A group of Kansas Republicans apparently has decided that desperate times call for desperate measures.

After a number of years of failing to reunite the Kansas Republican Party, a group of moderate Republicans has formalized the party’s philosophical split by forming a new group called the Kansas Traditional Republican Majority (KTRM).

While conservative Republicans in the state have been represented by a number of small groups, including the Kansas Republican Assembly, this is the first time moderates have organized to represent the opposing view. The organization of KTRM sets up a formal battle for the philosophical heart and soul of the Kansas Republican Party.

The list of those involved in the new group is impressive: former U.S. Rep. Jan Meyers, former Lt. Gov. Gary Sherrer, former state Sens. Dick Bond, Mark Buhler, Tim Emert and Audrey Langworthy and former state Reps. Rob Boyer, Jim Lowther and Lloyd Stone along with other former GOP officials and party leaders. The group includes statewide representation that stretches from Overland Park to Dodge City and Lakin. Its executive director, Ryan Wright, is a former press secretary for U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran.

These people want their party back and are willing to fight for it. Their first order of business is to elect Republicans who share their moderate views to replace four current Republicans on the Kansas Board of Education who are part of the six-member board majority that has supported altering the state’s science standards and the hiring of Education Commissioner Bob Corkins who opposes higher funding for public schools.

As part of their effort, KTRM will battle a number of what Wright called “radical” groups that influenced the Republican primaries in 2004. Two groups he named were the Kansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity, which backs a budget and tax limit amendment, and Kansas Club for Growth, which financed efforts to defeat incumbent legislators who voted to raise taxes to support schools.

The stated goal of the group is to represent the core values of the Republican Party including limited government, individual freedoms, lower taxes, strong schools and responsible spending.

Predictably, conservative Republican leaders are portraying the formation of KTRM as a sinister trick. Charlotte Esau, executive director of the Kansas Republican Assembly, labeled KTRM as “a liberal front group for Democrats who want to pretend they are Republicans so they can hoodwink the voters :” In other words, anyone who doesn’t agree with me isn’t a real Republican.

What’s at stake here is control of the state GOP. Conservatives now hold the party reins, but the traditionalists want them back. One of these two groups will end up in control, and the other will be pushed out, and perhaps marginalized, to pursue their agenda outside the party structure.

This will not be an easy battle, and it is not good for the Kansas Republican Party or for Kansas. Over the years, the Kansas GOP has provided good, clean, forward-thinking government, and this looming conflict is sure to leave many long-lasting scars. Unfortunately, there are some identified with this new group who lack the full support of moderate Republicans.

It’s too bad that it’s come to this, but the moderate Republicans believe they are doing the right thing by pressing their claim to be the true representative of Kansas Republicans.