Democratic opponent criticizes Pompeo for criticizing Moran

Rep. Mike Pompeo’s Democratic opponent has jumped into what has so far been a Republicans-only argument, criticizing Pompeo for criticizing Sen. Jerry Moran.

“Congressman Pompeo should spend less time worrying about the business of the Senate and focus on his job in the US House of Representatives,” said a statement issued Tuesday by Dan Giroux, a Wichita lawyer challenging Pompeo in the 4th Congressional District. “Petty fights over who is more conservative is the kind of ‘politics as usual’ Kansans have grown weary of.”

Jim Richardson, Pompeo’s 2014 campaign manager, said Giroux is off base in saying that the congressman has neglected his district.

He said Pompeo “has led the charge on cutting regulations on our aircraft manufacturers and ensuring our farmers are free to use biotechnology to feed the world.”

Giroux was responding to a statement Pompeo released Monday lambasting Moran’s stance on hearings for President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.

Moran initially supported holding hearings and a vote on Judge Merrick Garland, the chief judge in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and Obama’s nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. He later changed his position under pressure from Republican senators who have vowed to block any Obama nominee.

Pompeo blasted Moran for a “tardy conversion” to the side opposed to considering Garland. And he slammed the senator’s original position that the Senate needed to do its job by holding a hearing, a stance Pompeo called “identical to the liberal Democrat talking point” on the issue.

Pompeo’s statement fueled speculation that he might be considering a primary challenge to Moran. Richardson would not say Monday whether Pompeo is mulling a Senate run but didn’t discount it either.

“Mike is currently focused on representing the people of the 4th District,” Richardson said. “He will serve however best the people of Kansas want him to.”

A Moran-Pompeo showdown in the August primary is unlikely, said Fort Hays State University political science professor Chapman Rackaway. But by taking on Moran, Pompeo could be trying to increase his visibility as a voice of conservatism in preparation for a future run at a statewide office.

Giroux said Wichita has yet to fully recover from the recession and that Pompeo’s time would be better spent on job growth and the economy than criticizing Moran over the Supreme Court nominating process.

“Running after the next political job on the ladder is just another way to avoid his responsibility to the people of Kansas,” Giroux said.

Richardson responded: “As a former small businessman ... Pompeo understands the challenges facing our economy and what is needed to see true economic growth. The first step is to end the failed policies of Barack Obama and his Democrat supporters.”

This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 7:14 PM with the headline "Democratic opponent criticizes Pompeo for criticizing Moran."