The guest speaker during the Noon Rotary meeting Tuesday in Junction City was Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Schmidt touched on a number of subjects but explained that during his time as the State Attorney General he’s come to realize that not a lot of people know what his office actually does.

“I think a lot of folks, unless you have a reason to interact with the AG’s office, don’t have a reason to have thought about what it is we do,” said Schmidt.

He went on to explain that the Attorney General’s Office is responsible for approximately $20 million in public money,”not counting the KBI, which is another $30 million a year more or less.”

By statute the Kansas Bureau of Investigations is an affiliate of the AG’s office.

Schmidt went on to list a few of the more prominent things his office focuses one including working with crime victims across the state, handling consumer protection cases and civil litigation. He said that his office does handle some criminal litigation, but that it’s mostly just on a referral basis.

“I’ve never actually put the pencil to it, but I would bet pretty good money that ninety-nine, maybe and a half percent, of all of the criminal cases handled in Kansas are not handled by our office. At least not at the trial level in the District Court or the Municipal Court.”

The Attorney General is an elected position and Schmidt was first elected in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014.