TOPEKA | A former Johnson County state legislator who backed covenant marriages was named to run the state social services agency today.

Gov. Sam Brownback named Phyllis Gilmore to run the Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services, which eventually be renamed as the Department for Children and Families.

Gilmore,who once described herself as Christjan and conservative, replaces the controversial, if not prickly, Rob Siedlecki who resigned in December.

Gilmore represented part of Olathe in the state Legislature from 1994 to 2000. She was among a number of lawmakers who backed the idea of covenant marriages, which involve premarital counseling and more stingent divorce standards.

Under the bill Gilmore supported, anyone wanting a covenant marriage would declare their intentions when they applied for a marriage license.

The couple would declare their marriage is for life. They would receive counseling, a pamphlet defining a covenant marriage and agree to seek counseling if their marriage started to sour.

Brownback praised Gilmore at a news conference this morning, saying he always enjoyed her attitude and her heart.

"It was important to find someone who is experienced in family and children-related issues and understands the many challenges our state's most vulnerable citizens face," Brownback said. "Phyllis shares our passion to improve our great state and reduce the number of children living in poverty."

Gilmore has served as executive director of the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Board, which regulates and licenses health professionals in Kansas.

She is a licensed specialist in clinical social work with a master's in social work from Washington University in St. Louis.

Most recently, Gilmore served as the regional director for the agency in the Kansas City area.

On a personal note, Gilmore said in an interview in 1994 that she donated one of her kidneys to her diabetic sister. She also contracted polio at age 7 months.

During her political career, she had the support of then state legislator Phill Kline, who later went on to become a controversial attorney general and district attorney.

The state social services agency had been looking at ways to promote marriage under Siedlecki's direction.

Gilmore said today she didn't know the status of the marriage initiatives that were being pursued by the agency.

She said she also hadn't given any thought about pursuing covenant marriages as part of any legislative agenda now or in the future.