The Register will support Secretary of State Chris Biggs for election to that office in November. Sec. Biggs has done a good job in the months since March when he was appointed to the position to replace four-term Republican Ron Thornburgh who resigned to take a job in the private sector. He deserves to win the post on the basis of that performance and his outstanding record as a county prosecutor.
He will be opposed by Kris Kobach, who won the Republican nomination by defeating two unknowns, Elizabeth Ensley and J.R. Claeys.
Kobach campaigned on promises to fight voter fraud. But he won because of the name recognition he has gained by helping to write Arizona’s tough immigration law — most of which has been set aside by a federal court — and because he has spent much of his time flitting from state to state giving advice on ways to crack down on illegal aliens.
In endorsing Libby Ensley for the Republican nomination against Kobach and Claeys, the Kansas City Star noted that Kobach left Republican Party finances in a mess when he completed his term as state chairman.
When responsible for the state GOP’s affairs — he was chairman in 2007 and 2008 — Kobach allowed the party bank balance to drop close to zero, subjected it to a fine by not paying federal or state withholding taxes due on wages paid and wasted party assets in questionable ways. He and his small staff spent $10,000 more than they raised. In short, he proved himself a lousy manager.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reported on the extent of the debacle on June 7. Here is a key paragraph from that story:
“ … In the audit produced by the Federal Election Commission, the party was found to have incorrectly stated on FEC reports the total receipts and expenditures as well as the year-end cash on hand in 2007. The party’s 2008 report to the FEC did likewise, but the amounts were larger. The documents understated receipts by $110,000, understated disbursements by $176,000 and over-stated year-end cash by $93,000.”
These kinds of errors have nothing to do with a person’s political philosophy — and everything to do with that person’s interests and abilities.
At the time he was hired to manage Republican affairs, he was instead helping Arizona write an immigration law that might be reduced to nothing by the U.S. Supreme Court and giving anti-immigrant advice to all who asked for it. Kobach wasn’t watching the GOP store; he was pursuing his personal anti-immigrant agenda while letting the Republican Party headquarters go to pot.
WHAT KRIS Kobach wants is to be State Immigration Secretary. Kansas doesn’t have such a department — but that’s what the Secretary of State’s office will become if he is elected in November.
The Kansas Secretary of State is the state’s record keeper as well as the chief election officer. When corporations are created, the papers are filed with the Secretary of State. Election records are preserved in that office and many other records of agreements or transactions required by state law are kept on file there. The office also keeps records for cities, counties, school districts and other governmental entities.
It is not a policy-making department.
A Secretary of State should be a top-notch manager who focuses on detail. It is highly important to the businesses of Kansas and the people of Kansas that records be filed accurately and that those records be readily accessible. He or she should be on the job in Topeka taking care of Kansas business, not gallivanting about the 50 states pursuing personal political goals.
Kris Kobach gave Kansas Republicans painful, firsthand proof that he is not qualified for that very demanding, very important job.
— Emerson Lynn, Jr.
