People & politics.

• Position: Trends and Transitions

George Humphreys, respected research director for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, author, teacher and NCSL activist, has retired after working 23 years in state government, 20 of them in administration. He began his career at the Oklahoma Legislative Council in 1979 while earning his Ph.D. in European history. He moved to the research division of the House of Representatives in 1980, became the director of the fiscal division in 1981, and had a stint as director of information services for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce in 1983. He took over as research director for the House in 1985. His 1991 book, Oklahoma Politics and Policies, Governing the Sooner State, was named best nonfiction book that year by the Oklahoma Center for the Book. It is one of four he wrote or co-authored.

Eighteen-year veteran Representative Rocky Adkins is Kentucky's House majority leader. He succeeds Greg Stumbo, the longest serving House majority leader in the history of the state. Stumbo was elected attorney general.

In Georgia, the legislative leadership has a new look. Representative Rich Golick was named assistant administrative floor leader by Governor Sonny Perdue. He and Representative Mark Burkhalter will push the administration's positions in the House. Golick replaces Representative Glenn Richardson, who was elected House Republican leader.

Joe Skeen, a New Mexico sheep rancher, two-term state senator and 22-year veteran congressman, has died from Parkinson's disease. He was 76. Elected to the New Mexico Senate in 1960, Skeen was one of only four Republicans. But his sense of humor, ability to roll with the punches and get along with everyone, made him effective, according to former Governor David Cargo. He beat long odds to win his congressional seat, left vacant by the death of Democrat Harold "Mud" Runnels. Skeen, unable to get on the ballot, ran a write-in campaign and won. He was only the third person elected to Congress that way and was New Mexico's longest serving U.S. representative.

Donald J. Schneider began his...