Republican Party chair draws fire for statements on guns

The Chairman of Iowa’s Republican Party is at the center of a controversy. Iowa G-O-P chairman Kayne Robinson is a leader in the National Rifle Association. His remark that the N-R-A will have an office in George Bush’s White House is featured in a t-v ad attacking the gun lobby. Top republican legislators in Iowa are downplaying the incident. Senate Republican Leader Stewart Iverson of Dows says the whole issue is overblown.However, another Republican leader refused to take part in an N-R-A effort to track down legislators’ positions on gun issues. House Speaker Brent Siegrist is a republican from Council Bluffs. He says he doesn’t answer such surveys anyway. Siegrist says gun rights do not rank at the top of his agenda, as he wants to worry about local issues that affect the state. He says Kayne Robinson also worries about those issues.Some self-described “moderate” republicans express concern Robinson will be too controversial a leader for Republicans in the November election. Siegrist and Iverson made their comments during taping of the Iowa Public Television program, “Iowa Press.”