Jennifer Jacobs

jejacobs@dmreg.com

Just two years after Ron Paul's eclectic army of activists orchestrated a hostile takeover of the Republican Party of Iowa headquarters, the other factions of the GOP have shown them the door.

Iowa is the first state to fully strip power from liberty-movement followers who led a charge on state parties in 2012.

On Saturday, mainstream and evangelical conservative Republicans named 16 new members to the board that oversees the party machinery.

The turn of events means the GOP in Iowa, the state that gets first crack at presidential voting, will now be aimed at building a bigger, broader party that is more focused on electing candidates and less focused on pet liberty-movement issues like banning police checkpoints, allowing sale of raw milk or getting rid of the Fed, party insiders said.

"Fascinating," national politics watcher Larry Sabato said when the Register outlined the news. "This is the biggest development yet in the backlash to Paul-ite control. It will give energy to similar efforts in other states."

As the GOP prepares for the 2016 presidential election, it "has to try mightily to show it is mainstream and ready to govern again," said Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "This helps."

The liberty Republicans' ouster from leadership not only changes who's in charge of the state party apparatus during the run-up to the 2016 presidential caucuses, but also will likely change national perceptions of the Iowa Republican landscape.

The liberty movement will no longer have full control over invitations to big party events in Iowa, what kind of grass-roots training is conducted, or who gets hired to work at headquarters. That undercuts its ability to set the stage for a White House run for a liberty movement favorite: Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, who is Ron Paul's son and a likely 2016 candidate.

But the shakeup also could turn out to help Rand Paul: Because the movement's leaders are no longer saddled with running the party, they'd be free to work directly for his election. And if Paul wins the 2016 caucuses, rivals couldn't credibly discount his victory because of suspicions that party leadership was biased, liberty activists told the Register.

The leadership change also could speed demise of the much-maligned Iowa Straw Poll, a party fundraiser typically held in the summer ahead of the caucuses.

Factions remain within Iowa GOP

Saturday's voting took place at the Republicans' four district conventions. The establishment's entire slate of 16 won.

The new GOP State Central Committee, like the party as a whole in Iowa, is conservative. Republicans here in general oppose abortion and same-sex marriage and believe federal debt imperils the nation. The new committee reflects that.

Republican activists said they think the new members, unlike the current committee, will work closely with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and the leaders of GOP campaigns, and will focus on general principles everyone can agree on, including ways to recruit more people who want limited government.

Asked whether the revamped board means faction politics will go out of fashion in Iowa, several Republicans agreed that infighting likely won't disappear altogether. There's already a rift to some degree between evangelical conservatives aligned with an activist group called the Family Leader and those aligned with the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition.

"We are hamstrung in the party by a bunch of turf wars and personality conflicts. It's nothing new. It's been going on for years," said social conservative activist Chuck Laudner, who hopes today's developments bring peace. "The war is over. Stop shooting."

Liberty-aligned conservatives who have burrowed in around the country — in states such as Nevada, Maine, Minnesota, Virginia and Alaska — have shown signs of negotiating a truce with establishment Republicans.

But in Iowa, there was too wide a fissure due to lingering conflict over 2012 national convention delegates who cast votes for Ron Paul and snubbed party nominee Mitt Romney; procedural arguments at state conventions; and occasional battles with Iowa's elected officials.

Next likely change: Vote for new chair

Saturday's results are a seismic shift: No longer in power are A.J. Spiker, who was the country's first liberty-movement state party chair; liberty Republican David Fischer, who was the party's co-chairman; and seven State Central Committee members who backed Paul, the father of the liberty movement. (There were 18 voting members, but the seven had formed alliances to claim a majority.)

As the outcry grew for Spiker and Fischer to step down, both resigned earlier this year.

Only three liberty members sought re-election Saturday. All three were voted out.

The new board members won't be seated until after the state convention on June 14. A likely first order of business: ousting Christian conservative Danny Carroll as chairman. He was elected last month when Spiker departed. Every person who voted for Carroll is off the board.

One name being circulated for a replacement, activists said, is Jeff Kaufmann, a former Iowa House member who was elected to the State Central Committee Saturday.

Committee member David Chung of Cedar Rapids, who was re-elected Saturday, is among the Iowa Republicans who weren't pleased with how the liberty followers ran party headquarters in Des Moines.

"They were kind of bullies about it," Chung told the Register. "They elected all the leadership positions. They even replaced all the staff positions. Rather than reaching out to other groups in the party, they took complete control."

Chung, a Christian conservative, said the insular behavior led to feelings of alienation among activists around the state, who then advised fellow Republicans not to donate any money to the state party.

It was so bad that even when the liberty leaders achieved positive things — such as effectively killing a potential gas tax hike and increasing the party's social media presence — "no one gave them any credit for it," Chung said.

"The level of distrust between the counties and the state party has never been as high as it's been over the last two years," he said. "Hopefully after Saturday, there won't be the feeling of 'us versus them,' and people will feel like the party is receptive to all factions of the party, including liberty."

Liberty movement is 'repositioning'

In 2012, Drew Ivers, chairman of Paul's 2012 presidential campaign in Iowa, worked at a furious pace to get liberty-minded voters not only to show up at the caucuses, but also to stay late and get themselves elected to the ranks of the party's decision-makers.

This year, he did no such organizing.

"We are strategically repositioning," Ivers said.

The liberty movement will pursue new routes to put a thumbprint on upcoming elections and pave the way for a potential Rand Paul presidential bid. Ivers said Spiker, the former party chairman, is central to the new strategy. He's now an adviser to RAND PAC, Paul's political action committee.

Ivers argued that Saturday's results were not a defeat. Liberty Republicans are more passionate about issues than party mechanics, he said.

"I do think it's a blow to the party's aspirations of expanding," Ivers said. Instead of embracing the "young, energetic zeal" in the liberty movement, "the majority of the party has not responded favorably," he said.

There are still liberty strongholds in pockets around the nation — for example, one representative to the Republican National Committee from Maine and one from Nevada are liberty conservatives — but "none was quite as successful or high-profile as the Iowa movement," Ivers said.

"We made a mark," Ivers said. "We sent a message to the other 49 states that this idea of small government is reviving. … We have changed the agenda."

Other Republicans agreed that the liberty activists leave a legacy.

They "shocked the rest of the base" into getting involved, Laudner said. "So that's a very good thing."

ABOUT IOWA'S LIBERTY MOVEMENT

Iowa's liberty movement adheres to a tea-party-like brand of limited government and socially conservative views on abortion and marriage.

They believe big government is a threat to liberty.

Adherents predominantly backed Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul for president in 2012, although not all Iowans who voted for Paul had a socially conservative bent.

Liberty Republicans do not embrace unbending allegiance to the GOP. They're unafraid to be noisy detractors, publicly calling out elected officials with whom they disagree.

Some Republicans consider them extreme, and have criticized them for having an almost cult-like fixation on Paul. Now that Paul, 78, has retired, some liberty followers have shifted allegiance to his son, Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who is exploring a 2016 presidential bid.

Democrats emphasize unity

Iowa's Democrats also met in district conventions Saturday, but their events held little of the drama that has played out this year over control of Republican state party leadership.

Democrats have emphasized their unity this cycle. Their candidates for governor, U.S. Senate and three of the four congressional districts are running unopposed in the June 3 primaries. There's a five-person scrap under way in the 1st District to seek the nomination for an open seat.

Ready for Hillary, a political organization that is paving the way for a potential 2016 bid by Hillary Clinton, had a big presence at all four Democratic conventions — except that few knew it.

The group paid for all the food — breakfast at three conventions and lunch at the other — but did it quietly, without advertising it to Iowa's Democratic activists.

At the Democrats' 2nd District convention, U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Braley talked about all the negative ads running against him on TV and how he expects to be outspent by Republicans. He told the activists in Newton that they could count on him not to be "a rubber stamp" in Congress.

Who won election

1ST DISTRICT: David Chung and Loras Schulte were re-elected and Chelle Adkins and Ron Herrig were elected. Liberty Republican Tony Krebsbach was voted off the board, and another liberty candidate, Chelsy Askren, lost.

2ND DISTRICT: Bob Anderson was re-elected and Judy Davidson, Jeff Kaufmann and Trudy Caviness were elected. Liberty Republican Marcus Fedler bowed out of the running after voting began.

3RD DISTRICT: Ryan Frederick and Sherill Whisenand were re-elected and Brenna Findley and Bill Gustoff were elected. Liberty Republican John Kabitzke was voted off the board.

4TH DISTRICT: Cody Hoefert and Jamie Johnson were re-elected, and Gabe Haugland and Gary Nystrom were elected.