Ensley over Kobach (and Claeys) |
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| Steve Rose Memo Archives | |||
| Written by Steve Rose, Co-Publisher | |||
| Wednesday, 30 June 2010 00:00 | |||
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Imagine that you are hiring someone to run the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office. This is the chief election office, the business filing center, as well as 600 other statutory duties. It is a detail-oriented office and must be customer-friendly. You have three Republican candidates. Candidate A is Elizabeth Ensley. She has worked in the Secretary of State’s Office for 11 years and has served the past 18 years as the election commissioner for Shawnee County (Topeka).
Her “references” are her campaign co-chairs, former Secretary of State and Gov. Bill Graves and former Secretary of State Jack Brier. Her record is impeccable. She is assured of running a smooth, efficient operation. Candidate B is J.R. Claeys of Salina, a nice man with a weak resume. And then there is Candidate C: Kris Kobach. Kobach has no experience that is applicable to this office. What Kobach does have is a horrendous track record in the one political job he has held as chairman of the Kansas Republican Party from 2007 to 2009. A federal audit recently revealed widespread chaos at party headquarters during those two years. The Federal Election Commission reported inaccurate reporting of receipts and disbursements, acceptance of prohibited donations, and payments made out of improper bank accounts. Says the Kansas Republican Chairwoman since January 2009: “It was sloppy record-keeping and failure to pay attention to detail.” Kris Kobach took his eye off the ball, because his attention was focused elsewhere, namely traveling around writing anti-illegal immigration ordinances for various communities. Whether you agree or not with Kobach’s crusade is not the point. The point is, Kris Kobach has said he will continue his anti-immigration efforts if he is elected secretary of state. The secretary of state’s job is a full-time, full-attention, highly detailed job that requires laser-like focus. If Kris Kobach wants to pursue his anti-immigration efforts as an attorney and professor, so be it. But we cannot afford a part-timer as secretary of state. One other thing about Kobach: He is an opportunist who flip-flopped on abortion. He was strongly pro-choice as a city councilman, and said so in a written questionnaire, yet he switched to pro-life when seeking higher office, losing races for state Senate and U.S. Congress. The choice is obvious: Elizabeth Ensley for secretary of state.
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Kobach is a high IQ, very well-educated man.
Kobach has scorn for the less well-educated.
Kobach has an ego that outpaces his accomplishments.
Kobach has his eyes on a prize much bigger than Sec. of State.
Kobach will do or say anything to get elected.
Kobach is a politician, not a statesman.