The last-minute heat generated by statements and mailings by a "moderate" GOP organization called "Kansans for a Traditional Republican Majority" has caused some of their backers to explain their support.

After it was reported that Kansas' Senate Leadership PAC donated $45,000 to the KTRM campaign, Senate President Steve Morris said Monday that he would have preferred not to spend money intended for use against Democrats in Republican primaries.

However, he said he and other members of Senate leadership believed conservatives had recruited candidates to run against incumbent Republican senators, necessitating the leadership PAC involvement in Republican primaries.

“One part of leadership involves getting members re-elected, and, we have conservatives who were recruited to run in primaries against some strong high-performing senators who are good for the state and good for the Senate,” he said.

Morris said he does not believe the Kansas Republican Party was involved in recruiting conservatives to run against moderate Republican incumbents. He said it was his understanding that a Republican member, Sen. Tim Huelskamp of Fowler, was possibly responsible for some recruiting.

Last Friday, Huelskamp told Kansas Liberty that, while he had discussed possible candidacies with individuals who approached him about running for Senate seats, he had not gone on a recruiting mission in an attempt to take out moderate Republican candidates.

Morris conceded that the Senate Leadership PAC has made contributions that have assisted moderate Republicans who are running for open Senate seats against conservative challengers.

“Our involvement in those races has been much more limited than our involvement in races against incumbents,” he said. “Most of that has been through donations to KTRM (Kansans for a Traditional Republican Majority),” he said.

Campaign finance reports show that the Senate Leadership PAC donated $45,000 to that group, which supports so-called moderates running campaigns against conservatives.

Morris said he was disappointed in recent KTRM pieces that insinuate that two Republican office-seekers – District Attorney Phill Kline and Congressional candidate Jim Ryun – were racists. The accusation apparently stemmed from the purchase years ago of a mailing list by Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council from David Duke, seen by many as a white supremacist.

The campaign mailer implies that because Kline and Ryun have had some interactions with the Family Research Council, as have countless Republicans, they were racist.

“I haven’t seen the mailers, but I’ve heard some talk about them in the hall and that’s not helpful at all to go negative like that,” Morris said.

Morris said the involvement of the Senate Leadership PAC in Republican primaries wasn’t motivated by a desire by Senate leaders to retain their leadership positions.“But, obviously," he added, "everyone realizes that the outcome of Senate races has a big influence on leadership elections.”

The Week in Review