The view of the north side of the Statehouse.

Topeka ? Kansas Republican Party officials on Saturday acknowledged that federal and state officials are taking action against the organization because of serious record-keeping problems.

“It’s messy,” Steve Fitzgerald, the group’s treasurer, told approximately 200 people at the GOP State Committee Meeting.

He said four officials from the Federal Election Commission spent four or five days in Kansas going over the problems. Fitzgerald added that the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission will soon file a notification of “material error or omission” against the party, which files financial reports with the agency.

“We were not playing according to the rules when we should have,” Fitzgerald said.

FEC audit

According to reports, the FEC audited the Kansas GOP for the period covering 2007-08, when Kris Kobach was chairman and Christian Morgan was executive director.

Kobach, who is running for the Republican nomination for secretary of state, and Morgan, who is working for another GOP secretary of state candidate, have pointed fingers at each other.

In the June minutes of the Republican State Committee meeting, distributed at the Saturday meeting, Fitzgerald reported problems with the FEC and said an accountant had been hired “to work with our state office to clean things up ahead of the audits.” But Fitzgerald said the firm withdrew because there weren’t enough records to audit.

“This did not bode well,” he said Saturday.

In the minutes, Fitzgerald said no mishandling of funds had been discovered, only deficient record keeping and reporting.

The June report also showed the party had negative net income and had to pay off rent that was 90 days past due.

Despite the problems, Republicans were upbeat on Saturday. Officials noted recent elections won by Republicans and problems that Democrats in Congress have had passing health care reform and other legislation.

“The political winds are blowing our way,” said National Committeewoman Helen Van Etten.

Moran, Tiahrt

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who is running for governor, rallied the party officials, but the temperature went up in the GOP contest between U.S. Reps. Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt for Brownback’s seat.

Tiahrt said Moran had criticized him for bringing his family to live in the Washington, D.C., area while he serves in Congress. Moran’s family has remained in Kansas while Moran has served in Congress.

But Dan Lara, a spokesman for Moran, said Moran was not criticizing Tiahrt’s family nor Tiahrt’s decision to bring his family to the D.C.- area. He said Moran has made the point that oftentimes congressmen lose touch with their district, and he included Tiahrt in that criticism.

On Friday, Tiahrt and Moran appeared at a forum before the Kansas Chamber. At that event, Moran noted that one of his goals as a congressman was not to allow Washington to change him. Moran said he and his wife decided to keep the family in Hays, and he would return during days off. “Washington, D.C., is a very corrupting place,” he said.

On Saturday, Tiahrt said when first elected to Congress, he kept his family in Kansas but it didn’t work out. “I made my wife a single parent,” he said.

He said he and his wife decided to move the family to live in northern Virginia. He said he was able to see his children a lot more. Tiahrt brought up his son’s 2004 suicide, and that he has cherished that time he was able to be with his family during evening meals.

Moran was not at the meeting when Tiahrt made his comments. GOP Chair Amanda Adkins later announced Moran had a townhall meeting earlier in the day and had lost his voice. Lara, Moran’s spokesman, later met with reporters to respond to Tiahrt’s comments.

In other business, the State Committee approved on a 95-58 vote a “Commitment to Kansas” plan that officials said will be used as the foundation of the party’s pro-growth strategy for the state. The plan revolves around four core principles — keep long-term growth the focus; establish a climate of innovation; solve systematic problems plaguing families, including health care; attach worth to the contributions and innate value of every person.