Kansas Republicans Smackdown State Senator 'Gomer' Pyle & His Supporters

Looking through the archives . . . We remember that TKC readers actually told us that this guy would give away the election to Guv Kelly.

Here's a recent consequence for playing the spoiler in a red state . . .

Now top Republicans are blaming Pyle for Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s narrow reelection victory after he left the GOP, ran for governor as an independent and siphoned votes away from Republican nominee Derek Schmidt. Pyle already had lost his committee assignments because of his conflicts with top Republicans, and GOP leaders began punishing dozens of his supporters within the party the day after the Nov. 8 election.

The state party’s Loyalty Committee — charged with enforcing a ban on supporting non-Republicans — this week stripped about 40 Republicans of decision-making positions, such as local voting-precinct committee spots, for backing Pyle, including people who signed petitions to get him on the ballot.

“They want to go after people that exercised their freedom just to give the people the choice — a conservative choice — on the ballot,” Pyle said.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Kansas GOP pins Democratic governor's win on lawmaker's run

TOPEKA, Kan. - A state senator many Republicans see as the spoiler in the Kansas governor's race has a long history of irritating GOP leaders, once even daring colleagues to smell a jar of catfish stink bait he'd brought to a tax debate.