It seems there are more dark clouds on the horizon for Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal as this year’s legislative session begins.

Conservative state Rep. Owen Donohoe of Shawnee took aim at O’Neal in a letter he circulated to the House Republican caucus. He ripped into the speaker for nepotism and “abuse of power.” He suggested it might be time for a new leader.

“As we approach the 2012 legislative session, I would like to share my concern about the continuous abuse of power and nepotism by Speaker O’Neal which has compromised the integrity of the Republican caucus,” says the opening paragraph of the letter.

“I feel that the Speaker’s violations will make it extremely difficult to arrive at legislation that is in the best interest of our constituents when it is so compromised from the start,” Donohoe wrote in the letter.

“I believe the Republican caucus should examine its leadership in light of these issues, and determine if this is what we want in our leaders. I would like to know your feelings about these issues.”

The Donohoe letter comes just days after O’Neal gained national notoriety for an email he forwarded to lawmakers that compared First Lady Michelle Obama’s hair to the Grinch and called her “Mrs. YoMama.”

Donohoe criticized the hiring of O’Neal’s wife, Cindy, as secretary of the appropriations committee led by Rep. Marc Rhoades of Newton.

Donohoe also said the the speaker appointed his wife to serve as secretary of the redistricting committee, which O’Neal chairs.

The lawmaker also took up the issue of O’Neal’s role representing a coalition of businesses in a lawsuit against the state.

The lawsuit centered on a 2009 legislative decision — opposed by O’Neal — to take money from professional regulatory bodies to balance the state budget.

Donohoe didn’t stop there.

He also accused the speaker of shuffling committee assignments in order to shut down opposition.

In an interview, Donohoe cited his own removal from the House appropriations committee and the removal of state Rep. Kasha Kelley from the budget conference committee last year.

“The fact that the speaker replaces individuals on conference committees and the floor standing committees (because they adhere to a philosophy not in agreement with his) stifles the expression of ideas of those representatives that have been elected by the constituents who sent them to the Legislature to pursue the policies they communicated with citizens,” Donohoe wrote.

“Certainly, the Speaker is within his power to make committee reassignments with ample reason; but in the last session, he fell short of that and could only come up with veiled explanations like, ‘too many committee members from Johnson County.’”

A message from The Star seeking comment was left for the speaker’s spokeswoman Monday afternoon.

Donohoe raises issues that O’Neal has had to fend off before.

Three years ago, state ethics officials said O’Neal didn’t violate nepotism laws when his wife was hired by House Majority Leader Ray Merrick to work as the Republican caucus liaison.

At the time, O’Neal said he had no role in his wife’s hiring and that she was well-qualified for the job. The Democratic lawmaker who brought the complaint thought it was inappropriate.

Two years later, a legislative panel ruled that O’Neal didn’t break any ethics rules by taking on clients against the state. In that case, O’Neal denied wrongdoing, saying he followed the House rules of conduct that allow attorney/legislators to sue the state.

How this letter ends up is hard to tell since it will depend on whether it gets any traction from other House members.

Donohoe told PrimeBuzz that his next steps will depend on the “volume and the degree to which people feel that it’s a problem.”

“If there’s a substantial number or quite a few people who feel the same way,” then Donohoe will look at the available options.