Kris Kobach was picked by Republican Governor Sam Brownback to be KS Secretary of State in 2011 and now with the governor serving the last year of his second term, Kobach has declared that he will seek the Republican nomination for Governor in 2018. The declaration was made soon after a majority of Republicans and Democrats in the KS House and Senate finally succeeded in overturning the governor's extreme economic policies, a decision the Secretary of State didn't agree with.
Kobach has made it clear he would run the state just like Brownback has.
Although many Kansans don't like him and those in other states fear him, Evangelical Christians and Tea Party Patriots have thrown their full support behind Kobach since before 2011, seeing him as one of their own after he began talking about some kind of Muslim ban following 9/11 to then-President George W. Bush.
Kobach has ties to Donald Trump and Republican leaders across the U.S.
Donald Trump tapped Kobach during the presidential campaign for ideas on how to sell the idea of a Muslim ban, stricter Immigration policies, and voter fraud to the public. The former law professor and Harvard graduate was a member of Trump's transition team on immigration, and used his position on the 2016 Republican platform committee, to get Trump's Mexico wall included in the party's platform.
Kobach had been touting the idea of a Muslim ban back when Republican George W. Bush was president. Thre was little surprise whenTrump picked Secretary of State Kobach to lead his advisory committee on voter fraud during the 2016 presidential election with VP Pence, considering that Kobach has staunchly supported Trump's allegations.
Kobach was offered a job in Trump's administration but turned it down because he wanted to stay in Kansas with his family.
Kris Kobach was once a lawyer with the Federation for American Immigration Reform
The Southern Poverty Law Center classified F.A.I.R. as a hate group with ties to white supremacists in 2007. That Kobach could have ties to hate groups is not such a stretch considering the fact that during a broadcast of his radio show in March 2015, Kobach was quoted as telling a caller it would not be too farfetched to think that President Obama would weaken laws prosecuting African-Americans.
Although Kobach never said that he agreed with the man personally, the implication was there by his not repudiating the man's claims. And back on Oct. 25, 2015, the Kansas Secretary of State was a featured speaker at a workshop held by The Social Contract Press, a Michigan-based White Nationalist publishing company. Kobach is a national figure through his role as co-author of Arizona's SB 1070 illegal immigration law. Kobach assisted Arizona in drafting and later, in defending the law, has since provided similar assistance to other states and cities across the U.S. Also recognized nationally as an immigration litigator, the Secretary of State is currently helping Hazleton Pennsylvania sue employers harboring undocumented immigrants in apartments.
Changes Kobach wrote into the Kansas Voting and Immigration Laws
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed the Kansas Secure and Fair Elections Act written by the Secretary of State into law on April 18th, 2011. Kobach named it S.A.F.E., touting that the law would protect Kansans from terrorists, persons living in Kansas illegally, etc. And in January 2012, new restrictions were added forcing Kansans to show photographic identification when both registering and casting a vote in person; get their signature verified and provide a full Kansas driver's license or nondriver state ID number when voting by mail, and beginning in 2013 immigrants also had to show proof of citizenship or that they had legal status.
'All Kansans', regardless of their race or age now have to show a Kansas Driver's License or Kansas issued photo ID, U.S. Passport, Government Employee picture ID, U.S. Military ID, College ID, Government Public Assistance ID or a Native American Tribal ID at the polls.
Governor Sam Brownback says Kris Kobach would continue to support his Conservative policies
According to his website, the primary reason Kobach is running for governor is to create a better Kansas for his daughters. As an extreme right wing Conservative, the Secretary of State is a staunch supporter of gun rights and passing stricter abortion laws in the state. Koback was one of the national leaders in the fight to stop funding Planned Parenthood.
And, as cited on his campaign website, the legislature just passed a disastrous $1.2 billion tax increase by voting to overturn Brownback's veto. Quoting the governor Kobach went on to say that KS never had a revenue problem, only a spending problem. Kobach forgot to say that those tax cuts exempted over 300,000 KS businesses and LLC's from paying KS income taxes since 2012 and resulted in spending cuts across the board for all state agencies three times, money was taken from KDOT three times, the state and teacher's retirement payments were held back four times, raising the state sales and property tax, and the children's health care initiative funded by tobacco money was raided in an attempt to try and shore up the government.
