The Kansas Senate leadership is right to demand that its members be part of the solution rather than creating more problems.

There’s a common saying about the need for people to “lead, follow or get out of the way.”

Kansas Senate President Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson, sent a message something like that this week to fellow senators when he announced the decision of Senate GOP leaders to remove Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, from the important Senate Ways and Means Committee.

“Sen. Huelskamp has been unwilling to apply constructive criticism and positive solutions to the myriad of budget problems of the state,” Kerr said in announcing the decision. “We have no time to deal with anyone who is unwilling to be part of the solution.”

Kansans should applaud Kerr’s sentiment and his effort to move ahead on difficult state budget issues. It’s unfortunate, however, to recognize that the Senate leadership’s decision is an indication that splits in the Republican Senate membership continue to hamper its operations.

There was no question among those who attended the opening session of the Senate on Monday that Kerr and Huelskamp were getting off on the wrong foot. Senate Republicans had met in December and settled on Sen. John Vratil of Leawood, a moderate Republican, to replace now-Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger as Senate vice president. As Kerr was going through what he expected to be a pro-forma process for the preordained election of Vratil, he asked for additional nominations from the floor. Expecting none, he already had moved on to his next sentence when Huelskamp, a conservative, interrupted with his nomination of a fellow conservative, Sen. Stan Clark, R-Oakley, for the vice president’s post.

Kerr was visibly annoyed by the unexpected nomination, which had little chance of success and apparently was intended primarily as a show of rebellion against the moderate leadership of the Senate. Vratil was elected on a 30-9 vote. Interestingly, both Vratil and Clark are members of the leadership team that demoted Huelskamp.

Following Thursday’s announcement, Huelskamp alluded to the fact that he hadn’t supported Kerr in his failed bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, but he also conceded that he was removed from the budget committee “because I wasn’t a team player.”

It’s good that he got the message. Hopefully, other members of the Kansas Senate got it as well. Huelscamp and any other member of the Kansas Legislature should be free to express opinions and participate in debates over public policy, but playing political games isn’t going to lead the state through these difficult economic times. Legislators who persist in needling their opponents rather than taking constructive steps to reach a budget compromise are of little use to the process.

It’s time to lead, follow or get out of the way.