Fmr. RNC committeeman: Lehman trying to serve two masters

Steve Roberts

Steve Roberts, a man who was elected to represent Iowa Republicans for years on the Republican National Committee, believes that a state GOP official’s affiliation with an independent anti-abortion group that does not toe the party line presents a clear conflict of interest.

The conflict, which has left an already divided Iowa Republican Party even more splintered, stems from an article in an Iowa Right to Life Coalition newsletter that attacked Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, the Republican nominee for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District.

Kim Lehman, director of Iowa Right to Life, ousted Iowa Rep. Sandy Greiner during an extremely spirited Republican State Convention this summer to serve on the Republican State Central Committee as Iowa’s female Republican National Committee member.

“I think it’s a problem on several fronts,” said Roberts, who was also ousted this year from his role representing Iowa on the RNC by a prominent social conservative. “[Lehman] was asked on Iowa Public Television what she would do if there was a race that had a pro-choice Republican running against a pro-life Democrat. She gave the right answer at that time. She said that, as a national committeewoman, that she would support all of the Republicans who won the nomination.”

But Lehman’s organization published a newsletter article that strayed from that message.  The newsletter blasted Miller-Meeks by referring to her as a “great pretender” who is trying to pass herself off as being against abortion when she is not.

“She is certainly pro-life,” said Eric Woolson, communications director for the Miller-Meeks campaign. “She was on the Jan Mickelson program talking about it. Pure and simple, she is a pro-life candidate.”

Woolson added that average voters are more concerned about flood relief, protection of their retirement accounts and corruption in Washington.

“That’s what the voters of the district are focused on and that’s what Dr. Miller-Meeks is focused on,” he said.

In an earlier interview with Iowa Independent Miller-Meeks said that she condoned abortion only in cases of rape, incest or if the mother’s life is in danger.

“I think Kim’s statement was that she didn’t catch it or that it wasn’t her article,” Roberts said. “If you’re going to have a position in the party like she does, however, you have to make sure that your other activities don’t conflict — particularly when it comes to candidates. It may be that she will need to decide if she wants to be head of the pro-life movement in Iowa and not a party leader or vice versa.”

When current members of the Republican State Central Committee have phoned him to discuss the issue, Roberts said he has advised them that they first need to talk to Lehman and hear her side of the story. The second order of business, he said, depends on what Lehman has to say.

Republicans in Muscatine County, one of 12 counties that make up the 2nd Congressional District, didn’t wait. Reeling from both the recent newsletter article and a radio interview from the primary season in which Lehman referred to Miller-Meeks as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” the group penned a letter to the Republican State Central Committee and other interested parties that was signed by local party officials, Iowa Sen. Jim Hahn of Muscatine and Iowa Rep. Jeff Kaufmann of Wilton asking for Lehman to either apologize to Miller-Meeks or be removed from her official party roles.

“Addressing this issue has taken time away from campaigns in the 2nd District that we can not afford to lose,” the letter charged. “Kim Lehman should be representing ALL IOWA Republicans as National Committeewoman. Her personal stance as IRLC President is in direct conflict with her RPI role – she is actively working against our Republican candidates.”

Lehman has publicly stated that she had nothing to do with writing the specific article in question, but that she did see it before it was placed in the newsletter and distributed.

“I had a false humility thinking that people could understand that Kim Lehman is not Right to Life,” Lehman told O. Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa. “Iowa Right to Life is its separate bylaws. Its purpose is one issue. It’s focused on its issue and nowhere in the bylaws does it talk about elections or candidates or anything. … I realize people are connecting me as personally responsible because I head the organization. My responsibility to the organization is to make sure that the organization contains and does its bylaws. The integrity of the bylaws is what I’m responsible for to the board.”

Roberts believes that Lehman’s two positions present an inesecapable conflict of interests.

2nd Congressional District GOP hopeful Mariannette Miller-Meeks receives the Great Pretender Award in Iowa Right To Life newsletter.

“This is not a case of just staying quiet” on the 2nd district race, he said. “Iowa Right to Life came out and … well, they trashed Miller-Meeks. The standard I’ve always used is that the candidates who won the Republican primary — whether they are conservatives or liberals or moderates — deserved the support of party leadership including myself unless they were guilty of some crime, such as taking bribes or something like that. Short of that, you supported them on one hand and, on the other hand, you certainly didn’t trash them publicly.”

Roberts continued: “Suppose you have a Democratic candidate that is strongly pro-life and a Republican candidate that is strongly pro-choice. If you are a member of the Iowa Right to Life board of directors, you may be saying that you want staff to work to elect that pro-life person. So, it can work both ways and it may end up that [Lehman] is going to have to make a decision as to which group she wants to support. In effect, she’s trying to serve two masters, and it’s already running into a problem.”

Roberts, a relatively moderate Republican, was replaced as Iowa’s male representative to the RNC by Steve Scheffler of the Iowa Christian Alliance, another third-party issue advocacy group.

Roberts said this controversy is indicative of a wider, ongoing conflict within the Republican Party. “After the election, depending on how bad the Republican defeat is, I think you’re going to have further debate about the direction of the party in Iowa.”

“You’ve got people who say that if we didn’t have the RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) or people that are not strong on social issues then Republicans would stand a better chance of winning. There are other people who are saying the party needs the Evangelicals, but that group is not the sole base of the party,” Roberts said. “You’ve got people who have been disaffected who have become independents and who are no longer enthusiastic.”

The Republican State Central Committee had intended to raise the controversy at their October meeting, but the meeting was canceled because of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s visit to Des Moines. GOP officials are expected to discuss the matter at their next meeting in December.