Liberal Republican in charge (4)
I believe the answer is:
free
'liberal' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'republican in charge' is the wordplay.
'republican' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'charge' becomes 'fee' (fee is a kind of charge**).
'r' placed inside 'fee' is 'FREE'.
(Other definitions for free that I've seen before include "Not under restraint" , "Not confined" , "At large" , "See 8" , "Not fixed; not in use" .)