Kansas’ current governor and a former governor are lining up on opposite sides of the Republican Party fence.
Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday announced he is endorsing some so-called conservative Republican legislative candidates who face so-called moderate Republicans in the Aug. 7 primary.
Meanwhile, former Gov. Bill Graves is returning to Kansas to support moderate Republicans.
The fight is primarily over control of the Kansas Senate, which is now led by moderate Republicans, who hold a narrow edge.
But Brownback and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce have targeted a number of those moderates for defeat.
“Because of the alliance in the state Senate between Democrats and some Republicans that join together to promote a Democrat agenda, the primary election has effectively become the general. Therefore, I am going to be involved in a limited number of primaries,” Brownback said in a statement.
The statement was released by his spokesperson Sherriene Jones-Sontag. She said she did not have a list of the candidates whom Brownback has endorsed.
Brownback has been in England this week attending the Farnborough International Airshow.
Brownback wants to put the Senate under conservative leadership, like the House.
During the past legislative session, a coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats in the Senate fought Brownback and conservative Republicans over redistricting, tax cuts and school issues. The impasse over redistricting led to court-drawn districts.
On Thursday, a group of 50 former legislators called Traditional Republicans for Common Sense criticized Brownback’s move.
“It’s astonishing to see a governor who is more interested in politics than policy, more interested in elections than governing,” said Rochelle Chronister, who has served as assistant House Republican leader and chair of the Kansas Republican Party.
“Governor Brownback may want a rubber-stamp majority in the Legislature, but I think Kansans will have something to say about that on Election Day. Kansans want their elected officials to do what’s best for their communities, their schools, the elderly and their children,” Chronister said.
Traditional Republicans for Common Sense have been highly critical of Brownback signing into law a massive tax cut. Critics say the tax cut will mostly benefit wealthy Kansans while bankrupting schools and social services. Brownback has said the tax cut will spur the economy.
Brownback’s spokeswoman said it is not unusual for a sitting governor to get involved in his or her own party’s primary battles. She said Graves and Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, did the same thing.
Graves, who now lives in Virginia, will make stops next week in Johnson County, Wichita and Salina to stump for Senate incumbents who are battling more conservative Republicans in the primary, The Kansas City Star reported Thursday.
Derrick Sontag, state director of Americans for Prosperity, a Washington-based group that advocates for tax cuts and smaller government, said Graves’ planned visits represent “the old guard.”
“They may say it, but they don’t really believe in a limited government,” Sontag said. “Their actions don’t back up their rhetoric at times.”
Graves served as governor from 1995 to 2003, and political observers believe he brings political and fundraising credibility to moderates who are up against Brownback’s conservative backers, which include Sontag’s group and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce.
“The moderates who once roamed the Plains very freely are now down to a very limited amount of pasture,” said Joe Aistrup, a political science professor at Kansas State University. “If they don’t step it up and raise the money necessary to compete against the likes of Brownback, the chamber and Americans for Prosperity, their days are numbered.”
Comments
The_Big_B 10 months, 1 week ago
Graves isn't even a Kansan. He is, though, a big DB.
cait48 10 months, 1 week ago
So, people aren't allowed to retire and move away? Graves was born in Salina and lived his entire life in Kansas before moving to VA a few years ago. That makes him less of a "Kansan"? His roots are here, his family is here, he's a former governor of the state. Wow. I don't even...
livingstone 10 months, 1 week ago
Anyone who identifies themselves with Kansas (once lived here, born here etc...) is a Kansan.
chootspa 10 months, 1 week ago
Brownback spent more time in VA than he did in Kansas until very recently.
mikekt 10 months, 1 week ago
Brownback visiting england;.... studying the Monarchy... no doubt!
FlintHawk 10 months, 1 week ago
Omigoodness!! We learned something new today, although it took forever to find the meaning you no doubt intend. Name calling is ever so helpful to reasonable discourse, yes?
traveler12 10 months, 1 week ago
Are Sherriene Jones-Sontag and Derrick Sontag related? Perhaps spouses?
DoubtingThomas 10 months, 1 week ago
According to them, it is OK to do ANYTHING if they believe it is in the name of God. Sound Familiar? There is this Theocracy in the Middle East called Iran and........
EarthaKitt 10 months, 1 week ago
I knew Sherriene back in her news anchor days in Topeka. Never have I misread a person so thoroughly.
Wolf in Sheep's Clothing by EarthaKitt
DoubtingThomas 10 months, 1 week ago
Wonder how she would look in a burkha?
vuduchyld 10 months, 1 week ago
Welcome to Brownbackistan, it's where Kansas used to be Welcome to Brownbackistan, it's our new theocracy!
The video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLUfNP...
Bob_Keeshan 10 months, 1 week ago
Paging cato the elder http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/jul...
Judging from the comments of some of this boards ardent GOP sheep when Sebelius got involved in a single primary in 2008, this will provoke outrage from the right...
Or, probably not. Hypocrisy, they name is the Kansas GOP.
CLARKKENT 10 months, 1 week ago
NO BOB, NOT KANSAS GOP, JUST GOP.
merrill 10 months, 1 week ago
"Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday announced he is endorsing some so-called conservative Republican legislative candidates who face so-called moderate Republicans in the Aug. 7 primary.
But Brownback and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce have targeted a number of those moderates for defeat."
Face it Brownback has no use for republicans for he himself is a RINO. The above strategy killed the GOP at the national level. So Brownback duped Kansas voters into believing he is a republican which is a lie.
Sam Brownback wants more RINO's because he believes no legislator should question his actions. Sam Brownback believes in a one party system = dictatorship.
merrill 10 months, 1 week ago
"Brownback has been in England this week attending the Farnborough International Airshow."
On the taxpayers nickel and dime? What about that? If so how did he pull this fraudulent activity off?
mikekt 10 months, 1 week ago
He's also, "MR. KANSAS PSEUDO-CHRISTIAN, 2012"! He"s a consumate Con Artist & his "Topeka Prayer Room" is just another trick to "Prey On The Spiritually Stupid, Of Our KS Public", with one hand, while he uses the other hand to oppress the poor on behalf or the Rich & his Koch Industries Masters!
Can't serve two masters at once, as the Bible says.........Can't serve Christ or God....... & the Rich or Koch crowd,...( that would be gods on earth!... if they only could be! ).
Which one is Sam Brownback dissing?! HUMMMMM?
somedude20 10 months, 1 week ago
I think this photo sums this up perfectly!
by somedude20
Agnostick 10 months, 1 week ago
Nothing to see but the puppy dog following the "snap" of his Master's fingers... yet again!
ROFLMAO!!!!
mikekt 10 months, 1 week ago
Born Again? Was it last night that you were born?
Uhlrick_Hetfield_III 10 months, 1 week ago
Graves is ancient history. If you have to go back 10 years in politics to find someone relevant to your cause, and that person is a nobody, you're hurting.
Yeoman2 10 months, 1 week ago
Oh goodie, I just love it when I see the republican terrorist party implode. The facists have no compulsion on destroying their own and we all benefit from this.
tomatogrower 10 months, 1 week ago
Finally. the moderates are trying to take back their party. Brownback is not for small government. He would like to regulate every aspect of your life and make you follow the same rituals and so called mores of his Catholic church. Fortunately most of us have more morals. We don't molest little children or hide people who do. I never liked Graves a lot, but he is at least a true governor, and not someone who thinks he is godlike enough to force his religion down other people's throats. Maybe I'll be voting for some Republicans again.
mikekt 10 months, 1 week ago
If that ( turning us all into catholics.....is what brownback really wants ) is true, then who is he going to choose to be the official government sexual abuser of children in their supervision (?) & who will be the superior officials, who are famous for turning a blind eye to it all?!
Questions?!
But it does remind me of the Juvenile Prison System in Kansas. How strange .....& yet familiar,.... of a group think that is run by people who are corrupted somehow!
Brownback is on what?....His second... or third, so called religion?
Like any bloodsucker, he needs to move on to fresh blood, constantly, but the schemes remain the same. Never give a sucker, an even break!......... even if they are Re-Publicans!
merrill 10 months, 1 week ago
Republicans cannot afford to vote in these RINO's because these RINO's put them out of work and possibly into foreclosure as well as loss medical insurance.
DoubtingThomas 10 months, 1 week ago
The quote said Governor not President.
JackMcKee 10 months, 1 week ago
I'm not sure these people can really govern by only appealing 15% of the population. I can't see the other 85% wanting to move back 100 years to accept their agenda. The far right does not have a strategy for success.
jhawkinsf 10 months, 1 week ago
Have you looked at who votes and who doesn't vote? It's a sad state of affairs that so few vote, but that's exactly how 15% can rule. Because they are committed enough to actually show up at the polls and cast their ballot.
We're in the process of getting the government we deserve.
JackMcKee 10 months, 1 week ago
The population I'm referencing is those who vote.
Paul R. Getto 10 months, 1 week ago
Actually, it's less than 15% in many cases. Fewer than 20% vote in most primaries; it can much lower than that at times. Just a few percent of the eligible electorate make some significant decisions. In a state like Kansas, the primary is often the last real contest and the general election is a done deal. In its heyday, the "Christian" Coalition and Ralph Reed called the shots for the entire country. The never had more than 250,000 or so actual members.
jhawkinsf 10 months, 1 week ago
"All politics is local"
Even here in Lawrence, a city that has a very strong progressive lean, only 16% voted in the last local election. Any organized political group can win an election here.
George_Braziller 10 months, 1 week ago
If I was running for state office and Brownback wanted to endorse me I would politely decline the offer. Kansas has always been a conservative state but Brownie has pushed his agenda so far off the scale that an endorsement from him would doom even a conservative Republican's chance of being elected.
KSWIND 10 months, 1 week ago
Is there a list of who are the conservatives and who are the moderates.
Paul R. Getto 10 months, 1 week ago
<p>kasb.org might have some information. Kansas NEA could be another source. Both organizations would like to save the more rational senators who tend to vote for school funding.pizzapete 10 months, 1 week ago
Someone needs to remind Brownback that the divide and conquer approach is supposed to be used against the other party, not your own.
mikekt 10 months, 1 week ago
His own party tolerated & supported him for many years & now they get their just returns for supporting a first class jackal. Sow The Wind........ Reap The Whirlwind!!!!
merrill 10 months, 1 week ago
"Hey conservatives this is me Sam Brownback. I expect you to do as I say and do not question my authority or my motives IF you want to remain in office. "
rtnnr 10 months, 1 week ago
It is not correct to brand the Brownback crowd "conservative." If one wants o understand the notion of conservatism, there is a book entitled The Conservative Mind, from Burke to Santayana, by Russell Kirk that defines the idea. These so-called conservatives of the present time in the nation are really quite radical. They want to tear down the wall of separation between church and state, they want a theocratic society, and they are virtually constant in pressing for MORE government of their own definition. They must be put out of office in 2012!
hear_me 10 months, 1 week ago
So true.
oxymoron 10 months, 1 week ago
Is there a list of the ingrates that Sam and Kochheads after trying to defeat?
mikekt 10 months, 1 week ago
Who's next to get brownies' "party axe"?
Is it The Kansas Chamber of Economic Horrors?
Those "Kansas Chamber of Economic Horrors Turkeys" better watch out....... because they can be replaced, too!!!!
Not that they don't deserve it.... for allowing themselves to serve the purposes of evil.
gayokay 10 months, 1 week ago
Can't somebody take one for the team, please? We just need to catch Browneye with his pants down in a wide stance. The ol' grrl doth protest too much.
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