The Republican Purity Committee, brainchild of a few hundred zealots trying to purge Sen. Lisa Murkowski and others, has been exposed as pure nonsense.

It’s no surprise, given the clear state law that says candidates on state election ballots decide how they want to be listed, not the party functionaries.

The Division of Elections and Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer have told the party planners that “state law does not allow a political party to determine a candidate’s designation on the ballot. Instead, candidates choose their designation on the ballot.”

The May 12 letter from the state is a setback for the GOP party people who want to cancel Murkowski because Murkowski has a mind of her own.

Rather than a “big tent” scheme to include many different ideas, the Alaska GOP is aiming for something along the lines of a pup tent.

In April, the party planners invented a clever new word game that they thought could be used to get rid of Murkowski and a few others in state legislative races they don’t like.

From now on, the party said, anyone who registers to vote in Alaska as a member of the Republican Party is not a member, but merely a “participant.”

To become a member and get your name on the ballot as a member, a candidate would have to win the blessing of the 17-member Republican Purity Committee, headed by National Comitteewoman Cynthia Henry and National Committeeman Mike Tauriainen.

It will be their job to claim Murkowski and others are not members of the Republican Party, creating a system to purify and purge the organization of those who don’t think the right way.

The party said it would give the state a list of approved members and only those on the membership list could be labeled as Republicans on the ballot.

That this is against state law was lost on those trying to purge Murkowski.

We haven’t heard the last of this effort, as the party also says it has the right to decide what candidates say on “campaign materials.”

If the dunderheads claim that Murkowski can’t mention that she is a Republican because the party has not declared her to be a “member,” only a “participant,” it will be an interesting case about freedom of speech that Murkowski will win.

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