On January 11, 2019, Governor Laura Kelly announced that she would appoint David Toland as Kansas Secretary of Commerce following her inauguration. Anti-abortion activists attempted to prevent Toland's confirmation due to what they perceived as ties to George Tiller, an assassinated abortion provider from Wichita, Kansas who was killed while ushering in his church in 2009 by anti-abortion extremist Scott Roeder. Supporters of Toland noted that the only tie between the two was a small grant that Thrive Allen County obtained from a memorial fund posthumously established in Tiller's name and that Toland's position as Secretary of Commerce would have nothing to do with healthcare services or abortion. The grants in question had been made to assist pregnant women to stop smoking and to provide contraceptive services to low-income women intending to postpone or avoid becoming pregnant. In a hearing by the Commerce Committee held on March 20–21, 2019, Toland expansively answered probing questions from Baumgardner and anti-abortion Senator Mary Pilcher-Cook about Toland's neighborhood improvement activities in the District of Columbia prior to his return to Kansas. The committee rejected his appointment by a vote of 6–5, sending the nomination to the full senate. Despite personal attacks leveled by conservatives, Toland was confirmed to the position by the Kansas Senate on April 1, 2019, by a vote of 23–14. He received support from all 11 Democratic senators, 11 Republicans, and the Senate's lone independent. Toland had survived an effort by the Kansas Republican Party, Kansans for Life, the Koch Industries-funded Americans for Prosperity and others, to derail his nomination. After she became chair of the Senate Commerce Committee in 2013, Republican Senator Julia Lynn handled the vetting of Antonio Soave, Commerce Secretary to Republican Governors Sam Brownback and then Jeff Colyer. Soave oversaw the outsourcing of considerable work which had previously been done by state employees, to contractors. After Governor Laura Kelly took office, Lynn tried to squelch audits of those contracts, which reviews have been initiated by Toland. Some work had gone to Allied Global Services and Lynn was working for a division of AGS, Inclusion Works. She denied having any conflict of interest in that relationship, a position with which both Republican and Democratic legislators disagreed. Upon audits, considerable problems were found with the contractors.
