Why a public servant? Why a desire to be fully engaged in the political process from the tiring, but crucial work at the precinct level to the society shaping exchange from the floor of the Indiana State Senate?

For Luke Kenley, like so many of us, it began even before he was aware it was happening. At home, talk around the dinner table often centered on local happenings and political news. Luke's dad, Howard Kenley, was a Republican member of the Noblesville City Council and by watching him Luke learned both the value of consensus building and the art of leadership.

These skills would serve him well in later years as he took on leadership roles in the local GOP and finally in the halls of the Statehouse. But again, why a public servant and why a conservative? Why not be content to allow others to shape Indiana's future? Perhaps the answer lies in Luke's political philosophy modeled after the late Senator Barry Goldwater, Luke's political hero. Goldwater was best described as " a champion of the entrepreneur, the risk-taker, the man or woman who asked only for the opportunity to go as far and as high as their talent and ambition would take them".

• Luke and Sally both grew up in families that were active in the Republican Party. Sally's father, Joseph Butler, was a former Republican Mayor of Noblesville, and Luke's dad, Howard Kenley, served on the Noblesville City Council.
• Luke has been a major donor to the party and a longtime delegate to the Republican State Convention.
• Luke was elected to four consecutive terms as Noblesville City Court Judge.
• Luke was one of a few community leaders in Hamilton County to be interviewed about the strength of the Hamilton County Republican Party by the CBS news program 60 Minutes.
• Luke was an alternate delegate and delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1996 and 2000.
• Luke was elected to the Indiana State Senate in 1992 defeating a well-financed Democrat incumbent in one of the most expensive and heavily contested legislative races that year.
• Luke has been reelected in 1996 and 2000 without opposition.
• Luke has been co-chairman of the Indiana Republican Party Platform Committee for every State Convention since 1994, serving as the primary author.

Luke is a genuine Hoosier populist. He's as comfortable discussing the price of melons as he is talking to a room full of lawyers about the complexities of environmental regulation."

-- State Senator Murray Clark
The Indianapolis Star, February, 1998