washburn Law Journal in 1991 about the Kansas divorce code. She also served as an editor of the Washburn Law Journal in 1992. In December, 1992, Marti graduated magna cum laude and ranked 4th in her class. She was sworn into the Kansas Bar in April of 1993.

After law school, Marti worked for the Kansas Department of Revenue for a short time and then transferred to the Department of Health and Environment where she worked as an Environmental Planning Consultant for the Director of Environment. Her duties at KDHE included acting as a liaison between the agency and the Kansas League of Municipalities, the Kansas Association of Counties, and local governmental officials across the state. She represented the Director of Environment on the Kansas Rural Development Council. She also was responsible for the Environmental Awareness Council, an organization which brought together state regulators, local public officials, private business, and environmental advocates to discuss issues and solve problems.

While working for KDHE, Marti organized a Central States Roundtable in Leavenworth in 1994 which brought 26 representatives from eleven Midwestern states to our community for a two day meeting concerning regulating feedlots in the Midwest. She also wrote and published a series of articles in the Kansas Government Journal concerning solid waste and landfills.

In February 1995, Marti joined the Crow, Clothier & Associates law firm, where she continues to practice law. She served on the Kansas Continuing Legal Education Commission from 1993-1999, appointed by the Kansas Supreme Court. She was chairman of the Commission from 1997 until 1999. Marti has presented continuing legal education programs about military family law and legislation for the Kansas Bar Association annual meeting and the annual meeting of the Kansas Association of County Counselors. She is the author of the Military Family Law chapter in the KBA Family Law Handbook.

The Right Voice for Leavenworth

On November 5, 1996, Marti was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives to represent the 41st District in Leavenworth and has been re-elected to six terms. She presently serves on the House Education Committee, the House Judiciary Committee and the House Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committee.

During the 2005 session Marti served on the Select Committee on School Finance. She is now a member of the Joint Committee on Childrens' Issues. Marti is also a member of the leadership team for the House Democratic Caucus, serving a Agenda Chairman. She has served as ranking Democrat on the Joint Committee on Claims Against the State and as a member of the Special Joint Committee on School Finance, a Special Committee on Tobacco Settlement Funds, and subcommittees on KAN-ED, a proposal to connect all Kansas school districts and public library with a telecommunications backbone; a bill to rewrite Kansas special education law; a bill to create a state postsecondary education savings program and subcommittees on powers of attorney, guardian and conservatorships and protection from abuse orders.

In 1999, Representative Crow was one of three Kansas legislators selected as a BILLD fellow and attended the BILLD program in Madison, Wisconsin in August, graduating from the Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development. Representative Crow has served as a member of the Midwestern High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Project Committee and the Education Committee for the Midwestern Legislative Conference of the Council of State Governments.

The House Democratic Caucus elected Rep. Crow as their Agenda Chairman in 2000. She has remained in that leadership post for eight years, leading the caucus meetings each morning of the legislative session as the Democrats discuss bills, committee actions and other matters.

Throughout her 12 years in the Legislature, Marti has been a strong voice for the Leavenworth community and has worked hard to stand up for the issues most important to families in House District 41. In addition to working for adequate education funding, Marti has fought to extend state services for Kansas military service members and veterans, including protection from identity theft by allowing those who have had a breach of private information to obtain a credit freeze. She has repeatedly been recognized for her outstanding attendance and voting records in the Legislature and achieved perfect attendance 10 consecutive years.

In 2008, Marti managed to serve her district steadily while undergoing treatment for breast cancer. She missed a couple of weeks in February while recovering from surgery but completed six weeks of radiation while attending her committees and the session each day. Between the end of the session (and radiation) and the wrap up session, the Crows celebrated Emily's wedding in Texas and Marti and Mike's 40th wedding anniversary. In August, Marti and Jen walked in the 3K walk at the Komen Race for the Cure, along with over 25,000 other folks. Mike joined them at the finish line.