Kris Kobach’s fingerprints are all over House Bill 2271, which I wrote about last week.
I thought so at the time I penned the column, but I couldn’t prove it, so I let it go. But now we all know better. Our secretary of state came out of the shadows.
The bill would do three major things.
It would require that all local elections, from the county commission to school boards to mayors and city councils to community college trustees to water board members, run in partisan elections. All of those are nonpartisan.
It would also move the date of local elections from the spring to August primary elections and November general elections in even-numbered years.
And buried deep within the bill, which I did not enumerate last week, is the requirement that all school board members be elected at-large.
As it is now, all but one school district in Johnson County, large and small, elect six school board members by districts and one at-large. Shawnee Mission elects five by district and has two at-large positions.
The first hearing in Topeka on this bill in the Committee on Elections was last Wednesday, when there were so many opponents who wanted to speak, including our county commission chairman Ed Eilert, each was allotted only two minutes.
There were but two proponents who spoke.
And one of those was none other than Kris Kobach, whose office worked on this bill.
He said in his testimony that he could not support moving election dates (which may be a popular proposition) without making all elections partisan.
“If we really care about local participation,” Kobach said, “the bill achieves that result.”
He reportedly also said it is confusing to voters to have some elections partisan and some nonpartisan.
What Kobach did not say is what I said last week.
By going to partisan elections with August primary elections, the door is opened to right-wing voters and special interests to dominate the outcomes.
It is difficult to grasp the reasoning behind making all school board members elected at-large. One astute Johnson County superintendent believes it would make it far easier for far-right candidates to be recruited for at-large positions, rather than by narrow districts. But mostly this intrusion into the way we elect school board members has school officials scratching their heads.
But back to Kobach.
Here he is again, stirring up controversy.
Everything he touches has ulterior motives behind it. In this case, although he would never admit it, Kobach is trying to manipulate the system to elect right-wing Republicans to every office in the state. He wants absolute control over who gets elected.
Of course, Kobach is one of the most clever and brilliant Kansas politicians in recent times, so he tries to make you think he is looking out for Kansans. And he says so eloquently.
Meanwhile, Kobach is really trying to build a fiefdom.
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Joaquin X Santiago
2 months, 3 weeks agoKobach and Brownback are both politicians (and I use that term in the most pejorative sense) in the same mold. Both have impressive resumés; both have superior inter-personal skills; both are easy to like on a one-on-one basis. And both will do whatever it takes to advance their personal quest for higher office. Both are politicians where statesmen are needed. The shame of it is both these men have the skill - but not the inclination - to be great statesmen.
Phil Cardarella
2 months, 3 weeks agoHandsome, personable, likeable, articulate — Ted Bundy, meet Kris Kobach, a different kind of serial killer. He wants to kill the voting rights of minorities and the human rights of “them others”.
UMKC should apologize to its alum for hiring this guy at the law school — giving him credibility and demeaning all our degrees.
Dianne L Young
2 months, 3 weeks agoI have never felt like Koback, or our Governor Sam have been “looking out for Kansas”..
It seems to be all about THEM. Kris, particularly, is more dedicated to making a name for himself, and advancing himself politically.
Guvner Sam sees his position now as a stepping stone tothe White House I certainly hope NOT. …I have never been as disappointed in Kansas’ “leaders” as I am at this point.
Matt Henry
2 months, 3 weeks agoCan he do anything on his own, without the will of the people as expressed by their elected representatives? Can Brownback? HAVE they? Have not all of the things that Brownback done or the things that Kobach wants to do run through the legislature? You know, that body that expresses the will of the people?
His policies may be all wet but he can’t build a fiefdom on his own. It takes a Lord to do that. You know, somebody who would say things like…
“But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will.” - re “Climate Change”. He has made similar statements regarding gun control, and has subverted the will of the people by refusing to defend DOMA and implementing immigration reform on his own when Congress wouldn’t. And that is the tip of the list.
I wonder if Kris Kobach or Sam Brownback were acting like petty dictator in attempting to advance an agenda that were more liberal-friendly they would be given the same treatment the President has gotten from the Star when he has worked to create his fiefdom; the deafening sound of crickets.
Linda Joy Adams
2 months, 3 weeks agoSec of State Kris Kobach is the only Sec of State that went into court and truthfully said the President Obam was eleigible to be on the ballot because he has his real birth certificate form Forbes Air Force Base Hospital Topeka Ks plus the death certificate of his real murdered Dad in a racist attack on the parents and the president unborn on the banks of the Kansas River in Toepka and the marriage certificate to Obama Sr arranged by my Dad so Ann would have a merriage certificate for social necessity and Obama Sr wanted to stay in the USA. They did not live together in Toepka ks where Ann had a live in job taking care of the Catholic Textbook warehouse and store on Kansas Ave. Orly Taitz had an opportunity to end the birther movement on 9/22/12 by asking the court order from the Shawnee County Judge, When she didn’t he left the case open an d is still waiting as the big money behind the birther movement continues causing dissension and raising more big money. The fake bio was put in place ( he was not told the truth by them) by his immediate family soon as there was no witness protection program. As a relative of Rosa Parks and one who was n the forefront of integrating the sports teams his fate got ‘sealed’ when he and Ann became an interracial couple. Both, military k ids had lived in other places of the world where racism wasn’t so prevalent. To date no one has ever been brought to justice over that. Getting the records form Toepka Ks could have led to some just closure over three dead form 50+ years ago, plus the other rumored disappeared in the Kansas River in that era whose bodies never washed up later. Linda Joy Adams eye witness. entrenched.
Linda Joy Adams
2 months, 3 weeks agoSorry about the typs but I did spell check and it didn’t take!
John Smither
2 months, 3 weeks agoWhy don’t you run against him next election Mr. Rose?