For state wide offices that are not intended to be politically partisan activists in their objectives, the Attorney General is generally the more interesting and almost always gets the most publicity. It makes sense, the Attorney General plays an integral role in the justice system. When high profile crimes occur, the Attorney General's office almost always gets involved, either by direct prosecution or with assistance and the providing of resources to the county attorneys. When the Federal Government enacts a law like the Affordable Care Act and the majority of citizens in Kansas believe it's unconstitutional, the Attorney General files suit on the state's behalf. The Secretary of State, however, almost never receives publicity. Usually, if an office holder whose office doesn't receive publicity is showing up in the news everyday, it's not a good thing. If half a state knows the name of their Secretary of State, generally speaking, it is not a good thing. Why then, is the Secretary of State election in Kansas so heated? Why are their national media agencies paying attention to the 34th (out of 50) most populated state's Secretary of State race? When "Googling" the Kansas Secretary of State by his name "Kris Kobach", why is the top related search "Kris Kobach racist"? (Seriously, Google "Kris Kobach" then scroll down to the bottom.) What does the Secretary of State do to garner all of that attention? Well, that's why we're here, to answer those questions.
KANSAS SECRETARY OF STATE
AUTHORITY:Like the Kansas Attorney General, the Kansas Secretary of State's office derives it authority from Article 1, Section 1 of the Kansas State Constitution.
DUTIES:
The Kansas Secretary of State office serves three basic purposes, (1) electoral, (2) economic, and (3) administrative. We'll break each of them down for you.
- Electoral: As the chief elections officer of the state, he or she provides this service in an administrative role. In this role, the Secretary of State oversees elections and voter registrations. In addition, the Secretary of State is required to file campaign finance reports of all the campaigns in the state, as well as register lobbyists. However, when the matter turns to regulating lobbying and campaign finance, he or she shares that duty with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission.
- Economic: The Secretary of State operates the Business Filing Center. The Business Filing Center registers business entities, trademarks, trade-names, and liens pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). In addition, the Secretary of State has regulation duties for a wide range of businesses such as: trade unions, funeral homes, and cemeteries.
- Administrative: The Secretary of State's other administrative duty is Publication. That duty includes publishing legal or informational state documents, i.e., statutory and administrative law publications, session laws, regulations, the "Kansas Registers" (the state's gazette). The Secretary of State also operates "Safe at Home".
THE CANDIDATES
(R) Kris Kobach (Incumbent) - When it comes to educational prestige, Kris Kobach is rarely matched. After graduating at the top his class with a Bachelor's degree in Government from Harvard University (only regarded as the #1 undergraduate university in the world), Kobach earned his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D. in the U.S.) from Oxford University (United Kingdom; and only regarded as the #1 political theory graduate university in the world). Upon returning to the United States, the Kansas Secretary of State attended Yale Law School (only the #1 law school in the U.S.) where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal (that's a really big deal to law students) and earned his Juris Doctor (law degree). Basically, Kobach's educational pedigree could only be summarized as a scholastic triple crown (in the studies of law and politics).After racking up the most impressive educational resume' one in law could every hope to achieve, Kris Kobach clerked for the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and became a law professor at the University of Missouri in Kansas City - School of Law. After a few years he was offered a fellowship under United States Attorney General John Ashcroft, eventually serving as Counsel for the Attorney General. He was charged with the task of leading a team of attorneys and researches who created the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System. (If that sounds familiar it may be that you watched "Aliens Among Us".)
After his tenure with United States Attorney General's office, Kobach returned to UMKC and resumed his role as a law professor and also found himself in various immigration lawsuits. He sued the states of Kansas (2004; case was dismissed), California (2005; he lost), and Nebraska (2010; case is still pending) over the states allowing illegal aliens (there's a difference between state residency and U.S. citizenship) to only have to pay in-state tuition for higher education (they still have to meet the same state residency requirements as anyone else does). In 2009, Kobach finally won a final appeal on an immigration lawsuit in Missouri, but then lost on a similar case in Pennsylvania in 2013. He's currently involved in another similar lawsuit in Texas.
On the immigration front, Kobach is most known for playing a significant role in the drafting of Arizona SB 170, the highly publicized and controversial Arizona state illegal-immigration law. In Arizona v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down 3 of the 4 challenged provisions as being unconstitutional. Most notably of the provisions struck down was Section 6, which gave Arizona law enforcement officers the power to make warrantless arrests of immigrants suspected of being removable. In another highly controversial state immigration law, Kobach is given primary credit for authoring Alabama H.B. 56. Described as a tougher version of Arizona SB 170, it has essentially been completed dismantled for being unconstitutional as a result of Alabama v. United States. This has resulted in the state of Alabama agreeing to settle out of court in two other cases, HICA v. Bentley and Central Alabama Fair Housing Center v. Magee. In the settlements, the state of Alabama has agreed to pay the opposing parties' attorneys' fees, totaling up to $580,000.00.
In the middle of his immigration law career, Kris Kobach became the Chairman of the Republican Party, starting in 2007. His time as the Chairman included establishing a "direct-role policy" for the Republican Party in targeted races (a requirement of all Republicans to support the Republican party in that specific race, or else...). He initiated the creation of a "loyalty committee" which sanctioned (within the party) Republicans who supported (enacting their constitutionally guaranteed right - "Freedom of Association") Democrats in any contested races. As a result, many party officers were stripped of their party voting rights as punishment. Kobach also sent out an email to state Republicans stating, "To date, the Kansas GOP has identified and caged more voters in the last 11 months than the previous two years." (For those of you who don't know what "voter-caging" is.)
In an audit, the Federal Elections Commission found that the Kansas Republican Party, while under the direction of Kris Kobach from 2007 - 2009, accepted illegal campaign contributions and failed to pay Federal and State taxes. In addition, his 2010 Secretary of State campaign underreported campaign contributions and expenditures by $75,000 and as a result was fined $5,000 by the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission (he claimed that it was a 'liberal' attack, but neglected to note that the majority of those on the commission were Republicans).
(D) Jean Schodorf - Kobach's challenger is an interesting character in her own right. Jean Schodorf is the sister of world renowned journalist and film personality Bill Kurtis (A&E; voice overs in the Anchorman; owns a good portion of Montgomery and Chataqua counties) and the mother of Emmy winning television producer and director Brian Schodorf. Jean received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from New Mexico University and her Ph.D. in Communicative-Disorders (as well post doctoral in education administration). She is a Speech Pathologist in Wichita, KS by trade.
Schodorf's political career is nothing to wince at either. She served on the USD 259 (Wichita) school board from 1989 - 2000, even serving as the school board President in '93, '97, and '99. In 2001, Jean Schodorf was elected to the Kansas State Senate as Republican, representing the 25th Senatorial District. In 2010, Schodorf ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. Congress in Kansas's 4th district. Although she lost the primary, she managed to pick up an endorsement from U.S. Senator Nancy Kassenbaum. In the Kansas State Senate, Jean rose to the rank of Majority Whip. However, she fell victim in the 2012 primaries, in what has come to be known as The Great Kansas Republican Purge of 2012. After the 'Moderate' Republicans were forced out of the party, Schodorf switches party affiliation in January, 2013.
THE ISSUES
1. ELECTORAL: Kris Kobach, while serving as Kansas Secretary of State, is mostly known for his drafting and advocating of Kansas's (and other states') stricter voting laws. Not only are there Voter ID laws, but one must also prove their citizenship when registering to vote, by providing a birth-certificate. In 2012 alone, it was estimated that 18,000 voters' voting rights were blocked as a result. In 2014 alone, it is estimated by the Secretary of State's office that number is over 22,000. It is harder to vote in Kansas than it is to buy a gun. That's quite a bit troubling. Especially when you add his uber-partisanship past (most evident of the circus he created regarding the Chad Taylor incident. Any law school student at Washburn, KU, or even UMKC could have told you how that was going to play out. The definition of "shall" is pretty well established in Kansas law), campaign ethics violations, and proud proclamation of voter-caging. If they take away the people's right to vote, how hard do you think it will be to take away your guns?Jean Schodorf wants to restore the voting process back to an easier and simpler process. It's not as if there aren't already a poll watchers that circle the process like vultures waiting to spring on anyone that acts remotely suspicious.
2. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
What? Nothing else matters? No. It's not supposed to be a controversial office. If someone is running for the office charged with safeguarding the election process and all laws and procedures associated with it, habitually committed the very violations the office is supposed to protect against, it's a no brainer.
But if you want the other issues, look at their websites and do some Google searches. Stay away from the crazy sites and keep a level head. We have no idea, why Kris Kobach's issues page includes the 2nd Amendment under "Important Issues". The Secretary of State is not a legislator nor is he the governor. He has no authority in passing and executing laws and certainly no authority in administering laws outside of his scope. Furthermore, it's quite concerning that he has a really bad history of not understanding what the Preemption Clause of the United States Constitution is (given his legal career track record). (Here's Schodorf's issues page.)
No comments:
Post a Comment