BREAKING NEWS: Kline is JoCo's New DA

I just returned from the convention of the Johnson County GOP Committee. Former AG Phil Kline won. Candidates Rick Guinn and Scott Hattrup dropped out early and the race came down to Phil Kline vs. current assistant DA Steve Howe, a steadfast and committed Republican. The vote was close: 311-291, for Kline.

For those of you who know (and don't know), early on I struggled with this decision, but I increasingly became convinced that Howe had the right experience for the job and the record as a sitting DA. I believed that Kline, having lost JoCo with only 35% of the vote in his AG race, would be a constant scourge of the media and bring division. I still believe it will be increasingly tough for Kline, and it is very likely we'll lose the office to the Dems in 2006 (another casualty of the divisions within the KS Republican Party and the inability of some conservatives to look at the long-term picture), but the Party has made it's decision and we need to move on. We need to unify and support Kline as best as we can and work to strengthen our party even more. We are ONE party and I will definitely work in the upcoming years to make sure we grow and make gains in the next few years.

In other news...I won my race to be a delegate to the 3rd District Republican convention. I received 272 votes out of 485, so I will be at the convention tomorrow to select the new leadership of the 3rd District GOP and state delegates. More to come.
I would like to hear your comments, and what the party needs to do now in the upcoming years.

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Update on Johnson County GOP

Sorry for the delay, but I wanted to update you all on the Johnson County Republican Party Re-organization meeting last Monday. For the first time ever, there was actual party unity (gasp!) and the moderates and conservatives came together to endorse a single slate of candidates for the GOP Executive Board. They are as follows:

Chairman: Scott Schwab (conservative)
Vice Chairman: Arlene Krings (conservative)
Treasurer: Marvin Kleeb (moderate)
Secretary: Brad Seitter (moderate)

The meeting monday was very subdued--no fights over leadership, different factions actually talked to eachother and and people from both sides applauded at the same times. I don't think it can get much more unified then this. Now let's see if it will actually work.

BTW--I ran for election as a delegate to the 3rd District Republican Party, to help write their party platform, elect their exec. board, and nominate delegates to the Kansas state GOP. I should find out very soon if I was elected, and I'll let you know.

Also, the convention to choose JoCo's next District Attorney is next Monday, Dec. 11. Several candidates were at the precinct meeting monday to hand out information about themselves and lobby us precinct members for support. Three assistant DA's are running: Rick Guinn (Paul Morrison's #2 guy in the office), Chris McMullin, and Steve Howe. Reps. Lance Kinzer and Kevin Yoder are no longer considered candidates (Yoder hasn't been practicing law long enough).

There is a little controversy over Guinn, Morrison's #2 in the office. While he stated that he is a Republican and has every intention of remaining so, he did give a $1000 contribution to Morrison's AG run, which is creating a buzz in the central GOP committee concerning where his loyalties lie. However, having met him, he seems pretty genuine, but I don't know as much about him. I worked in the DA's office summer after my freshman year of college, and I know Howe and McMullin well, and I can say for sure that they are dedicated and steadfast Republicans.

Also, Phil Kline is actively trying to make a run at DA, but his support his fluid at best, and I've talked to many conservatives that are privately telling him to back out and that they cannot support him. We'll see what happens, but personally, I think he'd be more of a liability than anything, and we need to get somone fresh and new into the office who can build up a reputation and record and then run for higher office later on.
What say you? Start posting away!

They're on notice

Well it's official. If Stephen Colbert says it, it must be true. He's put the Kansas Dems on notice. The Democrats have their largest presence in KS in years, and they will be held accountable in the next election. In 2008, we'll see whether Moore, Morrison, and especially Boyda will retain their jobs. The Kansas Republican Party did a horrible job in fundraising and supporting candidates this year. Ron Freeman--KS GOP director--is on notice and will probably be replaced.

Also, Johnson County GOP precinct committee members are on notice. Within the next month, they will choose a new JoCo district attorney and possible rising star to challenge the Kansas Democratic establishment. Point of advice: Pick a real Republican and not another opportunist like Paul Morrison.

The Konnection hears rumors that assistant DA Rick Guinn is vying for the job and touting his Republican credentials, despite his donation to Morrison's AG campaign. Other rumored contenders include Reps. Lance Kinzer and Kevin Yoder.

Yoder is young and a little inexperienced (it's only been about 3 years since he graduated from law school), but he someone who can unite the moderates and the conservatives, and he would make a great DA, and definitely grow into the office. Of course, the Konnection has been touting Yoder for a while now, and how he would make a great candidate for higher office (3rd district nominee against Moore in 2 years?). He's definitely our pick.

Getting past the shock and awe...

Many people will be speculating as to why the Republicans lost this Tuesday. Having just returned from Rhode Island, working for the RNC in the unsuccessful re-election of Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, I would just like to say this. We had perhaps our strongest field of candidates nationally than ever before, in states such as New Jersey and Maryland, and incumbents in states across the country that didn't deserve to lose (like Nancy Johnson in Connecticut, Jim Talent in MO, and Jim Ryan in Kansas). While the media may claim this election was a referendum on corruption, Mark Foley, the congress, etc., based on my experience on the ground and what I've heard from others, I think the Dems successfully nationalized this election to be about the Iraq war policy and Bush's overall foreign policy. I don't think the election was a referundum on the candidates or the party itself as much as it was about a rejection of Bush's handling of the war and uneasiness over Iraq. In Warwick and Providence, I talked to many people who said, "I love Sen. Chafee, he's done a great job, but I have to send a message to Bush about the war."

FYI--statistics show that this midterm had the highest turnout of the 18-30 demographic than any midterm election in history. Most analysts believe this "youth vote" was based entirely on anti-war sentiment.

The Dems do not have a large mandate (it looks like they have 29 seat margin in the house and a one seat margin in the Senate). 22 out of the 29 seats won were by a margin of less than 2 percent or less than 5,000 votes. The Dems would be well-advised not to view this as a mandate, rather as a default position for those who were unhappy with the war and Bush. This was more about voting against the Republicans, rather than an overall vote of confidence in the Democrats (kind of like the "Anybody but Bush" crowd who voted against Bush more than for Kerry, which cost Kerry in the long-run). After 2 years of endless investigations and gridlock, the American people will be ready to throw the Dems out, after seeing they don't have any real solutions.

In the meantime, our party must try harder than ever to convey the necessity of fighting the war on terror, stabilizing Iraq, and praise the booming economy (the administration has been severely lacking in PR these last few years). This will be especially important since the Dems and the mainstream media will use investigations and hearings to discredit everything that we've tried to do.

A national blog summed up the election this way:

The Democrats said: “Had enough?”
The Republicans said: “It could be worse!”
The voters said: “Let’s find out.”

We can and will come back. Americans will now see what it's like to have the Dems in control, and I predict that with liberal leaders in charge in both houses, Americans will be jerked into the reality of a Democratic agenda and will send the Dems packing in 08 and return congress to GOP hands.

A bit of comforting news for the GOP...

While large majorities of the American public blame the GOP leadership for allegedly covering up the Foley incident, 75 percent believe the Dems would have done no better and only 18 percent said the Foley incident will affect their vote. Of course, this was buried in a small AP article that didn't even run in most major newspapers. It can be found here.

That being said, the GOP should brace itself for huge losses in both houses and prepare to work more aggressively than ever before in its GOTV efforts

77% of Kansans for English as official language

According to a Mason-Dixon poll done of 625 voters Sept. 20-22, 77 percent of Kansans support making English the official state language--and both our current governor, Kathleen Sebelius and Jim Barnett, her GOP opponent are for it. Now what does the KC Star and JoCo Sun think about this? They bash it as fear-mongering, xenophobic, and the propaganda of "ultraconservatives." Never mind the vast majority of Kansans support this commonsense measure, and even our liberal Dem governor supports it. 27 other states currently have a similar law. The full story can be found here.