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.
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No that's dishonest. Moderates are given CREDIT for compromising with Democrats when the truth is that they AGREE with Democrats on many issues. The term "moderate" is very misused. They get praise for being liberals with an "R" by their name. There's no compromise in voting for what you wanted all along. It's a verbal game the media play. "Moderates" in Kansas are the most rigid ideologues you will ever want to meet. You'll get a liberal to compromise with you faster. See, they don't have to actually compromise. They get media praise every time they vote with the liberals on anything. Media praise translates into free fawning campaign publicity when it's time to run for re-election. When they ever do compromise it's because they've been bought off by the big media ideologues who do not represent the average Kansan.
When a conservative is nominated (Klein, Snowbarger) then the moderates either sit it out of vote for Moore. When a moderate is nominated(Taff) then the conservatives stay home. Niether Taff or Kobach has said that they would support the other candidate if that candidate won. And Moore just keeps on winning....
I thought I saw the end of Rockefeller Republicans when Nancy Kassebaum retired, but I guess I am wrong.
THIS is "What's Wrong With Kansas". A bunch of RATs have changed parties and joined the GOP, since they know they could never control the legislature as RATs. These "moderate" RINOs are nothing but RAT agents undercover.
On Taff, I REALLY REALLY REALLY want Kobach to win. I will support Taff if he wins ONLY because he is now saying he will vote for the FMA.
The conservative wing of the KS GOP isn't perfect; they have done some screw-ups themselves.
But seeing the utter vivitrol directed against Kline and that dude tho challenged Graves has turned me to the point that if I meet a moderate Republican out there, I will despise them as much as the Dems.
They have no conscience and simply REFUSE to support the Republican nominee if he is conservative.
It is disgusting. I vote for the Repub, even if he is a liberal weenie Republican.
The fact that the country club moderates CAN'T do the same when the nominee is a conservative Republican does not speak well of them.
It is time to loosen the vice grip the moderates have in this state once and for all!
Exactly. Many are flat out Democrats. We should learn from this and infiltrate Democrat politics in states where they dominate, making all kinds of demands for compromise and sellouts to the Republicans.
And why not? Is there anything so stupid as a Republican going around bashing Christian churches, channeling Barry Lynn? Of course there is room for moderates in the GOP. But these folks are nuts, they want total control of the party and they're fundamentally opposed to conservatism.
Again, it depends upon the definition of "moderate" and poll after poll on issues from gun control to the death sentence to abortion, to illegal aliens to the death penalty, indicates the majority of Americans are far more conservative then they are liberal.
Besides, the conservative position on all those issues is the morally correct one, and the only way MORE people don't believe in conservative ideology is due to the major edia, the entertainment field, and the "educational" establishment (brainwash them while they are young).
Why can't the liberals be happy with ONE party, the one they already own, the Democrats?
“We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates wouldn’t make any sense at all.” — Ronald Reagan, 1965
Exactly.
As I was reading the article, I was formulating my reply. Then I found that you wrote it for me.
I've been arguing this same thing here in PA. Moderates are really liberals seeking a second route to power - the GOP.
RINOs or Moderates or liberal pubbies DO NOT add to the strength of the GOP. They only dilute the message and if elected send the wrong message about what we stand for. When we purge these factions, disaffected people will return to the GOP tent. It may not be as big, but it will be more unified and stronger.
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