State Republican leaders are moving forward with plans to survey GOP candidates running for state office on the party’s platform, a move some say is intended to weed out moderate candidates.
Last weekend, the Kansas Republican Party State Committee adopted the “transparency” resolution that called for asking the party’s candidates their views about the party’s platform positions.
Among other things, the party platform calls for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning abortion, opposes all forms of gun control and supports a constitutional amendment establishing marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
The platform also opposes illegal immigration and recognizes English as the official language of Kansas.
The party is now working on how to implement the survey, a proposal that was brought forward by Linda Highland, the wife of conservative Republican state Rep. Ron Highland of Wamego.
Linda Highland said the survey was being drafted and was just about completed. She said the goal is to get it out to candidates in time for the August primary. The resolution called for the survey to be posted on the party’s website. A copy of the survey was not immediately available.
Highland said the survey was an effort to give the party’s platform more meaning.
The survey, however, is seen by some as an attempt to distinguish between conservative and moderate Republicans.
Stephanie Sharp, a Johnson County consultant who works for moderate Republican candidates, said traditional GOP candidates care more about the voters’ concerns in their districts than the state party’s platform.
“Voters are much more interested in whether or not somebody follows the priorities of the district rather than a specific party,” Sharp said.
“The party can do as they wish, but I would hope that not only moderates, but everyone in the Republican Party and everyone in the Democrat Party focuses on what’s more important for their district and their voters than the goals of a party.”
State Rep. Barbara Bollier, a moderate Republican from Mission Hills, said she thinks initiatives like the survey will chase Republicans from the party as it moves further to the right.
“I think that is going to cause more Republicans to reconsider who and what they are.”
Highland has said the survey is not intended to be any kind of litmus test. She described it more as a convenience for Republicans.
“We are, for maybe the first time, giving the Republican voters and candidates a way to meet up on their views and find one another as a courtesy of the Kansas Republican Party,” Highland said. “It’s a way to find the person who represents your views.”
Asked if the survey was a method for sorting out conservatives from moderates, Highland added, “That would be saying that all Republican voters are of one like mind, and they’re not.”
Highland said candidates would likely be given a chance to share their views on particular sections of the platform that might lead to refinements.
“I see out of that coming changes to the platform.”
