Kansas GOP set to split over Renewable Fuel Standard in bruising primary fight
In Kansas, one of the more interesting political battles of the US 2014 election season will take place on Tuesday August 4, when Republican (and Tea Party-fave) congressman Tim Huelskamp — who has called for an end to the Renewable Fuel Standard and opposed the Farm Bill, comes up against Republican challenger Alan LaPolice, a farmer backed by farming sector interests and a supporter of the RFS.
Huelskamp represents the “Big First” district of Kansas — a sprawling seat which covers 63 counties in Western and Northern Kansas, and was formally held by pro-RFS stalwart Jerry Moran (now serving in the Senate) — and was once held by former GOP Presidential nominee Bob Dole.
LaPolice has attracted strong and vocal support from the Kansas Corn Growers Association, the Kansas Farm Bureau, the Kansas Association of Ethanol Processors and the Kansas Grain Sorghum Producers Association — while Huelskamp is a favorite of the The Tea Party Express and Freedomworks for America among other hardline conservative groups.
Due to a number of Huelskamp votes against the Farm Bill, the Kansas Livestock Association and the Kansas Farm Bureau have declined to endorse the incumbent, who has nevertheless amassed an $800,000 bankroll, compared to $36,000 for the challenger — according to the Associated Press.
Farm Bureau President Steve Baccus told the Associated Press that Huelskamp showed “a lack of understanding of commodity markets, value-added agriculture, and what it means to be a Congressional Representative to his constituents,” when the congressman said that Washington should get out of the business of picking winners and losers and let industry compete in a free market.
Category: Fuels
