A meeting touted as an effort to unite Douglas County Republicans apparently only increased tensions between conservatives and moderates.
Conservative leaders of the Douglas County Republican Party say they intentionally were excluded from a recent Lawrence meeting at which the party's state leader touted efforts to unite conservatives and moderates.
"This is a unity meeting? Who are you trying to unite?" said John Watkins, secretary of the Douglas County Republican Central Committee.
Watkins said neither he, Jim Mullins, chairman of the county committee, nor other conservative county leaders were invited or informed of the meeting a week ago at the Lawrence Country Club.
At the meeting, GOP state chairman Mark Parkinson, a moderate, said he wanted to heal rifts in the party.
The GOP Club, Douglas County Republican Women and Town and Country Republican Women sponsored the meeting.
Watkins said Chris Miller, chairman of the GOP Club, excluded him, other central committee members and precinct leaders, based on their conservative leanings.
"The long and short of it is these guys have treated us like lepers from day one," Watkins said of party moderates.
Miller said that the meeting was open to all Republicans and that no effort was made to keep anyone away. But he confirmed that meeting organizers didn't invite the conservatives or inform them of it.
Mullins questioned why a member of the Town and Country Republicans asked him and another of the party's county executive committee to work at a booth at the Douglas County Fair the night of the meeting.
"It could be a coincidence, it could be the other way; I don't have a clue," Mullins said.
Had he known of the meeting, he'd have gone, he said.
Mullins was first elected in the fall of 1996, and re-elected last fall.
Miller said 37 people attended the meeting.
Parkinson, an Olathe resident and former state representative and senator, said he's trying to meet Republicans in all 105 counties. He said he didn't know the guest list to last week's meeting.
"I don't know who was or who wasn't invited to any speech I'm invited to," Parkinson said. "My belief is that it's best that they are open and everyone is invited. If people were left out, I'm happy to come back to Lawrence when I can."
Parkinson said he doesn't want to become personally involved in the conservative-moderate split in Douglas, Sedgwick, Wyandotte, Johnson and other counties.
"The skirmishes in the local precincts will continue, and that's just the nature of it," he said.
-- Chris Koger's phone message number is 832-7126. His e-mail address is ckoger@ljworld.com.
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