Topeka ? The current president of the Kansas Senate and the mayor of Topeka are criticizing an ad by Republican 1st District congressional candidate Tim Huelskamp for claiming he was ousted by the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee because he was opposed to wasteful spending.

Sen. President Steve Morris and Mayor Bill Bunten, both Republicans, told The Topeka Capital-Journal that Huelskamp was removed from the panel in 2003 because he wouldn’t go along with leadership.

They called campaign claims by Huelskamp, a state senator from Fowler, “revisionist history.”

“It had nothing to do with his positions on the committee,” Morris said. “We always had different philosophies, some conservative and some moderate. It went back to internal procedures.”

Huelskamp is one of six candidates for the Republican nomination for the 1st District seat being vacated by Republican Rep. Jerry Moran, who is running for U.S. Senate. Last year, Morris was among the sponsors of a fundraising reception in Topeka for one of Huelskamp’s opponents in the GOP primary, state Sen. Jim Barnett, of Emporia.

In his campaign ad, Huelskamp touts his conservative credentials and says he is best suited to fight out-of-control spending in Washington.

In the ad, dubbed “Reputation,” he says he was dropped from the committee by liberal Republicans who were irritated by his propensity for “bucking the establishment and fighting wasteful spending.”