To the editor:

In a divisive election in which national Republicans preached party unity to keep the White House, Lawrence Republicans punished one of their own (and one of their best) for refusing to be blackmailed.

Thank you, Mark Buhler, for your sacrifice; thanks for voting for our kids and our schools. I know it cost you the election, because 1,613 members of your party punished you for your loyalty to your principles and your community. They warned you, if you didn’t do their will, they would get you beat, and they followed through.

It’s hard to imagine any one of those 1,613 people wanted Marci Francisco (who, by the way, should make a good senator) to win. No one who knows Mark would ever describe him as a “liberal,” so why would Republican voters work so hard to torpedo his election?

The conservative wing of the Republican Party has turned me into a Democrat. This year I voted for one Republican, and he lost. I voted Democrat for president, for the first time, and he lost.

The Buhler vote is a message. In the Republican Party, at least in Kansas, there can be no dialogue; the neo-conservatives will have their way or no way at all. They will cut off their noses to spite their faces, if that’s what it takes.

David Shribman, in Tuesday’s Journal-World, said it may be time for a new party, a party to represent the middle. Maybe responsible people, like Mark, can be found to lead it.

Bill Skepnek,

Lawrence