Posted on 07/28/2004 10:07:06 AM PDT by rface
“If the moderates don't get out, we've lost.”
Steve Cloud, Kansas' national GOP committeeman about the election
Signs have popped up in some Johnson County neighborhoods urging people to “Make a difference! Vote Moderate!”
Republican Timothy Null, who is running for a Kansas House seat from a rural district in the middle of the state, filed for office when he found out the other Republican in the race opposed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
The GOP culture wars are raging in Kansas once again.
Fueled by the same-sex marriage issue, concealed weapons, taxes and worries about school funding, moderates and conservatives are fighting more fiercely than ever, some political observers say.
And voters are noticing: Fifty-five percent think the current political atmosphere is more polarized and bitter than in recent years, according to a poll conducted for The Kansas City Star and KMBC-TV.
“I've spent a year and a half touring Kansas thinking I could bring this party together,” Republican Chairman Dennis Jones said. “The split in our party isn't issue-oriented. It's not philosophy-oriented. It's personal. We've got people in our party who do not like each other.”
Republicans on both sides fear that heated campaigns between the two factions will only exacerbate that animosity.
“It's broke,” conservative Dwight Sutherland Jr. said of the party. Sutherland, of Mission Hills, is running for the state Senate against moderate David Wysong, also of Mission Hills.
At stake in the Aug. 3 GOP primary is control of the Legislature — and the legislative agenda — as well as the party apparatus.
Moderates who control the Senate generally push business and education issues ahead of social issues such as same-sex marriage, fetal stem-cell research and abortion. The opposite occurs when conservatives are in charge.
In this past session, for example, conservatives in the House vigorously pursued and passed a bill tightening health standards for abortion clinics, a measure they knew would be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. When it got to the moderate-controlled Senate, it didn't even get a committee hearing.
Next year, lawmakers face the prospect of reforming the current school finance formula and adding millions more to what school districts currently get.
Conservatives are telling voters they won't raise taxes for schools. Moderates, on the other hand, are more likely to support tax increases and more money for the education system.
This year, it was a coalition of GOP moderates and Democrats in the House that pushed through a $155 million tax increase over the objection of conservative House leaders.
Moderates also are seen as more likely to seek compromises with Democrats and Sebelius. Conservatives vigorously opposed her efforts this year to increase school taxes and expand gambling. Moderate Republicans were more receptive.
Currently, moderates have a slim majority in the Senate, and conservatives have a slight edge in the House.
Most Democrats concede there is no chance of winning control of the Legislature, which makes the Aug. 3 primary crucial.
Out of 22 GOP primary races for the Senate, 20 pit moderates against conservatives. In GOP races for the Kansas House, 35 are factional fights.
Of those 55 moderate-conservative legislative battles, 20 are in the Kansas City area.
Conservatives have held the leadership of the Kansas House since the mid-1990s. Control of the Senate, however, has eluded them.
Four years ago, control of both chambers barely escaped their grasp. This year they think the prize is again within reach. Three issues have caught the electorate's attention: gay marriage, concealed guns and tax increases, said Sen. Phillip Journey, a conservative Republican from Wichita.
“All those favor conservatives,” Journey said.
In addition to fighting for power in the Legislature, the factions are battling to control the party itself.
The moderate faction controls the state party and has for decades. But in 1994, conservatives shocked the GOP establishment by winning a majority of precinct leadership jobs. They held power until moderates wrested it back four years later.
Control of the state GOP will be decided in thousands of precinct committee races across the state. Those elected vote to replace elected Republicans who do not serve out their terms. They also select the leaders of the party, who set GOP policy.
For example, the faction that controls the party could be in a position to decide whether unaffiliated voters will be able to vote in GOP primaries. Party conservatives took Jones to court last month and blocked his efforts to allow those voters to cast ballots in this year's primary, a move seen as a way to bring more moderates to the polls. On Saturday, moderate leaders at a state committee meeting in Topeka pushed through a resolution opening future GOP primaries. Conservatives vowed to reverse the decision if they gain control of the party Aug. 3.
In Johnson County and elsewhere, moderates are pinning their hopes on the education issue, pointing to school budget cuts and defending votes that would have raised taxes for schools.
Johnson County Republicans for Education mailed a large postcard recently urging voters to “Vote for Education” and listing the names of candidates they support. The group is led by Steve Cloud, the state's national GOP committeeman.
Cloud said he is worried conservative voters have been energized by the same-sex marriage issue and that moderates will not bother to vote in sufficient numbers.
That also worries Jones, who said apathy was the party's biggest problem.
In the primary two years ago, about 400,000 of the state's more than 700,000 registered Republicans did not turn out, allowing 300,000 voters to shape the party, Jones said.
“If the moderates don't get out, we've lost,” Cloud said.
Pat Ranson, vice chairwoman of the state Republican Party and a Wichita moderate, said the same-sex marriage issue had risen to the top of the social conservative agenda — eclipsing abortion, the galvanizing issue for conservatives in the past. Evangelical churches in Sedgwick County and other parts of the state are making sure their members are registered to vote.
“There's no question that their churches have been activated and walking a very thin line on what's legal,” Ranson said.
The push by Kansas conservatives has drawn national attention. Recently the Rev. Jerry Johnston of First Family Church in Overland Park, who has been urging ministers to combat same-sex marriage, appeared on “The O'Reilly Factor” to describe how he hoped to mobilize evangelicals.
Democrats are watching the GOP discord and hoping they can benefit from it in the general election. Democrats hold only 10 seats in the Senate, and party officials like Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka said they hope they can expand their numbers.
Should conservatives win in the primary, said Hensley, good Democratic candidates are waiting to reach out to moderate Republicans. “Where else are they going to go?” he asked.
The Star's John A. Dvorak contributed to this report.
To reach Jim Sullinger, Kansas government reporter, call
(816) 234-7701 or send e-mail to jsullinger@kcstar.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Fueled by the same-sex marriage issue, concealed weapons, taxes and worries about school funding, moderates and conservatives are fighting more fiercely than ever, some political observers say."
Conservatioves should STOP referring to liberal Republicans as "moderates".
George Bush II is a "moderate. He doesn't oppose the Second Amendment, support gay marriage or condone abortion.
These creatures who refer to themselves as "moderates" in the Republican Party are Liberals. They are better described as Limousine Liberals or Rockefeller Republicans and they should be purged from the party or driven into political insignificance.
The left-wing extremists and crypto-Communists have a party ALL to themselves - the Democrat Party. They are now trying to infiltrate the Republican Party to assure their agenda is implimented regardless of who is in office.
Americans and especially Republican Americans had better wake up or a two party system will degenerate into a de facto one party system, with the liberals controlling both.
This is a very stupid article.
Kansas City is where these battles are, not the more rural parts of the state.
I don't know...
One thing though.....run for local commiteeman positions.
I forgot to do that this time around. Luckily I have a conservative to vote for.
It's not just at the state level. Two of the three GOP candidates for the 3rd Congressional district are out to destroy each other. Regardless of which takes the nomination, Moore will have his fourth term.
This in a nutshell says it all, so called Moderate(read Liberal) Republicans refer to churches as "Their Churches".
Like it or not the moderate republicans are THE only reason why republicans gain power toss them out you toss out our national power.
Like it or not the moderate republicans are THE only reason why republicans gain power toss them out you toss out our national power.
If there was ever a person who hates Chrsitians it has to be Steve Cloud.
Who exactly are "they"?
Vince Snowbarger was a crappy fundraiser and didn't have very good constituent services services in his first term.
That's why hes not in office anymore. He lost in a GOP-leaning district. He ought to be ashamed of himself that he turned the seat over to the Democrats.
Don't toss the blame on the moderate wing of the GOP when that isn't the case.
Man, those moderates are really far out there. Don't usually see those public expressions of antipathy toward conservatives. They usually at least pay lip service to the base.
I thought I saw the end of Rockefeller Republicans when Nancy Kassebaum retired, but I guess I am wrong.
The moderates are no more to blame (than the conservatives) for the GOP's inability to re-gain that seat.
Yes, they refused to back Phill Kline in 2000 and the conservatives refused to back Adam Taff in 2002.
So, what are we (the GOP) gonna do to break this problem? The answer is not (as some Freepers have suggested) that the moderates leave the party because they're supposedly not loyal Republicans.
That's really the issue here. How does this party keep from tearing itself apart?
The GOP culture wars rage here on FR daily.....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.