After introducing the 2003-04 majority Republican caucus, newly elected Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema proclaimed the 22-member caucus as the most diversified assembly to ever lead the Michigan Senate.

The Senate group consists of six females, one Hispanic and one black, Sikkema, R-Wyoming, announced Tuesday.

Senator-elect Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, will serve as assistant majority leader; Sen. Beverly Hammerstrom, R-Temperance, will serve as majority floor leader and Senator-elect Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, will serve as assistant majority floor leader.

Also elected were Senator-elect Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, who will serve as caucus chairman; Senator-elect Ron Jelinek, R-Three Oaks, who will serve as assistant caucus chairman; Senator-elect Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, who will serve as majority whip and Senator-elect Laura Toy, R-Livonia, who will serve as assistant majority whip.

The Republican caucus also nominated two senators to hold the president and assistant president pro tempore positions.

The entire Senate will hold elections for the positions when it assembles again in January. Senator-elect Patty Birkholz, R-Saugatuck, and Sen. Alan Sanborn, R-Richmond, were nominated for president and assistant president pro tempore, respectively.

State Sen. Valde Garcia, R-St. Johns, said he agrees with Sikkema that the coming year's Republican caucus will be the most diverse in the state's history.

"We have a Hispanic in the Senate, we have the first Republican African American in the Senate since the early 1900s. We have six Republican women. I'd say it's pretty diverse," he said. "We intend to work with the governor. We have to find a common ground, and I'm sure we will."

Megan Frye