Pompeo criticizes Giroux for criticizing Pompeo for criticizing Moran

The day after Democratic congressional candidate Dan Giroux criticized Rep. Mike Pompeo for criticizing Sen. Jerry Moran on the issue of Supreme Court confirmation, Pompeo fired back that Giroux’s views are out of step with Kansas and “dangerous.”

“Who fills the vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States is not just the ‘business of the U.S. Senate,’ but a concern for all Americans,” Pompeo said in an e-mail statement to The Wichita Eagle. “Mr. Giroux’s windmill tilting about the Supreme Court would be amusing if not so downright dangerous.”

Giroux, running for the 4th Congressional District seat now held by Pompeo, said Wednesday he stands by his earlier statement that Pompeo should leave Senate confirmation to senators.

“He needs to spend less time telling Jerry Moran how to do his job and more time doing his (own) job representing the folks who elected him, the folks who greatly need it,” Giroux said.

Giroux said Wichita is still struggling to recover from the recession and that should be the first priority. Pompeo said he’s fighting on those fronts to reduce federal regulation that he says stunts business growth.

Pompeo’s statement Wednesday is the latest in an ongoing war of words over a now-abandoned Moran position that the Senate should hold hearings and vote on President Obama’s nomination of appellate Judge Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court.

After saying last week that it’s the Senate’s job to consider the nominee, Moran reversed course under pressure from colleagues who have vowed not to allow a vote on any Obama nominee.

Pompeo blasted Moran on Monday for a “tardy conversion” to opposing Senate hearings on Garland and accused the senator of repeating Democratic talking points in his original stance.

Pompeo and Moran are both Republicans. In his Tuesday statement, Giroux had said that “petty fights over who is more conservative is the kind of ‘politics as usual’ Kansans have grown weary of.”

Pompeo replied that the Supreme Court nomination, to replace late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, “most certainly is not, as Mr. Giroux termed it, a ‘petty’ issue.”

“Ultimately this fight will determine whether Obama’s policies live on for generations to come through the courts,” Pompeo said. “I would be derelict in my representation were I to ignore the cry of concern from Kansans on this matter.”

Pompeo said Garland, if confirmed, “would weaken (Kansans’) gun rights and tell the hard working people of our state that their good jobs are less important than climate change. Mr. Giroux’s comments show his progressive agenda and that of Judge Garland and (Senate Minority Leader) Harry Reid are closely aligned.”

Pompeo also criticized Giroux for switching parties. A longtime Democrat, Giroux switched to Republican in 2012 and back in 2015, according to registration records.

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Pompeo criticizes Giroux for criticizing Pompeo for criticizing Moran."