Quite a bit of fuss was made this week over a letter from House Minority Leader Tom Burroughs that some characterized as an apology over the way he handled the 2015 legislative session.

But Lawrence-area Democrats said they didn’t take it that way, and a spokeswoman for Burroughs said it was certainly not meant as any kind of “mea culpa.” Rather, they said, it was merely an attempt to get feedback about how the session went, and gather input about how members want to approach the 2016 session.

First, some context: Burroughs, who is from Kansas City, Kan., was in his first session as minority leader this year. He succeeded former Rep. Paul Davis of Lawrence who stepped down last year in an unsuccessful bid for governor. (Democrats also lost five seats in the House in that same election.) The session lasted a record-breaking 113 days, and to say that Democrats were steamrolled in it might be an understatement.

By the time it all ended, the Republican-dominated Legislature had done away with the K-12 school finance formula and replaced it with block grants that locked in funding cuts for the next two years. It also passed new restrictions on abortion, dramatic restrictions on how welfare recipients can spend their benefits, and a tax-and-spending package that raised sales taxes while preserving Gov. Sam Brownback’s controversial policy of eliminating income taxes for business owners.

So it was in that context that Burroughs mailed out what some Democrats described as an apology letter, but others say was a fairly typical post-session, postmortem letter to rally the troops and gear up for the next battle.

After some obligatory courtesies and thank-yous, Burroughs turns to topic of the topic at hand:

” While it would be easy to focus on our successes, I believe it is through reflection on the challenges we faced that we can grow and improve both as individuals and as a caucus. As your leader, it is my goal to make decisions in the best interest of our caucus, the Democratic Party, and the State of Kansas. If at any point in time I fell short of your expectations, I am sorry. I commit to continued improvement and I welcome your feedback. There are far too many battles ahead to be complacent.”

Now, a little more context: Burroughs won the leadership post in a contested race against Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita. And it’s no secret that the two men have different political styles and different management styles. Ward is known for being more aggressive and confrontational in criticizing conservative Republican policies; Burroughs is considered more conciliatory, although no less committed to Democratic Party ideals. Both had served in the past as assistant minority leaders.

The story about Burroughs’ letter first broke on the Wichita Eagle’s website, which characterized it as an apology letter by reporting: “The top Democrat in the Kansas House has sent a letter to his caucus apologizing if he fell short of their expectations and requesting their feedback ahead of the next session.”

Ward was quoted heavily in that story, as were other Wichita-area Democrats. That story was picked up by the Associated Press, and AP’s version of it was carried in the Journal-World with the headline, ‘Top Democrat in Kansas House apologizes to caucus.

There were times during the session when Ward and others wanted to order roll-call votes on various issues, and to offer amendments — particularly about Medicaid expansion — that would have forced conservative Republicans to put their names on a “no” vote. Such tactics, routinely practiced by members on all sides, are commonly known as “postcard votes” because they make easy fodder for election-year postcards.

Burroughs, however, generally resisted the temptation, believing such tactics only would have alienated moderate Republicans, whom Democrats often need as allies, even though in the current Legislature all the Democrats and all the moderate Republicans put together still don’t form a working majority.

But the idea that Burroughs’ letter was an “apology letter” was not universally shared among other Democrats, particularly those from Lawrence.

Rep. Barbara Ballard, for example, who serves as the Democrats’ caucus chair (meaning she leads caucus meetings whenever they get together to discuss strategy) wasn’t sure what was being referred to when asked if she’d received the “apology letter.”

“I received a letter, but I wouldn’t call it an apology letter,” she said. She added that all of the decisions about how Democrats would respond to the Republican agenda were run through the entire leadership team.

Rep. John Wilson also said he was surprised by the characterization. “No, I didn’t see it as an apology letter,” he said in an email.

Rep. Boog Highberger, who was serving his first session in the Legislature (he succeeded Davis in the 46th District) also declined to call it an apology. “I think it was an acknowledgement that we didn’t all agree on every single thing,” he said.

But he also conceded that Democrats could have been more confrontational with conservatives, at least on some issues.

“i think we should have pushed harder for Medicaid expansion,” he said. “We could have pressed harder on a number of issues. But I give the minority leader some credit. There’s a learning curve on every job.”