Monday night, a slate of liberal and left-center Republicans faced off against conservative Republicans for leadership positions in the Johnson County Republican Party and the moderates won in a walk. 

The winning slate of candidates included Ronnie Metsker for chairman, Cathy Nugent for vice-chair, Marearl Denning for secretary and Mike Kuckelman for treasurer.  

Metsker beat his opponent and former vice-chair of the JoCo Republican Party Arlene Krings in a 304-265 rout.

The winning slate was backed by two of the House's most liberal Republicans, Rep Terrie Huntington and Rep Pat Colloton, and by Andy Wollen, a former Johnson County Republican Party chair and current board member of the Kansas Traditional Republican Majority. 

KTRM had been criticized by other Republicans, including many 'moderates,' for their extreme tactics, including accusing conservative Republican political opponents of being associated with the KKK and distributing direct mail pieces charging conservatives wanted to deprive children of medical attention.

The Kansas Republican Assembly and the Kansans for Life political action committee endorsed the conservative slate of candidates.

The left-center victory came despite a decision by the state GOP to suspend 15 of the precinct leaders for breaking party rules and actively supporting Democrat candidates. While not as severe as Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' vendetta against three-term Democratic State Sen. Mark Gilstrap, who was driven out of office by the governor for his pro-life views, the suspensions drew criticism from mostly liberal partisan observers.

The Kansas City Star, for example, said the suspensions violated "free speech" and called them "hypocritical and foolish."

An editorial page columnist, writing in a Star blog, asked, "When will conservative Republicans in Kansas learn the perils of overreaching? This is the sort of move that will alienate voters and possibly impact statewide elections -- like the governor's race in two years in which conservative standard-bearer Sam Brownback is expected to seek the GOP nomination."

Among those suspended were several precinct leaders who supported incumbent Democratic Congressman Dennis Moore's campaign against former GOP State Sen. Nick Jordan. Most of the suspended precinct leaders also had donated money to candidates running against Republicans. Marienne Brown, of Aubry Township precinct 2, for example, donated $3600 to the Obama campaign, while Suzanne Allen, of Mission Hills' precinct 3, donated $500 to Obama, $1000 to Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Boyda, $2300 to Moore, $1000 to Democrat Jim Slattery's campaign against GOP Sen. Pat Roberts, and $1500 to six other Democrats.

Marearl Denning said she was ‘very, very happy’ to have been elected into the secretary position for the JoCo Republican Party.  

“The precinct voters wanted our slate more than the other slate and we are going to really move forward and reorganize,” Denning told Kansas Liberty.  

Denning said her group of newly-elected Republican leaders already had plans to make some changes within the JoCo Republican Party including establishing a year-long office with volunteers to help staff the office and answer the phone.  

The Johnson County Republican Party does not currently have its own office, Denning said. 

Denning said her group planned on continuing the tradition of the Elephant Club, which hosts fundraising luncheons for Republican candidates.

Asked why conservatives had failed to protect their recent gains, one insider, who asked not to be identified, blamed the state party for not helping field good precinct leaders, allowing many left-center precinct candidates to run unopposed.

"We weren't outmaneuvered," the source said. "We simply didn't have the votes. It was not outmaneuvering.  It was apathy by conservatives."

The week in Review