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House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell wrote Maryland Republican leaders this week asking them to rein in GOP Chairman James Pelura III, who has criticized lawmakers for failing to follow his party line.

"They are Republican elected officials; they have dedicated their lives to bettering our party and our state. They do not deserve the attacks from the Chairman of our own party; after all he is supposed to be on our side," reads the letter, which also was signed by House Minority Whip Christopher B. Shank.

"It almost seems, unbelievably, as if Dr. Pelura is content to facilitate the defeat of our Republican officials," it reads.

Pelura, a Davidsonville veterinarian, did not return phone calls.

Louis Pope, the party's national committeeman and one of the recipients of the letter, said, "We have positive solutions we'll work on over the next few weeks." He declined to say anything further.

O'Donnell's letter, obtained by The Gazette from parties on both sides of the debate, includes a Pelura e-mail, which reads in part: "Unfortunately, there are a significant number of our elected Republicans that either vote with the Dems, refuse to introduce meaningful legislation, or simply just say ‘no' with no alternative."

Speaking before a group of Leisure World Republicans last month, Pelura said, "I am frustrated with a lot of our Republican caucus in Annapolis for not presenting alternative solutions for these issues."

Those issues include tax policy and the environment, and the Maryland GOP has formed its own commissions to study them.

And therein lies the rub. The commissions will help set party policy, which O'Donnell and other lawmakers say is the job of elected representatives.

"… [T]he Republican Caucus will vigorously resist a system where a party boss feels empowered to dictate to members of the legislature on how they must vote on certain policies," the letter reads.

The 1,400-word letter was sent to members of the executive committee of the Maryland Republican Party, which consists of the chairman, statewide officers and the leaders of each county's Republican central committee.

It comes as party officials believe they have a good chance to erase losses in the 2006 races. The economy and the way Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has handled the state's finances offer opportunities for the party's message against taxes and government spending, political observers say.

O'Donnell (R-Dist. 29C) of Lusby said Thursday the letter was meant to be internal and declined to discuss specifics.

"I feel part of my duties are to vigorously defend the hard work, perseverance and diligence of the members of my caucus from unwarranted attacks, no matter where they come from," he said in a brief interview.

Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, O'Donnell's counterpart in the upper chamber, agreed with the thrust of the letter.

"The state party's role is to be able to conduct an election campaign that will promote Republicans throughout the state of Maryland. Its role is not to be a policy-making organization," said Kittleman (R-Dist. 9) of West Friendship.

Over the course of the last session, Pelura encouraged Republican lawmakers to present their own budget. The Pelura e-mail attached to the O'Donnell letter talks of applauding House Republicans for voting against the budget, but adds: "The Senate is even worse … 7 of 14 Republican Senators voted along with the dems to pass this budget."

Sen. David R. Brinkley, who serves on the Budget and Taxation Committee and voted in favor of the budget, said Pelura misunderstands the legislative process.

"That's fine to criticize the passage of the budget; at the same time, we had some say in some aspects of it," said Brinkley (R-Dist. 4) of New Market. "To maintain some leverage, I supported the damned thing."

Because he supported the budget, Brinkley was one of five senators, and the only Republican, to serve on the conference committee that resolved differences between the House and Senate budget plans.

"Tilting at windmills, as Pelura suggests, is counterproductive in the long run," said Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus (R-Dist. 38) of Westover. He was one of nine Republicans to oppose the fiscal 2010 budget.

Instead of policymaking, O'Donnell's letter says, Pelura should be focused on improving the party's fundraising.

Pelura was elected chairman shortly after the Republicans lost the governorship in the 2006 election. Since then, the party has struggled in raising money.

According to a January 2008 campaign finance report, the Republican Party was more than $100,000 in debt. A year later, the report showed the debt at about $57,000.

"We have considerably less debt than we did before," said Chris Cavey, the party's first vice chairman and a member of the executive committee.

The party would be expected to pay for staff, voter registration drives, a get-out-the-vote effort and candidate recruitment out of its war chest.

"What we have is not considered a war chest," Cavey said.

Cavey said he doubted the executive committee could do much to make a change because of the way the party is governed.

"The state party chairman in the state of Maryland is set up to be pretty much a monarchy," he said. "To overrule the state party chairman in the state of Maryland is tough, almost impossible." Kittleman said the executive committee still could exert influence. If the party is a monarchy, he said, it never was good for an English king when Parliament was upset.

Unseating a chairman would take a two-thirds vote at a party convention.

"I don't know it's productive to call a convention to unseat a chairman," Cavey said.

Informed of the letter, Democratic Party Chairwoman Susan Turnbull said, "When your opponent is digging themselves into a hole, you get out of the way."