KrisWatch

Oh no, not again...

2009-05-28T07:25:00.002-05:00

Kansas thought it was done with Kris Kobach after he embarrassed himself in his race against Congressman Dennis Moore and as Kansas Republican Party Chair.

Kansas was wrong.

Kris is back...and he's brought his lies with him. From today's Wichita Eagle...

Republican Kris Kobach brings an impressive resume to his just-announced candidacy for Kansas secretary of state. But he also brings the prime talking point that voter fraud is rampant in Kansas, which four-term Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh called "utterly ridiculous."

As Kobach was holding kickoff events in Wichita and Emporia Wednesday, an exasperated-sounding Thornburgh told The Eagle editorial board: "He throws allegations around like facts, and I think that's the piece that we have to be really, really careful about."

A great way to kick-off your campaign is to say things so outlandish and untrue that long-time elected officials from your own party feel compelled to essentially call you a liar.

"He throws allegations around like facts." Yep, sounds like Kris.

In 2004, Kriswatch documented the various lies of Kris Kobach.

Today, progressive bloggers like Kansas Jackass are here to take over the burden of monitoring Kobach (trust us, it is a full-time job).

So we recommend you bookmark http://kansasjackass.blogspot.com if you want to keep tabs on him.

We just can't take another year-and-a-half of Kris. And Kansas sure as hell can't take four years of him.

2004-11-06T16:54:00.000-06:00

Election's over folks. But you can relive the fun here at KrisWatch.

The End

2004-11-03T11:22:00.000-06:00

It is done.

Congressman Dennis Moore has won. Kris Kobach has lost.

The final unofficial numbers from the Secretary of State show Moore at 55% and Kobach at 44% -- a 36,223 vote margin. That's more than three and a half times Moore's previous largest margin.

It is an unprecedented win for Moore in an overwhelmingly Republican district that saw a blizzard of mailings and ads from national Republicans.

Kobach's grand strategy to win by motivating the base failed. Even in a presidential year, and even after playing to their issues the entire election, conservatives were not enough to even make it close. We'll have to see some data on the vote breakdown, but we have to imagine moderate Republicans abandoned Kobach in droves.

Kobach's plan to go on the offensive after the primary was stifled and he spent the entire election playing defense. Moore proved to be a much more formidable opponent than Kobach had faced in the primary. He perfectly executed his tried and true strategy of securing the moderate vote by running on his record, while at the same time showing Kobach to be an extremist.

We won't hazard to say what this means for Moore's future races. We anticipate this district will always be a battleground, yet have to think that some top-tier candidates will look at this result and think twice about running next time.

Moderate Republicans will look at this race and feel vindicated. Conservative Republicans will surely find something to point to in order to shift blame away from themselves. Expect the same moderate/conservative fight in the 2006 primary.

But either way, for now, it is done.

We'd like to thank our readers, our tipsters, and all of you who offered us help and support.

Farewell for now -- the 2006 midterm election awaits...

Blowout

2004-11-02T21:42:00.000-06:00

Updated at 11:50 p.m.

Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star has the first comprehensive post-game story on what can only be called a resounding victory for Congressman Dennis Moore.

With 98% of precincts in at this hour, according to KMBC, Moore is winning by 32,542 votes -- 10 percentage points -- in a district where his previous largest win had been 9,833 against Phill Kline in 2000.

Moore beat Kris Kobach by 5,394 in Johnson County. This is the first time since he ran for Johnson County District Attorney that Moore has won Johnson County.

To both voters who used KrisWatch to make your decision...you're welcome.

Vote Today

2004-11-02T09:13:00.000-06:00

Today is Election Day. Polls are open in Kansas until 7:00 p.m. If you're in line when 7:00 p.m. rolls around, you can still vote. Links to the various counties' election sites are to the right. Links to some issues we've covered are below.

Our election guide

2004-11-01T18:45:00.000-06:00

More than 130 posts later, we are approaching the end. Here, now, in no particular order, are The Turks' Top 10 Favorite Posts from the campaign. Consider it our election guide...

Digging Deep -- Kobach flails for an explanation of his questionable ties, coming up with an equally questionable person to link himself with

Kris, meet the truth. Truth, this is Kris -- Google at its finest, Kobach at his most blatantly dishonest

KCPT Debate Recap -- A simple title, for an extensive post on the Kris-tortions at the debate

Utterly Arrogant -- 9/11 Commission has something to say about Kobach's NSEERS

Pro-Kobach mailer: Taxes = Slavery -- The opposition at its most outrageous

Send Lawyers, Guns and Money -- Kobach's answer to the nation's problems? More lawyers!

Kobach prefers pledge over poor -- Forget tax relief, what the poor really need is the Pledge!

(Patriot) Acting Out -- We're probably on a watch list for this one

Kobach promotes study by anti-gay extremist -- That headline is kind of self-explanatory

KrisWatch Contest -- We never did get that photo of Kris in a feed store

Honorable mention: Prospecting and The NRCC Strikes Back

Best week: September 19 through 25

Funniest post: Reach out and touch someone

ODN editorialists drink the Kool-Aid

2004-11-01T18:21:00.000-06:00

The Olathe Daily News has drunk the Kool-Aid and endorsed Kris Kobach.

The Daily News' editorial appears to have been written by the Kobach campaign itself, as it buys Kobach's faulty logic and flawed facts lock, stock and barrel on the matter of his questionable campaign supporters.

The Pioneer Fund contributions were in 1994, not 1938. You can't make the same links between Tanton and Moore unless you're on LSD. And yes, ODN writers, Kobach's new friend Vernon Robinson is black, but we're pretty sure he doesn't like Hispanics either.

They also buy Kobach's flawed analysis of Moore's voting record. Yeah, voting with President Bush half the time sure is "partisan."

We think newspaper editors should do endorsements. But we also think they should do research. Heck, maybe even read what stories some other newspapers in their area are reporting.

Who knews, they just might learn something...and avoid getting bamboozled in the process.

Coalition of the Lying

2004-11-01T10:13:00.000-06:00

We got an e-mail from someone who received an automated call purporting to be from the Mainstream Coalition.

Only it wasn't from the real Mainstream Coalition.

The call was actually from conservative activist Dwight Sutherland, Jr., who joined with fellow right-wingers in a junior high-esque act to register the name "Mainstream Coalition" after the actual group let its registration lapse.

Our e-mailer reports Sutherland is making calls claiming to be from the Coalition, a group that promotes religious tolerance, and claiming that Dennis Moore is running advertisements that criticize Kris Kobach's religious beliefs.

Of course, Sutherland isn't with any group that promotes religious tolerance or moderate values, and no such Moore ad exists.

But that doesn't stop Sutherland for decrying bigotry and hatred and calling upon people to "say no" to Moore, who of course isn't the candidate who has connections to questionable groups that serve as the public face for a movement which has both such traits festering just below the surface.

UPDATE 2:15 p.m. -- The Mainstream Coalition has sent out an e-mail to its supporters denouncing Sutherland's tactics and providing an easy way to fight back:

"The best we can do to counter this blatant attack on our integrity is to spread the news to as many as we can. Use your email list today to forward this message and ask others to do the same.

"Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to call Sutherland (we hate to call him Mr.) at his home and office to register your disappointment. Home: 913-384-1418 and Office: 913-782-2350."

Bush whacked

2004-10-30T16:41:00.000-05:00

Automated calls for Kris Kobach are going out and they're causing some confusion. Why? Because the "President Bush" doing the calling isn't the W. one would expect -- it is actually George H.W. Bush.

Sounding about as energetic as Bob Dole does in the latest Kobach TV ad, Bush reads his script about Kobach sharing his values of "a compassionate and conservative agenda." Well there is an agenda there and it is conservative. Not so much on the compassionate.

You can listen to Bush (or Dana Carvey, we really can't tell) by clicking here.

Off the air

2004-10-30T10:50:00.000-05:00

Kris Kobach won't be beamed into the homes of Kansas Citians on Sunday morning, as the Rev. Jerry Johnston's 30-minute infomercial for Kobach has been pulled by the TV stations set to air it, so reports Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star.

Kobach was scheduled to appear in a taped interview with the Rev. Jerry Johnston, pastor of First Family Church in Overland Park, at 7:30 a.m. on KMCI-TV and 10 a.m. on KSHB-TV. Another broadcast scheduled for 10:30 p.m. on PAX TV also was canceled.

The general managers for the three stations said the political nature of the broadcast would have required the station to provide equal time to Kobach's Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore.

With the election Tuesday, they said their stations did not have the time to give Moore the equal access that is required under the rules set by the Federal Communications Commission.

From reading the article, it appears as if Johnston tried to bait and switch Moore repeatedly, first claiming the show would be shown on KCPT, then -- lo' and behold -- discovering the station was booked, he just taped it at the church instead.

The Star reports that the show focused largely on gay marriage, Kobach and Johnston's obsession, with Johnston saying he was "so proud" of Kobach.

Congressman Moore, meanwhile, sees something fishy going on.

“It seems to me as if they have an agenda,” Moore said of the Johnston interview. “I'm not sure it's going to be very productive for me to be on the show, honestly.”

An agenda? Why would someone who has devoted his time and his church's resources to the defeat of anyone who doesn't agree with him on social issues have an agenda? It isn't like he is favoring Kris Kobach by having him speak repeatedly at his church or by going on tour with Kobach and Jerry Falwell.

Oh, wait...

Kobach, who has meanwhile has apparently become an expert at FCC law, was upset.

“This is not a candidate use, which would trigger equal-time provisions under the FCC rules,” Kobach said. “Even if it were a situation that triggered equal-times provisions, Dennis Moore was offered equal time and he declined to accept it."

“It's truly bizarre what is happening here.”

Surely it can't be a "candidate issue" -- it only involves two people who both just happen to be running for Congress and it just so happens the show would be aired the Sunday before the election.

Just a "bizarre" coincidence, we're sure.

Mock the vote

2004-10-29T17:01:00.000-05:00

The Johnson County Election Office has released the results of the student mock election and Dennis Moore was the only Democrat in Kansas to win:

4456 - Dennis Moore (D)
3986 - Kris Kobach (R)
312 - Richard Wells (Ref.)
286 - Joe Bellis (L)

Fan Mail Friday

2004-10-29T13:06:00.000-05:00

Last Friday before the election. And we were just getting started...

L writes in about the new Bob Dole for Kobach ad:

Have you seen the Dole ad for Kris? Bob hasn't lived in Kansas since he left office and face it, for many many years before then. He never lived in the 3rd District. Seems really odd for Bob to tell us who is or isn't good for us here. He should stick to being funny. His Kansas Tourist Commission ads on the radio were funny. Pitching Kobach to the masses, not funny.

And he didn't even have Britney in the ad, which would have made it moderately worth watching.

Rachel of KJHK's "Politics with Rachel" writes in to plug tonight's show, which we recommend listening to if you're in the listening area.

Finally, we'd like to thank all of you who have written in with tips, stories, and messages egging us on. We appreciate your readership and support. We've had fun and while it isn't over until the polls close November 2, we're already getting nostalgic and a little misty eyed.

Then we see the Republicans comparing taxes to slavery and we get mad again, so it all evens out.

The Kobach Enquirer is Rich

2004-10-29T09:12:00.000-05:00

Only four days to go, and still so many unanswered questions about Kris. We'll wrap up the Enquirer next week. Can you guess what the title will be? Anyway, here we go...

We wanna know!

Corporations as Slaves - Will Tom DeLay be seeking slavery reparations for Halliburton?

The Kobach Stealth Truck - still running? Seriously, this is a major campaign finance violation. Add to that his major tax fraud. The rest of the Kansas delegation pays them, so it's not like he's taking advice from his would-be colleagues.

The Kobach Lawsuit - How much is FAIR paying him? Or do their campaign contributions cover it?

Kris Kobach - almost an Olympic rower? Kris Kobach says he almost made the team. That's pretty impressive, it just hasn't ever been verified. Greetings to folks who are Googling "Kobach" and "rowing."

Pro-Kobach mailer: Taxes = Slavery

2004-10-28T13:43:00.000-05:00

The latest of a barrage of NRCC mailers on behalf of Kris Kobach arrived at a reader's home recently and even we were shocked.

The front depicts two hands in chains as a representation of American business being tied down by taxes and regulation. Ok, kind of over the top, but nothing too bad.

Until you look on the back, and get the full message from the last line:

"If it is corporate greed that has sparked the move of jobs overseas, it is the slavery of taxation and regulation that has fanned the flames."

So taxes and regulations equal slavery, huh? And Kris Kobach is the only person to end this tyranny?

Apparently consumer safety laws are just like the crack of the master's whip, environmental laws are just like selling humans as property, and and the corporate income tax is just as bad as working a man, woman or child to death.

We don't care how onerous the regulation or high the tax, it is outrageous to compare either to the enslavement and servitude of an entire race.

Look away, ~~Dixieland~~ Kansas. Look away.

FAIR play (the sequel)

2004-10-28T13:16:00.000-05:00

From a news release today by the National Council of La Raza regarding efforts to disenfranchise Hispanic voters:

In some cases, this outrageous abuse appears to be spearheaded by anti-immigrant groups, particularly the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. For example, the state director of FAIR in Michigan sent “testers” to try to register to vote at a Wisconsin Hispanic community-based organization (CBO) to “prove” that the CBO was registering non-eligible persons. Their effort was so unsuccessful that it prompted an investigation and a warning from the Milwaukee County District Attorney against future “testing” projects. In North Carolina, a press release by FAIR accusing immigrants of plotting to commit fraud led to a misguided attempt by a local sheriff to single out for harassment registrants who identified themselves as Latino.

Yeah, sure sounds like there's no racial bias whatsoever on the part of FAIR, Kris Kobach's employer/supporter.

NPR had a story on yesterday about a man in a Georgia county who challenged the citizenship status of anyone who had a Hispanic-sounding last name. Those people now have to attend a hearing to prove they are citizens and should be allowed to vote.

These Americans were born here or went through the long process to become legal citizens, yet they still face challenges from others who think anyone with a last name like "Rodriguez" or "Hernandez" or "Garcia" has to be an illegal immigrant.

Sunshine

2004-10-28T12:05:00.000-05:00

In today's Sun, Dennis Moore is one of only two Democrats to earn the newspaper's endorsement (the other is State Rep. Sue Storm) and Steve Rose offers some parting thoughts regarding this and other races today.

Rose's personal story about Kobach's refusal to shake his hand or speak with Rose ever since Rose wrote a mildly critical sentence about Kobach is astounding. That "Kris Kobach was very impressive, but I was not impressed." would set Kobach off to the point that he would play the silent game ever since says a lot.

Meanwhile, this is what Rose has to say about Congressman Dennis Moore:

DENNIS MOORE: You can agree or disagree with Dennis Moore, but the "liberal" label does not stick. On all the major issues facing this nation, Dennis Moore has been with the President. Dennis Moore, whom I have known for almost three decades, reflects the views of most Johnson Countians. That's why they elected and re-elected him as their district attorney and Community College trustee before he was elected to Congress. The commercials running against him are slanderous.

Second Front

2004-10-28T09:02:00.000-05:00

Joshua continues his analysis of Kris Kobach's ties to questionable groups and of Kobach's latest advertisements and mailings here: http://jgrr.blogspot.com/

Check it out.

Constitution Kris

2004-10-27T15:15:00.000-05:00

Kris Kobach is a constitutional law professor, which means he studies the document a lot. But just reading and talking about the Constitution gets boring. What Kris really wants to do is to rewrite it, or at least add a few parts he thinks were left out by the Founding Fathers.

By our reading of this and past articles*, Kobach wants at least five new amendments to go along with the 17 that have passed since the original Bill of Rights:

Amendment banning abortion
Amendment banning gay marriage
Amendment keeping "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance
Amendment banning flag burning
Amendment making English the official language of the United States

That is an awful lot of changes to a document that has stood for two centuries with few revisions.

But, you know Kris, not only does he know more than President Bush, Secretary Tom Ridge, and the 9/11 Commission on homeland security, but he also knows more than James Madison and the other framers of the Constitution regarding what rights really need to be ~~protected~~ banned.

* The first three Kobach amendments come from today's Star article, the second from an article where Kobach attacks Moore regarding the flag burning amendment, and the fifth from today's article as well, since a constitutional amendment is the most often suggested vehicle for such a declaration.

Reach out and touch someone

2004-10-27T09:23:00.000-05:00

Kris Kobach's Catholic calls are making news, this time in a story by Dave Ranney of the Lawrence Journal-World.

We reported the details here last weekend, but the story does have some interesting additional information.

"If it's not illegal, it certainly goes against the principles of keeping religion out of politics," said [Mainstream] coalition executive director Caroline McKnight.

Abrajano disagreed.

"That's ridiculous," he said. "There's no expressed separation of church and state in the Constitution."

He's apparently been reading out of the Kristitution, which is missing this little part:

Amendment I: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Anyway, Abrajano claims that the lists weren't obtained improperly from churches, but that the campaign bought the list from a database warehouse.

Abrajano said the campaign bought the calling list from a national company that works with databases.

"You can buy all kinds of data, sorted by age, gender, income, magazine subscriptions, favorite television shows -- whatever," he said.

With these lists in their hands, what other calls could the Kobach campaign be planning?

"Hi, I'm Kris Kobach, calling with an important message about your favorite TV show. Did you know Dennis Moore voted against keeping Friends on the air for another year, hurting you and others in the under 35 demographic?"

"Hi, this is Kris Kobach. Did you know that Dennis Moore voted against allowing Guns & Ammo subscribers age 45-55 with incomes of $40,000 or more from enjoying the benefits of grenade launchers?"

"Hi, I'm Kris Kobach, calling with a message for all Cat Fancy readers. Did you know that Dennis Moore is a dog owner? It's true."

"Hi, I'm Kris Kobach, with an important message for readers of Out magazine. Did you...oh, wait, forget it."

We're guessing they didn't even bother buying the list of viewers of Sábado Gigante...

Borrowed time and money

2004-10-27T09:05:00.000-05:00

The well is drying up.

Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star today reports that Dennis Moore outraised Kris Kobach by $120,000 during October, continuing his record-shattering pace.

Meanwhile, Kobach has started paying back his loans to his campaign...even though his campaign listed the multiple transactions as contributions, rather than loans.

You can pay back a loan, says the FEC, but not a contribution. Just another misunderstanding, says the Kobach campaign.

You know, there are lawyers who specialize in election law. May be a good idea to look one up.

FAIR-play

2004-10-27T08:53:00.000-05:00

The Federation for American Immigration Reform yesterday issued a response to the charges of connections with white supremacist groups, including the Pioneer Fund.

Our favorite one of the reasons they can't be extremists is #2:

"FAIR spokespeople have been featured well over 1,000 times on national network television."

"We can't be racist, we've been on TV." Which is a valid point, since no white supremacists have ever appeared on television.*

* Check out tomorrow's show (10/28/04) for a hilarious coincidence.

Betting your arm

2004-10-27T08:21:00.000-05:00

...and leg

The Washington Post yesterday ran an article on Kris Kobach's desired replacement for health insurance: the health savings account (a.k.a. medical savings account).

Bottom line:

"You're betting that you won't get sick enough to exhaust the account and have to draw on other funds to pay for further care."

The article goes beyond what we had been saying regarding how HSAs are essentially useless for anyone who doesn't have enough money to save anyway.

Not only are the poor left out, but the elderly and less healthy are left behind...with higher insurance costs.

"One risk, of course," said Ron Pollack, head of the Washington advocacy group Families USA, "is that a patient might forgo necessary medical care, opting to save the money, until the problem becomes more serious, and much more expensive."

Another risk, he said, is that healthier consumers will choose HSAs, leaving an older and sicker pool behind. "Without a younger, healthier pool of people among whom to spread risk, I'd expect to see insurance premiums skyrocket among older, sicker consumers over the next few years," Pollack said.

The article is ultimately designed for employees who are offered the choice between standard health insurance and an HSA, but for us it serves as yet another example of how Kobach's policies favor those that fortune has already smiled upon, at the expense of everybody else.

Lower wages, higher taxes

2004-10-26T12:24:00.000-05:00

Kris Kobach's prescription for what ails working Kansans

If anything came out of the third and final Moore-Kobach debate, it is that Kris Kobach still hasn't bought a thesaurus to find a word other than "utterly."

The talk focused on topics we've already covered, such as ergonomics, but we did get some new information regarding the minimum wage. Congressman Moore supports raising it, Kobach doesn't, reports Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star.

Kobach said he opposed increasing the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. He said pushing up the minimum wage would cause lost jobs.
"The minimum wage causes inefficiencies in our economy," Kobach said.

Sorry, millions Americans who earn the minimum wage, paying you the lowest inflation-adjusted minimum wage in decades already creates "inefficiencies." No raise for you.

Besides, can't your family get by on $10,712 a year?* Maybe you could cut out some "inefficiencies" like heating...or food.

Kobach also restated his support for a national sales tax, which he said would be "fairer" to Kansans. Or at least rich Kansans. Everyone else would pay more. A lot more.

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that a federal sales tax would have to be set at between 45 and 53 percent to break even with current tax law and forget about a progressive tax system.

Put another way, on average the 80 percent of Americans in the middle- and lower-income ranges would pay 51 percent more in sales taxes than they now pay in the federal taxes that the proposed national sales tax would replace.

For Kansas, the ITEP estimates that the bottom 80% -- with a combined average income of $32,200 -- would pay $2,587 more per year.

The top 5% -- with a combined average income of $298,900 -- would pay $44,622 less per year.

Kobach also claims such a tax would "possibly" double the amount of economic growth compared to the current tax system.

Ignoring the fact that to balance the budget, any such tax would have to raise as much money as the current tax system, adding 40 or 50 percent to the cost of an item probably wouldn't spur sales. And businesses small and large surely wouldn't mind collecting a tax on behalf of the federal government.

That's a taxing effort and a tough sell.

* That's what $5.15 an hour works out to if multiplied by a 40 hour work week and 52 week year. No vacation time allowed, of course.

Schoolhouse Kobach

2004-10-26T11:22:00.000-05:00

It should come as no surprise, but Kris Kobach continues to make false statements about Congressman Moore's record.

First, it was his false claim that Moore had never gotten any federal money for the district, now it is his continued charge that Moore has only passed two bills, both of which name post offices.

That's just one of those exaggerations.

Once again, we looked at the record and either way you look at it, Kobach is wrong.

If you use the logical definition that includes a bill becoming law on its own or when it is incorporated into another bill that is passed, Moore has more than two bills that have become law. These include his IRA contribution limit increase -- which another member of Congress confirmed was included in a tax package bill -- and his estate tax reduction, which the bill search lists as part of H.R. 1836 that passed.

If you use Kris Kobach's narrow definition that the actual bill has to pass on its own, then Moore has only one bill naming a post office that has passed, not the two that Kobach claims, because H.R. 3255's Senate version was the one that was passed.

So either way, Kobach is wrong.

Kobach seems awfully concerned about whose name is on the piece of legislation, as opposed to what good is actually done. If he thinks the "Kobach Border Security Act" is going to pass his first year -- or first decade -- in Congress, he is sadly mistaken.

Good legislators are measured by their results, not by how many bills with their name on it they can get passed.

UPDATE 1:33 p.m. -- Savvy KrisWatch reader JF writes in to point out that another person involved in the Third District race passed only two bills during his 11 year House career. Yep, Vice President, former Congressman from Wyoming, and big Kobach fundraiser Dick Cheney.

Now we don't know how many Cheney bills were rolled into other pieces of legislation, but we do know Cheney introduced far fewer bills (31) over six terms than Moore did in the last two (40).

Assuming Kobach would apply his strict test to Cheney's record, JF is surprised that Kobach would accept support from such a "do nothing" Congressman. Our thoughts exactly.

No Overtime

2004-10-25T13:28:00.000-05:00

The headline doesn't refer to our hopes that this election doesn't go into OT like the primary or the 2000 presidential election. Rather, it refers to Kris Kobach's position on overtime for six million American workers. (Check the list to see if you could be one of them.)

Dan J. Smith of The Olathe Daily News has a story on this rarely discussed topic in this race: the Bush Administration's changes to overtime laws.*

The changes make it possible for employers to deny workers "time and a half" pay for work beyond the 40 hour work week. Overtime pay is an important part of many low-income families' budgets, particularly since some would still qualify for food stamps even if they made the maximum allowable under the new threshold.

While more low-income workers supposedly become eligible for overtime under the new rules, the Bush Administration published tips for employers on how to avoid paying overtime to these workers.

Kobach supports these new rules. Dennis Moore opposes them.

* The ODN uses the same link for their stories each day, so this story may be about something completely different by the time you go there.

Sinking ship

2004-10-24T09:35:00.000-05:00

Kansas City Star poll of 600 registered voters, as reported by Brad Cooper:

Dennis Moore -- 50%
Kris Kobach -- 38%
Undecided -- 11%

Kobach's response?

“I am delighted with those results. That's exactly where we want to be at this stage,” Kobach said.

Really? You wanted to be losing by 12 points with nine days to go? You really need to raise your expectations.

“Those results show that it is anybody's game, because undecideds tend to break very heavily for the challenger.” [Kobach continued]

True, but usually only about 2 to 1. Meaning that Moore would get 3 percent, and if we're generous to Kobach, he would get 8 percent. So, Moore wins 53 to 46.

Assuming this poll is accurate, Moore would hypothetically only need to get one undecided voter to get the magic "50% + 1" to win.

Plus, this poll apparently didn't take into account the third party candidates, which usually draw 2-3 points. Given the conservative issue stances of the two third party candidates this year, those points are unlikely to come from Moore.

Moore's lead is significantly larger this year than in 2002 or 2000, when The Star conducted polls showing him in tight races with Taff and Phill Kline, now Kansas' attorney general.

As a point of reference, Moore had a three point lead over Adam Taff in the Star's poll in 2002 and a two point lead over Phill Kline in the same poll in 2000. So, yes, 12 points is "significantly larger."

The margin in the new poll surprised some experts, who think the race will ultimately be much closer than the margin indicated in the poll. But if Moore is already at 50 percent, it is not a good sign for Kobach, they said.

“You would clearly want Moore to be under 50 at this point,” said Johnson County
Republican strategist Kevin Yowell. “I would not say that this race is over, but Kobach is going to have to get busy if he's going to pull this out.”

Eighteen percent of Republicans are backing Moore. Looks like that "rally the base and screw the moderates" strategy is really paying off.

Allan Cigler, a political science professor at the University of Kansas, said Kobach had made no apparent attempt to move off his conservative message to appeal to more moderate Republican voters. He said the poll indicates that strategy appears to be backfiring.

Well, look at the bright side. Kris has nowhere to go but up. And the NRCC's ad buy has nowhere to go but home.

(Speaking of ad buys, has anyone seen a Kobach ad on broadcast TV lately? Not cable, but one of the networks: ABC, NBC, CBS...Fox? We haven't.)

End of health insurance as we know it

2004-10-24T09:17:00.000-05:00

The first thing you notice about the responses to the questions posed by The Kansas City Star and printed today is that Kris Kobach has a hard time answering a question, shall we say, succinctly.

The second thing we noticed was this hidden gem in his answer on health care:

I favor two fundamental changes in the health-care system. First, we must enact legislation allowing tax-free medical savings accounts to be made available to all Americans. This will help transform our system from a third-party-payer system to a first-party-payer system.

Do you know what the "third-party-payer system" is? Health insurance.

Apparently, Kris Kobach wants to end health insurance, or at least dramatically overhaul it so that you have to use your "medical savings account" -- i.e. a tax-free bank account -- to pay for services instead of insurance.

Of course, you have to save up in your account to be able to spend it. This poses a problem for people who can afford health insurance, but can't sock away tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for retirement, let alone health costs.

What, you mean you don't have $100,000 for major surgery?

Well, maybe you should have taken "market forces" into account before you got sick, loser.

Silly season

2004-10-23T13:34:00.000-05:00

The silly season has definitely started.

Kris Kobach is alleging voter fraud in Wyandotte County, saying that advance ballot applications are being "forged." Meanwhile, auto-calls to Catholics are going out from his campaign.

The Kansas City Star's Melodee Hall Blobaum reports on Kobach's allegations, saying that "several" advance ballot applications were received where the signatures didn't match.

Kansas law doesn't require that the office check signatures on applications, though [WyCo Election Commissioner Pat] Rahija's office does. On one such application, other information was incomplete, and when Rahija's office contacted the voter, she said she hadn't filled out an application.

Wow, one ballot application -- sure sounds like widespread systemic fraud to us. Because you know what they could do with that application? Well, the voter could get a ballot...mailed to them! And they could cast their vote from home! Oh my.

Kobach says any voter with concerns about their ballot should contact the election commission...or the Kobach campaign, where we're sure they'll get impartial advice.

This is all going on at the same time as the Mainstream Coalition reports Kobach's campaign is sending out automatic phone messages to Catholic voters after somehow obtaining a church or parish directory.

The calls are apparently going to Catholic voters from "a fellow Catholic voter" named Ruby. Mainstream has set up a line where you can hear the call. Just dial 913-693-5001* and it will play automatically.

The calls hit Moore on "values" votes, such as on abortion, gay marriage, the Pledge of Allegiance, and a vote that would "remove the Ten Commandments from our schools" -- which is interesting, since the Ten Commandments aren't supposed to be in schools anyway. Ruby then says she'll be voting for Kris Kobach.

Mainstream points out that there is no FEC-required disclaimer on these calls and that church directories are proprietary, requiring them to either be paid for or provided to any campaign.

* UPDATE 10/25 -- We called the line again today and it is now a different automated Kris Kobach phone call, this time complaining about Dennis Moore supposedly calling Kobach a racist because Kobach wants strong borders.

Of course, Moore hasn't called Kobach a racist (the only person we've heard use that word is Kobach himself) and the questions are swirling around Kobach not because of his views on border security, but because of the groups he associates with.

Anyway, as a political tactic, calling up voters and telling them that you were called a racist and white supremacist is probably not the best use of resources.

Star endorses Moore

2004-10-22T14:52:00.000-05:00

The Kansas City Star has endorsed Congressman Dennis Moore for re-election. Now that isn't terribly surprising -- not nearly as surprising as if the Lawrence Journal-World endorsed him -- but it does always provide good quotes for campaign literature.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore is an energetic and fair-minded lawmaker with a thorough understanding of the many challenges facing the country at home and abroad. He has represented the 3rd District in Kansas well for the past six years and deserves re-election.

What is surprising is the emphasis the Star places on Moore's national security acumen, given the fact that Kris Kobach is the one who has made security a centerpiece of his campaign.

On national security, the country needs more lawmakers like Moore who can keep their eye on the ball. Too many people in Washington have grown complacent; weak spots in homeland defense have been ignored and millions of dollars have been frittered away on low priorities. Moore supports proposals that would address these problems and ensure that enough money goes to the right places.

Unlike some members of his party, he has no trouble taking tough stands against countries that could pose serious threats to the United States and its allies. But he also understands that our country is strongest when it works closely with its allies.

Unlike Steve Rose's endorsement of Moore, the Star doesn't pass up a chance to talk about Kobach, if only for a paragraph.

Republican Kris Kobach, a law professor and former member of the Overland Park City Council, has mounted a vigorous challenge against Moore. But there have been several troubling aspects to Kobach’s campaign, including a heavy emphasis on immigration issues and gay marriage. He has also embraced the irresponsible idea of replacing the federal income tax with a national consumption tax.

The rest of the endorsement is finally online so we can link to it here.

Fan Mail Friday

2004-10-22T14:26:00.000-05:00

Next to the last Friday before the election. The clock is winding down...

L writes in to say that she watched the debate with her mom and dad and Kris' attitude didn't wear well. "He was as my mother said, a pit bull, only rabid," she writes.

Others apparently agreed. This is from a letter in today's Kansas City Star:

Throughout the debate, I found myself agreeing with Moore's standpoints. However, this is not the primary reason I will cast my vote for him. The condescending, ugly, arrogant and plainly hateful attitude of the challenger did not win my vote; it turned my stomach.

Joshua writes in to let us know about some more posts on his blog, this time dealing with Kris Kobach's ties to questionable groups. He goes above and beyond most bloggers, contacting a journalist who tracks these groups for more information. Joshua has put together a good collection of information in a short amount of time. His blog is at: http://jgrr.blogspot.com/

And finally, R writes in to say that Kris wasn't telling the truth about stem cell research during the KCPT debate, saying that tissues from embryonic stem cells don't face the rejection risk that tissues from adult stem cells do, hence they are more promising in terms of therapies.

Kris Kobach twisting the facts? That reminds us of a song.

Everybody! Sing along with David!

Facts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don't do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
Facts are nothing on the face of things

Lyrics from Crosseyed and Painless by Talking Heads

Powers of prediction

2004-10-21T11:33:00.000-05:00

We don't know if we can agree with the first line of Jonna Lorenz's article in today's Sun.

Moderate Republicans in the state's 3rd Congressional District are once again the object of a tug of war in the race for Congress.

We think one candidate is going after moderate voters, but the other seems to be following the Rovian "rally the base" strategy. Unless Jerry Falwell has some hidden pull in Prairie Village that we don't know about.

The Sun story revolves around the announcement of this year's crop of Republicans for Moore. This year's group is 800 strong -- more than any previous year, the article points out.

Kobach, meanwhile, points out that local moderates support him too. Such as...Adam Taff. And...well...um...Dick Cheney and Dennis Hastert also support him and they've been to Kansas before.

And why wouldn't they when Kris demonstrates his ability to read the President's mind and/or predict the future, in this case saying that President Bush -- who recently said he won't send troops to guard the border -- will, in fact, send troops to the border...after the election.

Kobach said that Bush demonstrated a willingness to put troops on the borders from March through September 2002.

"I fully expect he'll be willing to do so again in a longer term deployment after the election," he said.

Yes, it was such a success to send those 1,400 National Guard soldiers to guard both the Canadian and Mexican borders that the program was ended after seven months.

We have to wonder what the world would be like if Kobach's powers of prediction could be used for good, not politics.

Star struck

2004-10-20T14:42:00.000-05:00

We're going to have to have a talk with our crack research staff*, because we weren't alerted to these two columns that ran yesterday and today in The Kansas City Star.

The first is by Mary Sanchez who calls out Kris Kobach for "defaming a dead man."

All in the name of political gain
Politics can be a dirty game; that is no surprise.

But just how far will a candidate go to get elected?

Defaming an opponent? Unfortunately, this is common during the waning days of most elections.

But defaming a dead man?

Most voters, regardless of party affiliation, would be offended by such a ploy.

Yet this is what Republican Kris Kobach has done. Kobach is a U.S. Congressional candidate for the 3rd Kansas district.

Sanchez delves into Kobach's use of the late Steve Endean, founder of the Human Rights Campaign, in his recent call for Moore to return contributions from HRC. As The Note would say, it is a "must read."

Then in today's Star, Wyandotte County columnist Mark Wiebe discusses why Hispanic activists are up in arms over Kobach-ally Project USA's posting of anti-immigration billboards in Hispanic neighborhoods.

There appears, then, to be nothing about the ads that suggests the racially motivated innuendoes and fear tactics too often embraced by those who promote a strict nativist agenda. Nothing, that is, until you consider that the billboards (there are three of them) appear in an area heavily populated by Hispanics and Hispanic businesses. Placed in this context, one can understand why some might read the ad as saying, essentially, “This is what your neighborhood could look like if we don't enforce immigration laws.”

Wiebe also counters Project USA's insistance that race isn't an issue, by quoting from passages of their website where race is clearly an issue. This gives "critics reasons to doubt the organization's true motives." Wiebe continues...

So does this: ProjectUSA has received $25,000 in a three-year span from the Pioneer Fund, an organization whose original charter included “race betterment” as one of its goals. According to the organization's Web site, its president, J. Philippe Rushton, has “documented” evidence that descendents of Africans are, on average, less intelligent, less socially organized and practice less sexual restraint than East Asians, Europeans and their descendents.

Those facts raise serious questions about ProjectUSA's purposes. But just as important, they raise an equally serious question about Kobach's campaign: Why would he want to risk accepting ProjectUSA's support?

Yes, why indeed?

* We originally used Google News Alerts, but after hearing about how ABC's The Note relies on "Google Monkeys" to find its stories, we all pitched in to get one of our own. Unfortunately, we could only afford an unemployed Rally Monkey. It doesn't really find very many stories, but it helps keep our spirits high.

Fee-lings, nothing more than fee-lings

2004-10-20T10:50:00.000-05:00

Kris Kobach has made a big deal about not voting for tax increases while on the Overland Park City Council. But fees, well...Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star has the story...

“I think I've shown that I have a record of voting for tax cuts and voting against regulations on our businesses. I will carry the same commitment to Congress,” Kobach recently told the Johnson County Bar Association.

An examination of Kobach's record from 1999 to 2001 reveals his assertions to be true, to an extent. But instead of taxes, the Kansas 3rd District congressional candidate voted to raise fees nine times over a 2½-year period.

He also supported new regulations on restaurants, car dealerships and church construction. Among them, he supported a law requiring new or some remodeled restaurants to have separate ventilation systems if they wanted to allow smoking.

There were a variety of fees, but one in particular stuck out, since it is called a tax...

In October 1999, Kobach voted to raise the price of a season pool pass for Overland Park families by $10. At that same meeting, he supported a 25 percent across-the-board increase in fees for rezoning applications and special-use permits, often paid by developers and businesses.
In 2000, Kobach voted to raise annual fees for health permits by $25 for restaurants. He also voted to increase the price of a round of golf by $5 on the weekends. Kobach also voted for an approximately 31 percent increase in the city's so-called excise tax on new development. He described it as a fee after Republican rival Adam Taff accused him of misleading the public about his record on taxes.

Yes, the "so-called excise tax" which is also known as the "excise tax."

We're not planning on opening a restaurant or buying a family pool pass, so we're not too concerned about these fees. But, we have to agree with one of Kobach's fellow council members...

“I think for him to go out and trot out the record and say, ‘I've never voted for a tax increase' is not telling the entire story,” said former councilman Mike Lally, who served for two years with Kobach. Lally said he was a registered independent and was neutral in the race.

“Whether it's a property tax increase, a sales tax increase or a user fee increase, they're all revenue enhancers. The reality is, that means there is more money being asked of the citizens to pay for a certain service.”

The Kobach Enquirer Redux

2004-10-20T10:45:00.000-05:00

We wanna know!

Fact Checking - who needs it when you have Kriswatch? Is there anything Kobach said at the KCPT debate The Turks hadn't already debunked? We suppose there was the bit about Iran firing its missles at us, though to hit Kansas City they would have to set up their launch pad in Utah. And now we've debunked that, too. Twice.

The Kobach Stealth Truck - still running? Speaking of fact checking, visit the FEC page for Kobach and see if you can find where his campaign is reporting the expenditure. If you can't find it, you'll agree with us he is breaking the law. For man who wants to write laws because he's a lawyer, that's bad.

The Kobach Lawsuit - How much is FAIR paying him? Or do their campaign contributions cover it?

Kris Kobach - almost an Olympic rower? Kris Kobach says he almost made the team. That's pretty impressive, it just hasn't ever been verified.

KCPT debate recap

2004-10-19T13:26:00.000-05:00

First, Kris, calm down. Take a deep breath. Try decaf. Do something, because the fast talking and shouting isn't helping.

In fact, Kobach's demeanor was such that one of the Mrs. Turks got so fed up with the shouting, and the gesturing, and the fast talking that she turned the TV off after about 15 minutes.

But fortunately, there are multiple Turks and we came together to assemble this recap. This is a long post, so you may want to get a cup of coffee. (Not you Kris.)

Values

The first question (there were no opening statements) was about what three values each candidate held dear. Kobach's answer?

National Security
Tax cuts
Moral values

While tax cuts are an interesting value, the answer really didn't produce anything new, though it did give Kobach a chance to name drop a reference to Iran's Shahab-3 missile and how we need a space-based missile defense system to defend against it. Considering the Shahab-3 has only a 1,300 kilometer range, we have some time, since it is 10,198 kilometers between Tehran, Iran, and Washington, DC.

Of course, some people think we should focus on more immediate threats, like nuclear weapons smuggled in via unchecked containers, but you know Kris, he likes to aim high.

Iraq

"We were right to invade Iraq when we did" even though no WMDs were found, says Kobach. He touts the flypaper theory, claiming we're fighting terrorists in Iraq instead of here. We've heard a good analogy for that theory: creating a "really dirty hospital" so "we can fight the germs there, not in the other hospitals" -- forgetting that there isn't a finite number of germs...or terrorists...and that the invasion only served to incite more Muslims to violence, not peace.

Kobach says Moore doesn't go far enough in giving our troops the equipment they need, citing Moore's votes against "bunker busting" nuclear weapons. Yes, because the solution to our Iraq problem is nuclear weapons. (Ironic since nuclear weapons -- or at least the supposed threat of them -- are the cause of our Iraq problem.)

Education

Kobach says he wants to eliminate the federal education mandates, but keep the money flowing. Kobach claims Moore had a chance to vote to lift mandates, but he voted no.

Guess what: So did a majority of Congress.

The amendment Kobach cites sought to strike the requirement for annual state reading and math tests for grades 3 through 8 and retain current law for state assessments -- gutting the accountability standards of No Child Left Behind. That is why it was voted down.

So in the end, Kobach opposes accountability for federal spending, preferring to do what Republicans used to criticize liberals for: throwing money at the problem with no accountability for how it is used.

Taxes

"I will not raise taxes on any sector of the American public," says Kobach.

Poor Lilly. A huge debt is her reward.

Social Security

Kobach says he is against cutting benefits or increasing Social Security taxes. "If you are against those things, you have to find a better way to get a greater return on your investment," he says.

As a solution, Kobach advocates a plan where "less than half" of Social Security benefits go into private accounts. He then claims that the only way to avoid Social Security going into deficit is private accounts, trying to mislead voters since the return on investment for individuals in their private accounts would do nothing to lengthen the overall solvency of Social Security (unless the remaining standard benefits are cut.)

Kobach also has no answer for the multi-trillion dollar transition costs involved in even partially privatized accounts. In fact, he doesn''t even mention those costs.

Kobach again trots out the "Social Security only gets a 2% return" canard, ignoring that -- unlike an investment -- Social Security is essentially a lifetime annuity that is inflation adjusted, making comparisons with regular retirement accounts specious at best.

Finally, Kobach claims that Moore flip-flopped on this issue, but again his evidence is faulty. He cites a CQ story about Moore supporting investing overall trust funds in the market -- not private accounts -- and a Kansas City Star column by conservative writer Thomas McClanahan which says Moore wasn't opposed to private accounts "in concept."

The Turks aren't opposed to getting a million dollars "in concept" but if that money came from a bank robbery, we don't want it. Concept and reality are often a long ways apart, particularly in the minds of those who want to begin to dismantle Social Security.

Health care

Kobach pushes the bounds of reason, claiming Moore has been "the worst" in Congress on medical malpractice. We've dealt with this issue time and again, so click the links if you want to hear how medical malpractice "reform" would do little or nothing to solve health care costs.

Kobach also claims that there is no proof that Moore's plan to let Medicare negotiate for bulk discounts on pharmaceuticals will work. It works for the private sector, the Veterans Administration and the Defense Department, why wouldn't it work for Medicare? Even the American Medical Association thinks it would work.

National Security

After attacking Moore for a vote on the intelligence budget, Kobach says he wants to disclose "only the overall budget amount and nothing more" -- but that is exactly what the vote Kobach cites did! As we have previously reported, it only disclosed the total intelligence budget. Kobach has made so many outrageous claims that he is starting to lose track of reality.

Kobach again cites the "11 suspected terrorists" caught by NSEERS -- a claim that the 9/11 Commission staff already debunked.

Kobach's ties to extremists

Kobach trots out the supposed Sierra Club, LCV, and Planned Parenthood ties to John Tanton, despite knowing full well that those connections are virtually nonexistent -- particularly compared with Kobach's own ties to John Tanton, Larry Pratt, and their respective organizations. It is all here.

Immigration

Regarding the lawsuit he filed for FAIR, Kobach once again forgets about Google and now tries to push off the 2,000 figure onto The Kansas City Star, even though it was a letter from Kobach himself in the Star that first started the "2,000 illegal aliens" figure.

From letter to the Star by Kris Kobach, May 27, 2004:
It is estimated that 2,000 illegal aliens will take advantage of this law, costing Kansas taxpayers more than $15 million."

And after an exchange where Kobach accuses Moore of "utterly lying" -- (Christmas gift idea for Kris: a thesaurus so he can find a word other than "utterly") -- we learn that -- in Kobach's mind -- pretty much any immigration vote that doesn't seal the border is a vote for amnesty.

Stem cells

Finally, there is a discussion of stem cell research, where Kobach seems to come out against any form of embryonic stem cell research and claims there are not enough embryos frozen at invitro fertilization clinics to find cures. Yet on October 7, the Republican Mainstream Partnership director wrote to The Hill and said that 400,000 embryos are created at IVF clinics every year. Compare that to the 19 cell lines touted by the President as more than sufficient.

Wrap-up

Overall, we didn't think either candidate landed a knockout blow. Moore was effective, but not spectacular against the fast-talking former college debater. Neither one had a gaffe or moment that stands out that could be used in TV ads, and at this point, with this type of race, that's all that these debates are really good for.

Update 4:31 p.m.: In reference to a post on a Phog.net message board (yes, we will admit we read it), we never said we thought the debate was a draw. We think Moore won, largely because he came across as more reasonable than Kobach in both words and overall manner. Moore had a steady presence, while Kobach seemed manic.

Kobach needed to demonstrate to voters why Moore should be fired and he didn't do it. His attacks were ones that have been heard in this district for years and largely discounted by voters. Plus, Kobach likely turned off a lot of swing voters (i.e. independent and Republican women) with his manner and would have turned off more if they could have followed what he was saying more than half the time. Add in the multiple Kobach distortions and faulty assertions we detail above and Kobach's position weakens further.

So, it wasn't a draw, but we still insist that neither candidate landed a "knockout blow" and his performance was certainly not effective enough for Kobach to be boasting on 1510 yesterday about cleaning Moore's clock or some other such nonsense.

Also, Jayhawkmom rules.

Scout's honor

2004-10-19T11:48:00.000-05:00

Tenth in the "Kris Kobach is wrong 10 ways from Sunday" series

Kobach's final attack on Moore in his lit piece is that Moore voted "against the Boy Scouts," forcing them to accept homosexual Scoutmasters.

As we've said previously, Moore voted against an amendment in 2001 that would have reversed a ruling by the District of Columbia Human Rights Commission regarding the reinstatement of two scoutmasters into the Boy Scouts.

The reason? Moore apparently doesn't believe that 535 senators and representatives should be meddling in the city's business.

Republicans like Kris Kobach advocate local control...until they're the ones who want to exercise the control.

Ask yourself: Which decision will your local government make next that Kris Kobach will want to override from Washington?

Also, in his piece Kobach says that as an Eagle Scout, he'll "always protect the values of the Boy Scouts."

Look at their Scout Law. Ask yourself if you think he's doing a good job.

Fan Mail Monday

2004-10-18T21:58:00.000-05:00

Joshua writes in to call our attention to a post on his blog that we felt needed to be recommended today, rather than waiting until Friday.

The information about the 9/11 Commission recommending release of the top-line figures of the intelligence budget is first-rate and goes beyond what we knew about the issue, as well as what Kobach and the NRCC apparently know.

The Late Afternoon Show Post

2004-10-18T17:03:00.000-05:00

Kris called in to a friendly audience this afternoon, The Late Afternoon Show on 1510 AM. The Turks were among the 10 or 15 people listening to 1510. We admit, we were hoping for the Red Sox-Yanks, but this was almost as entertaining...

Kobach blathered on about his "big debate victory" last night. Again, we'll post after we watch it again on tape this evening. However, he tried to make his biggest points on the issue of Congressman Moore's legislative track record.

According to Kobach, in Moore's six years in DC, only two of his bills have become law, both of which re-named Post Office buildings. Kris was adamant about this, telling the 10 or 15 of us listening to "look it up." He and the show's host, Chris Stigall (though they seem to keep calling him Seagal...) weren't impressed with the Congressman's response. As quoted in the KC Star, “When he says that I've only had two bills that were post offices, that is absolutely not true. Either your computer is not working or you just don't know where to look.”

Again, Kris dared us to "look it up." We did. For the 108th Congress, he's right. Of course, a Congress is two years. What about the 107th Congress, Kris? Uh-oh... And maybe they thought "Steve," the last caller of the day, was the only one with Internet access.

And, frankly, let's not even get INTO the bills with Congressman Moore listed as a co-sponsor. You see, Kris, that's how Congress works...

Update 10/19: Yes, you have to click on "Bill Summary & Status" to see that Moore's bill was rolled into the larger tax cut bill which became law. We wanted to challenge you. As with a 10/19 post, it is a Phog.net poster who points this out, much to the chagrin of the Kris-supporters who inhabit the Phog Phorum.

And the fact that the Kobach supporters are debating us -- we're lovin' it. The "rally the base" strategy? Good luck with that.

Utterly arrogant

2004-10-18T09:54:00.000-05:00

"I'm Kris Kobach and I approved this message because I'm smarter than you are."

We want to watch the debate again tonight before going in-depth, but we have to say that Kobach's know-it-all attitude really came through in The Kansas City Star's coverage this morning.

Republican challenger Kris Kobach attacked full bore Sunday, calling U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore “utterly out of touch” with Kansas morals, “utterly ineffective” and, at one point, “utterly ignorant.”

And that was just the first paragraph.

Today, we want to focus on the "utterly ignorant" comment, because it referred to Moore's criticism of Kobach's National Security Entry/Exit Registration System (NSEERS), which we promised last week to discuss.

Moore said NSEERS hurt U.S. cooperation with other countries in the war on terror and that the administration had to send a message to allies assuaging their concerns about the program. Kobach rebutted by calling Moore "utterly ignorant."

Apparently, Kobach thinks the 9/11 Commission, State Department, and FBI Director Robert Mueller are "utterly ignorant" too...

There was significant opposition to the NSEERS program from some U.S. government officials, who feared the program would offend countries that were U.S. allies in the global war on terror. State personnel we interviewed said that NSEERS did harm our relations with foreign countries whose citizens were subject to its registration requirements. FBI Director Mueller said it came at a cost.

The footnotes of the 9/11 Commission staff report describe some of this opposition from allies, including the fact that one of the few things the leaders of feuding India and Pakistan could agree on is their mutual distate for NSEERS.

Kobach has also claimed that 11 suspected terrorists were caught. But the 9/11 Commission staff report disagrees.

DHS asserts that 11 persons out of approximately 140,000 registrants have been shown to have a connection to terrorism. Of these, six were NSEERS call-in registrants, though it is not clear from information we have received whether the registration process led to their arrest; two were denied entry at the port of entry following a hit in the TIPOFF watchlist, and thus their identifications were not attributable, in other words, to the NSEERS program; one failed to appear for a call-in registration and was encountered and arrested in the field on grounds that are not clear to us; one was arrested, and we have no information whether he was required to participate in the NSEERS program; and one is currently "at large."

The counterterrorism benefits from the NSEERS program are unclear. (emphasis added)

So the evidence isn't quite what Kobach claims.

Add in the comments of Asa Hutchinson, former Republican congressman and the Department of Homeland Security's undersecretary for borders and transportation, when NSEERS was shut down in December 2003:

Hutchinson said in an interview that the domestic portion of the program "didn't yield sufficient leads" to justify the money being spent. The government will focus more on individuals rather than "whole categories" of people, he said.

Kris Kobach created a program that wasn't cost-effective, that angered foreign governments, and for which the benefits were "unclear." That's quite the track record.

So, we now know that, with regards to border security, Kris Kobach thinks he knows more than the...

9/11 Commission

Undersecretary of Homeland Security for Borders and Transportation

Secretary of Homeland Security

President of the United States

Did we miss anyone?

Laying the foundation

2004-10-18T08:34:00.000-05:00

Ninth in the "Kris Kobach is wrong 10 ways from Sunday" series

The second attack on Congressman Moore in the social issues section of Kris Kobach's literature piece is that Moore voted against the "Laci and Connor Peterson Law" that Republicans named after the case that is a staple of CourtTV and other media outlets.

We've discussed this issue before, but will once again point out that this law gives the embryo/fetus the same legal rights as the mother -- regardless of the stage of development -- and is primarily designed to lay a legal foundation for banning all abortions by overturning Roe vs. Wade.

After all, that is Kobach's ultimate goal: to ban abortion, even in cases of rape or incest.

Sunday Conversations

2004-10-17T21:43:00.000-05:00

Two messages needing replies this evening...

RL --

Thanks for the kind words. We'd love to hear what you thought of the debate -- drop us a line.

YDT

Second, we received this message today:

RatherGate proved that bloggers are the best fact checkers. That is why we are writing to a few bloggers asking for help.

Yes Bush Can has collected several documents that are clearly suspect. But we need your help to prove they are fake: http://www.yesbushcan.com/falsedocs.shtml

Let's spring to action before these documents needlessly tarnish the reputation of our Commander and Chief. You know the drill: analyze the handwriting, search for factual errors, and post your discoveries.

And keep us posted by sending email to FakeDocs@yesbushcan.com.

Thanks in advance for your help.

YesBushCan

We think it is of vital importance to our nation and to the cause of satire that all of our readers review the aforementioned documents.

Our question: Will Kris take their Patriot Pledge?

Dollars and sense

2004-10-16T13:40:00.000-05:00

The October quarterly reports were due to the FEC yesterday and we have our first look at how both campaigns have been doing.

Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star focuses on the cash-on-hand figures, which at this point are less useful as indicators of a campaign's strength than the total raised figures since the COH figures are impacted by advance spending, such as on TV buys and other advertising.

Libby Quaid of the Associated Press, meanwhile, focuses on Moore's record-breaking total raised figure.

Dennis Moore raised $437,189.50 for the quarter, bringing his total to a record $1,846,404.57 for the cycle.

Kris Kobach raised $453,749.75 for the period plus a $53,000 contribution from Kobach himself.* His total for the cycle is $867,993.53 -- almost a million dollars less than Moore.

And showing he really doesn't give a damn what people think, Kobach accepted more money from groups he has been under fire for associating with: $2,500 from the U.S. Immigration Reform PAC and $2,400 from Gun Owners of America.

In the disbursements, Kobach shows that he still isn't obeying federal law with regards to tax withholding and the stealth truck continues to go unseen, unfueled, and unpaid for

* Kobach paid himself back for $11,000 of his contributions, so we have to wonder how much -- if any -- of this $53,000 is actually available to spend, as opposed to just being there to pump up his total raised figure.

The Krush

2004-10-16T13:14:00.000-05:00

We're not sure, but we think Pitch writer Nathan Dinsdale may have a bit of a crush on Kris Kobach thanks to the "Rock for Kobach" event in Lawrence.

Then Kobach arrived. And the angels sang.

He was dreamy, a chiseled hunk of man with a firm jaw and firmer principles who was only some puka shells and a pair of flip-flops away from being the Kappa Sigma social chair. He proceeded to make mildly lame allusions to his campaign as a football team and his staffers as his band members. Then he said:

"On November 2, when Dan Rather is announcing that the president has won -- you know Dan Rather, the man who put the BS in CBS -- he's [also] going to be talking about the 3rd District race in Kansas."

But all I could think about was stuffing Kobach's ballot box. It didn't matter that both Kobach and I were married -- to women. He was going to make an honest man out of me.

Yikes. Talk about a swing voter.

Digging deep

2004-10-15T15:11:00.000-05:00

Kris Kobach is mad.

At least that's the impression we get according to an e-mail sent to his supporters today.

Kobach is mad about a Kansas Democratic Party mailing that details the contributions Kobach has received from groups with ties to white supremacists.

Kobach claims "Moore gave $136,000 to the Kansas Democratic Party in order to finance this mailing" -- which is an insanely high amount to be for just a mailing. Was the mailing printed on $10 bills?

Kobach tries to defend his contributions from Gun Owners of America and the U.S. Immigration Reform PAC in multiple ways.

Kobach says that the Immigration Reform PAC "has only given maximum contributions to two candidates this cycle - Kris Kobach and Vernon Robinson, a candidate in North Carolina. Vernon Robinson is an African American."

Yes, he is. And Robinson also hates illegal aliens. (Seriously, listen to this ad -- especially the tagline for "gringos")

We're not so sure it is a good idea for Kobach to tie himself with Robinson. He's called himself the "Black Jesse Helms" and is so extreme that 1996 Republican VP nominee Jack Kemp withdrew his endorsement of Robinson.

Kris Kobach and Vernon Robinson -- both standing up against the "illegal Mexican immigration invasion."

Yes, clearly Robinson shows the Immigration Reform PAC has no racial motives whatsoever.

When you find yourself in a hole: stop digging.

But Kobach's defense only gets weirder. He blatantly lies about the funding from the pro-racial purity through eugenics Pioneer Fund that went to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, Kobach's current employer/supporter.

Kobach claims that FAIR recieved Pioneer Fund money 75 years ago. Try 1994, Kris. That's when FAIR took the last of $1.2 million from the Pioneer Fund.

Kobach also tries to tie FAIR founder and current board member John Tanton -- the center of a web of anti-immigrant groups -- to Congressman Moore.

Moore got money from Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters, Kobach says, and Tanton was involved with all three groups.

Well, sort of.

Tanton was involved with the Northern Michigan chapter of Planned Parenthood... from 1965 to 1971. The LCV? He was a Michigan district organizer from 1970 to 1974. Sierra Club? Planning committee member from 1969-1971. Tanton was recently unsuccessful in his attempted takeover of the Sierra Club -- the culimination of a decades long fight he waged to infiltrate the group.

Wow. Pretty strong ties there, Kris. A couple of jobs in the late sixties/early seventies and an unsuccessful takeover. Tanton must be in control of all three!

And while there is no evidence of contributions from Tanton or his wife to any of these three groups in the past 14 years (OpenSecrets.org's records go back to 1990), the Tantons have given thousands directly to the U.S. Immigration Reform PAC -- $7,000 this election cycle alone -- $5,000 of which found its way directly to Kobach.

Like we said: Stop digging.

But he doesn't. Kobach continues his defense by reprising his story of Larry Pratt's speech to what Kobach now calls a "preparedness expo."

According to author Leonard Zeskind, this speech by Pratt was given at the invitation of Pete Peters, author of a pamphlet called "The Death Penalty for Homosexuals" to a "meeting of Aryan Nations leaders; former Ku Klux Klansmen; and adherents of so-called 'Christian Identity,' a doctrine in which Jews are literally considered Satanic and persons of color are referred to as 'mud people.'"

After all of this, Kobach decries these "desperate" attacks as being "through nine degrees of separation" as though he weren't the one desperately trying to find ways to link Moore to groups Kobach doesn't even think it is wrong to associate with.

But nine degrees? Surely it can't be nine...

John Tanton -- FAIR -- Kobach
John Tanton -- US Immigration PAC -- Kobach
White supremacists -- Larry Pratt of GOA -- Kobach

Nope. Less than nine.

Stop digging.

Hindsight preview

2004-10-15T08:56:00.000-05:00

The Kansas City Star's Brad Cooper and Matt Stearns have a lengthy article on Kris Kobach's Justice Department project, the National Security Entry/Exit Registration System (NSEERS).

We're going to take the weekend to review the article, but in the meantime the very last paragraph raises a question:

Kobach said the Justice Department tried to cultivate sources with undocumented immigrants. He said the Justice Department set up an initiative in early 2002 in which the government would allow people to stay in the country legally if they provided information that was useful to combat terrorism.

And that's not the dreaded "amnesty" because...?

Driving Kris Kobach

2004-10-15T08:54:00.000-05:00

We've always wondered if poor driving can impact voters when the car being driven poorly has a candidate's bumper sticker on it.

Apparently so...at least for The Kansas City Star's Joe Posnanski.

People often ask, “What the heck are undecided voters thinking about?”

Well, I'm here to tell you.

Last Friday, I was driving around town, running errands, listening to a Ray Charles CD, when a car with a Kris Kobach bumper sticker almost backed into my car. Kobach is running against Dennis Moore for the seat in Kansas' 3rd Congressional District.

I did not think much of it at the time. I am thoroughly undecided about Kris Kobach and Dennis Moore. I have not thought much about them. But a little later on, I was driving in a different part of town and a car almost ran me off the road. As the car drove away, I noticed something curious: That car also had a Kris Kobach bumper sticker.

And suddenly I had a strong opinion: I was not going to vote for Kris Kobach.*

Posnanski wrote two messages to Team Kobach and got no reply. Dennis Moore, on the other hand, wrote back immediately, expressing his relief that Posnanski wasn't injured by the Kobach supporters and making the case for driving down the middle, not too far left or right.

But we don't think Moore went far enough in connecting Kobach with his supporters' driving habits.

Earlier this week, The Hill ran a story that we didn't write about because it really didn't feature anything new...except for a now-relevant paragraph on Kris Kobach's driving...

For Kobach, the campaign consists of a morning meeting at campaign headquarters, which is nestled between Chinese and kabob restaurants. It’s driving while munching on a mini-candy bar, monitoring the radar detector and nearly running a stop sign. It’s telling his mother she can come to a fundraiser even though she’s “maxed out” to him. It’s pricking his finger with a needle to monitor insulin levels while driving.

Only someone who is speeding needs a radar detector. What happened to the "law and order" candidate?

Clearly, Kobach supporters are only driving like their candidate. We can only hope he mends his reckless ways...for the children.

* Posnanski reveals at the end of his column that he doesn't actually live in Kansas, so this statement is technically true.

28th Amendment

2004-10-15T08:38:00.000-05:00

Eighth in the "Kris Kobach is wrong 10 ways from Sunday" series

Kris Kobach's lit piece's eighth attack on Congressman Moore is the first in the social issues area. It is on gay marriage and says that Moore opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Just like Vice President Dick Cheney.

And 27 Republican members of the House of Representatives where it fell well short of passage.

And 50 members of the Senate, where it couldn't even garner enough votes to end debate.

Fan Mail Friday

2004-10-15T08:07:00.000-05:00

One special reply to a correspondent we'd like to make...

BG --

Hopefully we only have to worry about the AG's lists for a few more weeks. Thanks for writing and good luck with your studies!

The Turks

A Rose by any other name

2004-10-14T12:04:00.000-05:00

Steve Rose of the Sun could be considered one of the de facto leaders of moderate Republicans in the Kansas City area. He is perhaps the most visible moderate, given his column's prominent position and its wide distribution throughout Johnson County.

His endorsement for President and Congress is online and it is quite simple:

Bush and Moore

Moore is a man of conviction, and his highest priority is safety and security for his nation. Dennis Moore does not hesitate to support President Bush, no matter the party differences, because on major issues he votes his convictions, which are deeply ingrained from his deep roots here in Johnson County. ...

I have known Dennis Moore for almost 30 years, since he first served as District Attorney for Johnson County, later as a Trustee of the Johnson County Community College, and then as a U.S. Congressman, elected in 1998. He has been a part of this community for a lifetime. He knows the needs of Johnson County. He knows his constituency. And he cares deeply about the people he represents.

Meanwhile, Kris gets lucky...

I have nothing to say about Kris Kobach, however. My parents always told me if I didn't have anything nice to say about someone, it is better to say nothing at all.

Also in today's news, Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star has an article about Moore's voting record, which the headline says "defies easy labeling."

You mean he isn't a radical left-wing ultra-liberal like Kris Kobach says?

An analysis using Votetracker.com, a for-profit nonpartisan database service, shows that Moore has voted with the president about 52 percent of the time during the 108th Congress in 2003-04. During the 107th Congress, Moore voted with the president about 48 percent of the time.

Apparently not.

Standing tall

2004-10-14T08:55:00.000-05:00

Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star reports today on how members of the Latino community in KCK are upset about, well, we'll just let him tell you...

Wyandotte County Latino activists on Wednesday demanded the removal of billboards that reflect Republican Kris Kobach's charges that Democratic Congressman Dennis Moore is soft on immigration.

Tino Camacho, president of the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, called the billboards “racist” and said: “We want the signs out of our community. We want the people held accountable because of all the fear that they have created. This is very, very … insulting to our community.”

Placed in areas heavily populated by Hispanic businesses in Kansas City, Kan., the billboards highlight some of Moore's votes on immigration issues. The billboards say: “On June 18, Rep. Dennis Moore voted against enforcement of U.S. immigration law. On July 8, he did it again.”

There's some back and forth between Kobach, his supporters in Project USA and Team America who warn “our island of productivity and prosperity will soon disappear beneath a flood of Third World squalor.” as a result of immigration, and local activists.

But at the end is where it gets interesting:

At Wednesday's news conference, Hispanic activists alleged that Kobach had been using the issue to try to divide the African-American and Hispanic communities by saying that most illegal immigrants are taking jobs once held by African-Americans.

Kobach responded: “That's ridiculous. Illegal immigrants come from all regions of the world. Enforcing immigration law has no racial content to it. It's about enforcing our laws against anyone who would break them.”

Yes, we must stop the flood of illegal Canadian immigrants from taking the jobs of African Americans and other hard working Americans.

Frivolity

2004-10-14T08:36:00.000-05:00

Seventh in the "Kris Kobach is wrong 10 ways from Sunday" series

Kobach's final attack in the economy section is on "legal reforms" and "frivolous lawsuits." We've dealt with this issue before and believe the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said it best:

Malpractice costs amounted to an estimated $24 billion in 2002, but that figure represents less than 2 percent of overall health care spending. Thus, even a reduction of 25 percent to 30 percent in malpractice costs would lower health care costs by only about 0.4 percent to 0.5 percent, and the likely effect on health insurance premiums would be comparably small.

As for non-medical lawsuits, Kobach had better watch where he steps, as it turns out that businesses file four times as many lawsuits than individuals represented by the dreaded trial lawyers and "businesses and their attorneys were 69 percent more likely than individual tort plaintiffs and their attorneys to be sanctioned for engaging in frivolous litigation."

Maybe there is a problem with frivolous lawsuits after all...just not the one we expected.

Danger George

2004-10-13T21:03:00.000-05:00

President Bush was just asked in the third presidential debate what he thinks should be done to enhance border security. He said there are now more border patrol officers protecting it and they are using new technology, the same actions that Congressman Moore has mentioned.

Bush did not, however, say he wants to put troops on the border, since he has said he disagrees with that move.

We can only assume that Kris Kobach thinks that President Bush is putting the United States at risk and is too dangerous to be re-elected.

Worker safety dance

2004-10-13T14:52:00.000-05:00

Sixth in the "Kris Kobach is wrong 10 ways from Sunday" series

We're halfway through Kobach's claims and still in the economy section of his lit piece. The sixth attack on Congressman Dennis Moore is that he voted "to impose harsh ergonomic regulations on small businesses." This, Kobach claims, could have cost our economy $100 billion.

Ah, yes, ergonomics standards. Ergonomics standards were first proposed by then-Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole during the administration of President George H.W. Bush and were studied and refined for the next decade.

What Kobach could also call these standards are "worker safety regulations" since what they were intended to do was to keep workers from suffering repetitive stress injuries.

Moore's votes were in opposition to congressional action which successfully prevented these science-based standards from being put in place.

In fact, today employers aren't even required to report these injuries to OSHA, let alone take steps to reduce them, despite the fact that the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that 1.8 million such injuries occur, with a third requiring time off from work. These injuries disproportionately impact women.

As for the $100 billion figure, that comes from the business groups opposed to the rule and according to the National Organization on Disability, such a figure would account for a ridiculous $16,250 per employee per year, which shows how far off it is. OSHA estimated it would cost $4.2 billion.

Fewer injuries means lower health care costs, lower workers' compensation costs, etc., but an ounce of prevention apparently is still too expensive when you can pass off the cost of the pound of cure.

The Labor Department still thinks ergonomic injuries are an issue -- they detail their actions on a Web site devoted to the topic -- but apparently Kris Kobach has never worked on an assembly line or behind a cash register, doing the same task over and over and over again, day after day, or else he may have a different opinion of worker safety laws.

No, shaking hands and kissing babies doesn't count. Now get back to work.

The Kobach Enquirer

2004-10-13T14:45:00.000-05:00

We wanna know!

Kris Kobach - almost an Olympic rower?

The Kobach Stealth Truck - still running? Even though it has never been fueled, had its oil changed, etc.? It has been spotted at several area sporting events, always in reserved parking spaces. In fact, it was seen just last weekend at Kansas Speedway, in a very valuable reserved spot. Did the Kobach staff enjoy the Mr. Goodcents race? Those parking spots aren't free, and also should be reported to the FEC.

The Kobach Lawsuit - How much is FAIR paying him? Or do their campaign contributions cover it?

Library records - search them or don't search them? At a forum this week, Kobach brought up library records on his own, despite his, and John Ashcroft's, past assurances that provision would never be used. Kris then went on to encourage identity theft: "You can go to many of the libraries here in Wyandotte County or Johnson County and all you have to do is have a person's library card number … and they'll give you the records." Is this how Kris distances himself from John Ashcroft?

The Revenge of Bi-State - We know, we know... Kris hasn't really said much of anything about Bi-State II. However, judging from comments of an anti-Deux organizer in this morning's KC Star, he's almost certainly against it. Not only that, he is almost certainly anti-Royals! Anti-Bi (also sounds like Kris) Tracy Thomas "described baseball as an 'obsolete' sport and in describing the Kansas City Royals said: 'None of them speak English, and only one lives in town.'"

Vote Kobach or die

2004-10-12T10:25:00.000-05:00

Never understated, the National Republican Campaign Committee has a new attack ad out featuring Congressman Dennis Moore...and scary Arabic chanting.

The message: Vote for Kris Kobach or the Muslims will kill your children.

Using terrorist attacks for political gain, the ad first lists off a series of attacks running from the World Trade Center all the way back to the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon.*

Utilizing the same distortions and issues we've seen from Kobach, the NRCC first breaks from President Bush to attack Moore for not supporting putting troops on the border.

Then the same wild distortion used in the NRCC's earlier mailer on the intelligence budget makes an appearance.

And in a new attack, the NRCC claims Moore opposes "information sharing within our own intelligence community," failing to mention that the vote they cite actually would have begun to involve the military in law enforcement, abandoning more than a century of American law banning the military from domestic law enforcement actions.

But really, who needs to cite actual votes, when you can just run footage of terrorists, overdub something in Arabic, and claim that we're less safe if your opponent is elected?

* We find it ironic that the Lebanon attack is cited, given that it has been said that President Reagan's subsequent withdrawal of U.S. forces from Lebanon showed terrorists that the Untied States could be cowed and forced to change policy by an attack. Even Osama bin Laden himself cites the withdrawal in his hateful incitements to his followers.

Coloring perceptions

2004-10-12T09:14:00.000-05:00

From reading the news about the various groups he's associating with, one could get the impression that Kris Kobach has a problem with people of color.

Not so, says Kobach. In fact, some of his best supporters are black -- and they had their picture taken with him to prove it.

If you follow the "African Americans for Kobach" link on the very top of the front page of Kobach's Web site, you'll find a picture of Kris with five African American supporters, along with a special message for the black community:

"For too long, African Americans in the 3rd District of Kansas have been taken for granted by Congressman Dennis Moore. ... In addition, he has undermined the enforcement of our immigration laws -- which hurts African Americans more than any other group. Indeed, 67% of the jobs that are taken by illegal aliens were previously held by an African American."

So as anyone can see, Kobach isn't anti-minority, he simply wants to help black people protect their jobs...from Latinos.

Tax the future

2004-10-12T08:11:00.000-05:00

Fifth in the "Kris Kobach is wrong 10 ways from Sunday" series

In his lit piece, Kobach's fifth attack moves from security policy to the economy, attacking Congressman Dennis Moore for voting against the 2003 tax cut package.

In terms of providing an economic stimulus, this package fails, as the non-partisan Tax Policy Center says 82% of small businesses would have received a tax cut of $2,000 or less. A quarter of small businesses would have received nothing.

And according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, for individuals and families, it isn't any better. Fifty-three percent of households would receive less than $100 and more than a third would receive nothing. But if you make $1 million or more, your average tax cut would be $93,500.

And to make matters worse, the true cost of the tax cut isn't $350 billion, but rather $1 trillion when all the sunsets and gimmicks are removed.

Apparently, Dennis Moore doesn't think it is right to pass huge, unaffordable tax cuts during times of record deficits, since all we are doing is passing the bill on to our kids.

Meanwhile, Kris Kobach thinks it is just fine to saddle our children and grandchildren with debt, which sounds like a good plan until one realizes that they're going to be the ones making the decision on whether to pull the plug.

"Sorry, we would have been able to pay for your long-term care, but we just can't afford it now that we've got to pay off your $7 trillion debt..."

No Amnesty

2004-10-11T13:50:00.000-05:00

Fourth in the "Kris Kobach is wrong 10 ways from Sunday" series

In his lit piece, Kris Kobach's fourth attack on Congressman Dennis Moore is that "Moore cosponsored legislation giving amnesty and in-state tuition to illegal aliens."

We dealt with these claims back when Kobach's first general election campaign ad -- an attack ad run on cable -- went on the air, but we'll address them again.

For the claim, Kobach cites a vote and a piece of legislation. The vote didn't deal with tuition or amnesty and the legislation didn't deal with amnesty either, so Kobach's claim is inaccurate on its face.

On the vote -- to extend the deadline of an already existing residency application program -- Moore voted with 92 Republicans, including Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) and Tom DeLay (R-TX), both of whom would probably be surprised to hear Kobach say they voted for "amnesty."

On the legislation, Moore again was joined by Tiahrt in co-sponsoring legislation that allows states to treat students the same when it comes to state residency requirements, regardless of their immigration status. It does not give them automatic in-state tuition. Senator Sam Brownback is a co-sponsor of the Senate version.

Kobach seems to have a very liberal definition of what constitutes amnesty for illegal immigrants.

We'd even hazard to guess that, in Kobach's book, if you spot an illegal immigrant on the street and don't immediately turn him/her in to the feds...you just gave that person amnesty.

Kris Kobach: Tough on "illegal aliens." But how does he feel about Sting?

Rising tide?

2004-10-10T13:52:00.000-05:00

"The Third District is trending Republican. It is only a matter of time before growth in Johnson County overwhelms Dennis Moore's base in Wyandotte and Douglas counties."

We've heard that conventional wisdom time and time again. We read it today in Steve Kraske's column in The Kansas City Star as Kraske outlines Kris Kobach's strategy of staying on the right side of the spectrum, via his issues and his appearances with folks like Jerry Falwell.

"[Kobach] insists that the influx of 24,000 new residents into Johnson County, most of them Republicans, since the 2002 election will be enough to give him an edge over three-term incumbent Dennis Moore."

But, like much of what Kris Kobach says, one must check this statement for accuracy.

We did.

According to the Johnson County Election Office, there are 14,700 more Republicans now registered in the county than there were in January 2003, after the Help America Vote Act required the office to purge its rolls of inactive and questionable registrations.

Well, 14,700 -- sounds like a lot. Certainly it is more than Moore's 2002 margin of 7,000 votes.

It does sound like a lot, until you consider that there are now 14,894 more Democrats and unaffiliated voters registered to vote in the county than there were after the HAVA purge in January 2003.

All of these are voters Kobach is ceding to Moore via his staunchly conservative campaign, not to mention the moderate Republicans turned off by his various far-right positions.

And that's just Johnson County.

Wyandotte and Douglas counties -- both Moore strongholds -- haven't released their information online yet, but given the make-up of those counties and the level of Democratic voter registration activity reported in those areas, we can only assume that far more Democrats and independents than Republicans have registered.

Kobach's expecting a rising tide of Republicans to sweep him to victory. He's just as likely to find himself high and dry come election night.

Statistics from www.jocoelection.org:

Republican registrations
154,618 – January 2003
169,318 – October 2004
= +14,700

Democratic registrations
61,837 – January 2003
69,023 – October 2004
= +7,186

Unaffiliated registrations
86,813 – January 2003
94,521 – October 2004
= +7,708

Falling down

2004-10-08T09:21:00.000-05:00

We're calling it -- October 7, 2004, is when Kris Kobach officially lost the plot.

As reported by Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star, Kobach yesterday "lashed out" at Moore after the Congressman called on Kobach to cut his ties with groups that have ties to extremists, including white supremacists. Of course, we covered this topic last month.

Kobach says these sort of charges involving contributions are a "ridiculous, ridiculous" way to "smear" him...then he goes on to attack Moore for accepting contributions from the Human Rights Campaign.

What exactly is HRC's offense?

Well, other than being a group working so homosexuals* have "basic equal rights and can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community," HRC's founder, Steve Endean, "spoke in 1980 to a group that backed what Kobach called 'homosexual pedophilia.'"

In the story, Kobach admits he doesn't have the faintest idea of what Endean said there.

We think it is important to point out this interesting fact, which is only touched upon in the story:

Steve Endean died in 1993.

As a result, he probably isn't influencing the HRC's political operations today. Though we could be wrong.

Kobach has had a hard time with his "It isn't wrong to take this money...but you need to give your money back!" attack, what with it making no sense and all.

But we have a warning for Dennis Moore: If you accept contributions from groups whose leader has ties to extreme organizations and is still alive, you must...keep the money, just like Kris.

* Of course since, in Kobach's world, people simply choose to be gay -- or become gay after moving to Massachusetts -- the HRC is likely unnecessary in his view.

Missing the mark

2004-10-08T08:31:00.000-05:00

Third of 10 in the "Kris Kobach is wrong 10 ways from Sunday" Series

The third attack on Dennis Moore in Kobach's new lit piece involves missile defense. Kobach's piece says:

"Moore voted against the ballistic missile defense system that will protect us from nuclear attack."

Yes, it "will" protect us from a nuclear attack...20 percent of the time.

As long as the attack isn't from a suitcase nuke.

Or a bomb in an uninspected shipping container.

Of course, it would be much easier and cost-effective to try and secure all of Russia's loose nukes. And it would be much easier and cost-effective to inspect more than the current fraction of shipping containers that arrive in the United States.

But Kris Kobach would rather spend billions and billions on a missile defense system that may never offer more than a 50-50 chance of downing a missile.

So, as long as Osama bin Laden prefers to send his nukes with a return address, we'll be able to shoot that missile down...possibly...if we're lucky.

We feel better already.

The people in our neighborhood

2004-10-08T07:21:00.000-05:00

We've been meaning to write this one for a while now, but events interceded. Enough stalling.

Because we rely on word of mouth (or mouse, if you will) to spread knowledge of KrisWatch, we want to take a few keystrokes to thank a few blogs that we've noticed have mentioned and/or plugged KrisWatch of late.

In random order...

TimothyBurger.com, run by the Johnson County Young Republicans Vice-Chair and KU grad student, who swells our heads by calling us "witty." He correctly points out that, while we hit hard and are "on fire," we also have a lot of time on our hands. He also predicts a 5-10 point Moore victory.

Snuggly Llama, which didn't seem to care for some of Kobach's answers at the KUCR forum, particularly on evolution.

gopdelegate, which covers national, state and local politics and whose author also a KU student, if memory serves us right. The author went to the RNC in NYC, hence the name.

BlogKC, which in addition to linking to us, also provides a good selection of commentary and links to blogs and news sources around the bistate area.

New Appeal to Reason, which covers national issues, as well as local.

Manifest Content, which seems to share an appreciation for Monty Python, as well as covering things completely different.

And finally, last but definitely not least, the DCCC's Stakeholder Blog, whose Jesse Lee gives KrisWatch totally undeserved national exposure.

If you've linked to KrisWatch and want some cred, e-mail us.

Checking in or checking out

2004-10-07T11:31:00.000-05:00

Second of 10 in the "Kris Kobach is wrong 10 ways from Sunday" Series

The second attack on Moore in Kobach's latest lit piece says that Moore "voted to weaken the Patriot Act, limiting the ability to obtain terrorist records."

Which records? Library records.

Which part of the Patriot Act? Section 215.

You know, that same portion that Kris Kobach said would most likely never have to be used.

Kobach's piece also says his "first bill will fix the vulnerabilities he saw while in the Justice Department." Yes, because Kris Kobach knows more about homeland security from his two years at Justice than any other person on earth.

As Kris has said before, most members of Congress "don't have a clue" when it comes to security, but rest assured America, Kris Kobach is riding to the rescue!

One debate down...

2004-10-07T08:21:00.000-05:00

Utilizing the miracle of modern technology, Congressman Dennis Moore debated Kris Kobach via telephonic device yesterday in the first of three such forums, so reports Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star.

From what we can tell, there weren't any surprises from either side, with both candidates sticking to their issues.

Moore touted his accomplishments, such as a law that pays for soldiers' travel within the United States when coming back for R&R, and portrayed Kobach as an extremist, while Kobach attacked Moore for not voting for enough tax cuts or voting to spend billions on space-based missile defense.

Kobach also attacked, once again, on a non-issue: Moore's vote against funding the part of the Patriot Act which allows the FBI to read people's library records.

As we have reported previously, Kobach himself has said he doubts this provision will ever be used, yet he keeps making the attack and the Star keeps printing it.

Kobach's new lit (hit) piece

2004-10-06T14:32:00.000-05:00

Kris Kobach has a new mailer out and it is almost exactly what our source TK predicted it would be.

An excessively large and wordy piece, it asks "Why is Dennis Moore so WORRIED?" on the outside and on the inside, it features 10 claims which we'll debunk one at a time as part of a series we like to call...

Kris Kobach is wrong ten ways from Sunday

First up on the piece, Kobach's standard attack against Moore for voting against deploying the National Guard to the border.*

Congressman Moore, as it turns out, has company on this issue. And, strangely enough, on the lit piece Kris Kobach has a picture of himself with one of the people who agrees with Moore.

Yes, that's right, President George W. Bush opposes militarizing the border (scroll to the end of the interview).

So does Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge.

In fact, Ridge said recently he has seen "no evidence" of terrorists trying to cross the Mexican border, directly refuting one of Kobach's claims.

We have to wonder who voters are going to believe on this issue. The President and the Secretary of Homeland Security...or Kris Kobach and former congressman/current inmate James Traficant?**

* One of the citations Kobach uses on this point is "Vote 196, 5/1/94" which is odd, since that date is almost five years before Dennis Moore was sworn into Congress and a full decade before the actual vote Kobach intends to cite was held. We assume he meant "04" instead, but even then he's wrong, as Vote 196 actually took place on May 19, not May 1. Man, that fact checking is hard work.

** The other citation for this claim doesn't even provide a vote number, simply saying "Vote on H.R. 4205, 2000." We checked and this vote was an amendment offered by then-Congressman and now-Inmate Number 31213-060 at the Allenwood Federal Corrections Institution, James Traficant. Traficant, you'll recall, was sentenced in 2002 to eight years in federal prison for bribery, corruption and tax evasion, and was then expelled from Congress.

Beam me up!

Duty vs. Debates

2004-10-05T09:18:00.000-05:00

Kris Kobach thinks the first priority of a congressman shouldn't be voting in Congress, it should be skipping those votes to debate his campaign opponent.

That's what we can learn from today's story by Dan J. Smith in the Olathe Daily News and by Brad Cooper's recent story in The Kansas City Star.

Never one to let the business of governing get in the way of his own ego, Kobach is upset that Moore will have to debate Kobach via telephone at tomorrow's forum. He thinks it is "sad" that Moore won't toss aside the duties of his office in order to please Kris.

Kobach calls the congressional schedule a "sham" -- forgetting that it is not Moore, but Kobach's own party leadership which sets that schedule.

Apparently, Moore should have decided to blow off voting in Congress so he could debate Kobach in-person. Of course, if Moore had done that, Kobach would be attacking him for skipping votes to campaign.

Kobach is also upset that there will be "only" three debates -- which we recall is the same number as in 2000 and 2002 -- despite the fact that his own campaign was only asking for four debates.

You can't please everybody, but apparently nobody can please Kris Kobach.

The NRCC Strikes Back

2004-10-04T13:04:00.000-05:00

The National Republican Congressional Committee is weighing in on behalf of Kris Kobach with direct mail, hoping to keep its attacks under the media's radar.

Fortunately, KrisWatch is equipped with look-down/shoot-down radar and very little gets past it.^

One NRCC mail piece we've obtained attacks Dennis Moore for his votes against bans on so-called partial birth abortion (the 2003 ban Moore opposed has been struck down as unconstitutional because it does not provide an exception for the health of the mother) and the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act"* that gives an embryo or fetus the same legal rights as the mother, which lays a legal foundation for banning all abortions by overturning Roe vs. Wade.

Frankly, we're surprised by the NRCC's choice to attack on this issue, given Kris Kobach's extreme position on abortion and his need to win over moderate voters. With just a couple of tweaks (in bold below), the NRCC piece's punchline can very easily be turned on Kobach to great effect:

"No matter where you fall in the Life vs. Choice debate, it's hard to justify why someone would want to force a woman to carry her rapist's child to term. And it's unthinkable to force a victim of incest to bear her father's child. Somehow, it's no problem for Kris Kobach."

The other NRCC piece attacks Rep. Moore for voting in 2000 to direct the CIA Director to provide an unclassified (i.e. not secret) aggregate (i.e. total -- not line items) of the intelligence budget for the previous fiscal year (i.e. not this year's or next year's) -- a practice the CIA had voluntarily done in 1997 and 1998. The amendment was offered by then-Rep. Tim Roemer, who now serves on the 9/11 Commission.

Despite the fact that a Tom Clancy book contains more secret information than the amendment would have revealed, the NRCC piece accuses Moore of supporting terrorists as a result of that vote. Apparently, al Qaeda can determine our nation's intelligence operations based on a single number. "The Americans spent $26.61 billion on overall intelligence operations last fiscal year, not $26.62 billion -- the time to attack is now!"

Strangely, the NRCC didn't put Osama on the mailer -- guess they can't find him either.

* Always savvy marketers, particularly when it comes to naming things, Republicans renamed this bill "Laci and Conner's Law" to link it with a case that, frankly, hasn't gotten much coverage in the media.

^ KrisWatch also comes equipped with a cupholder, CD player and leather interior -- all standard. Act now and take advantage of 0% financing on all 2004 models.

Continuing education

2004-10-04T09:59:00.000-05:00

The KrisWatch B.S. Meter: Número cuatro

When Kansas passed its law treating students the same regardless of immigration status with regards to qualification for in-state tuition, the big question was how many students who are undocumented immigrants would take advantage of the law.

Kris Kobach predicted 2,667 undocumented students (or as he calls them, illegal aliens) could flood Kansas colleges, taking untold dollars. Supporters of the law said it would be far fewer.

Now, Jim Sullinger of The Kansas City Star has the answer:

30

Twenty-two of them go to community colleges; only eight go to Regents schools.

So Kobach was off a little bit. But not by much...only about 8900%.

In fact, Kobach has almost as many plaintiffs on his case -- 24 -- as there are students using the new law. Given the low usage of the law, it is more than likely that Kobach's lawsuit will actually cost Kansas taxpayers more than the undocumented students he's suing over.

Now remind us again which party is supposedly against "frivilous lawsuits"?

Dog bites man

2004-10-04T09:47:00.000-05:00

We're not really sure why The Kansas City Star thought this was news:

Young Republicans endorse Kobach

Is Kobach so extreme that this endorsement was in doubt?

In other breaking news, George Steinbrenner is pulling for the Yankees this year and Chiefs Coach Dick Vermeil really hopes his team will win tonight.

Fan Mail Monday

2004-10-04T09:27:00.000-05:00

Quick reply here to Eric who was kind enough to give us a plug in his letter to the University Daily Kansan. Big ups, Eric, and here's the photo you were looking for.

Stumping Kris (Vol. 3)

2004-10-01T11:31:00.000-05:00

The Lifestyle

During his speech at Shawnee Mission Northwest (which, by the way, we think has one of the best programs to get students involved in politics in the area), Kris Kobach was asked about the Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage which he supports.

The questioner asked Kobach why he supports what would be the first amendment to the Constitution that would limit rights.

Kobach disagreed with the premise of the question, by saying this "right" did not exist until May 17, 2004, (the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling) so the marriage amendment isn't restricting rights, it is just restoring the status quo. "So it is not a gross restriction of rights in any respect," Kobach said.

Kobach continued by saying that gay Americans have the right to marry, but they choose not to exercise that right...seeing as that right only extends to marrying someone of opposite sex. (In introducing the subject, we recall he said something to the effect of "imagine I'm a gay American," which some apparently already have.)

"This individual who chooses not to exercise that right can get married but would rather not because it doesn't fit within his lifestyle."

This isn't the first time Kobach has said that being homosexual is a choice.

At a recent speech at Mid-America Nazarene University, Kobach had similar comments.

In describing a trust fund case, Kobach describes homosexuality as a lifestyle choice. "For example, imagine you have a young man, he grows up in Johnson County, he moves up to Massachusetts, he decides 'I'm going to be gay.' He gets married in Massachusetts..."

Kobach also describes a hypothetical situation in about a lesbian who was married in Massachusetts: "The relationship sours, one of them leaves the state, comes to Kansas, comes to God's country, sees the light, sees the light of Jesus Christ and she's not gay. She meets a man they get married..."

So apparently, according to Kris, if you move to Massachusetts, you turn gay.

Stumping Kris (Vol. 2)

2004-09-30T10:36:00.000-05:00

Suspected terrorists, suspect claims

At Monday's speech, and in a number of other places, Kris Kobach discussed his pride and joy from his Justice Department days, the National Security Entry Exit Registration System or NSEERS.

Kobach has made some bold claims about this system, even before he ran for Congress, including that it was responsible for the capture of 11 suspected terrorists.

But Kobach doesn't mention what this article from Knight-Ridder does regarding NSEERS and its registration requirements: "None who registered have been charged with terrorism-related crimes."

The government claims that it did capture suspected terrorists, but none have been charged and the government reps can't talk about it anyway, citing security reasons.

What Kobach also doesn't mention is that this program was shut down in December of 2003 -- less than a year and a half after its creation.

In the same Knight-Ridder article, Asa Hutchinson, former Republican congressman and the Department of Homeland Security's undersecretary for borders and transportation, said that the program wasn't cost-effective:

Hutchinson said in an interview that the domestic portion of the program "didn't yield sufficient leads" to justify the money being spent. The government will focus more on individuals rather than "whole categories" of people, he said.

Apparently those 11 individuals aren't all that's suspect...

Stumping Kris (Vol. 1)

2004-09-29T12:58:00.000-05:00

A matter of degrees

Turks' note: We had the opportunity to hear Kris Kobach's speech at Shawnee Mission Northwest on Monday night, so this week we'll have a series of posts based on excerpts of what we assume to be his standard stump speech and answers to questions he was asked. This is the first of that series.

During the Q&A Monday night, Kris Kobach was asked about his contributions from the Gun Owners of America.

We have to sympathize with him to some degree, as the questioner asked something to the effect of "Why did you take money from members of the Aryan Nation?" which is a couple of "degrees of separation" from what actually happened with the money.

But our sympathy doesn't extend very far, as Kobach tried to downplay the connection between Larry Pratt of GOA and these white supremacists.

Kobach claimed that Larry Pratt spoke to a convention of "survivalists" where members of the Aryan Nation were only "in the audience" and therefore Pratt shouldn’t be faulted.
Kobach’s statement conflicts with what Leonard Zeskind, an expert on these groups, wrote in a recent Pitch:

In 1992 Pratt spoke at a Colorado meeting of Aryan Nations leaders; former Ku Klux Klansmen; and adherents of so-called "Christian Identity," a doctrine in which Jews are literally considered Satanic and persons of color are referred to as "mud people." Pratt had accepted the invitation from Pete Peters, author of a pamphlet called "The Death Penalty for Homosexuals." Although Pratt has said he does not share those organizations' views on race, he attended the meeting to promote his version of the Second Amendment -- which included the necessity of citizen-formed militias. "The Second Amendment is not about duck hunting," he told the Aryans in Colorado.

And besides, Kobach said, Pratt’s wife is Hispanic so he can’t be a racist.

"People need to know the truth," Kobach concluded. We totally agree.

Running Towards the Truth

2004-09-28T10:26:00.000-05:00

Likely much to the dismay of Kobach and his supporters on the web, a series of three forums/debates between the candidates for the Kansas Third Congressional District have been scheduled for next month. This is in line with the number of debates which have been held in the past two or three cycles.

The dates:

October 6 - The Johnson County Bar Association. This is a bi-annual occurance.

October 18 (airdate) - A televised debate sponsored by the Kansas City Star and KCPT. This will be the most visible debate, in terms of format and public viewership. Note the spelling of the Republican candidate's name in KCPT's release.

October 25 - A forum sponsored by several Chambers of Commerce in Johnson County.

Kris, meet the truth. Truth, this is Kris.

2004-09-26T15:32:00.000-05:00

It is becoming increasingly apparent that Kris Kobach either:

Is incredibly sloppy with his facts;
Has a very tenuous grip on the truth; or
Just doesn't care.

The latest example? This statement to the Wyandotte West newspaper:

[Kobach] asserted that Rep. Moore has not secured any Congressional appropriations for the Wyandotte County area or anywhere else in the Third District during his years in office. A Republican would be able to change that, Kobach said.

Really, Kris? No appropriations in Wyandotte or anywhere else in the Third District?

Nothing? Not any? Not in Wyandotte? Not in Johnson? Not in Douglas? Or Wyandotte again? Or Douglas again? Or Johnson and Wyandotte? Or Wyandotte and Johnson? Or Johnson and Wyandotte again? Or Johnson by itself?

That's quite the claim. If only there were some way to check and see if it is true...

Recycled rhetoric

2004-09-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

(We get into the Delorean for a trip back a couple of weeks for a parting shot on the Gun Owners contribution to Kobach...)

Did the Gun Owners of America contribution to Kris Kobach come with a handbook entitled "What to say if you're attacked over this contribution"?

It sure seems like it did.

In 1996, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) was criticized for taking a donation from GOA and Larry Pratt for the same reasons as Kobach. Strangely, he had the same response as Kobach:

"Labor unions have a long history with the Mafia," the embattled congressman declaimed, referring to campaign contributions from labor groups to his Democratic challenger, Stephen Crawford. "Does that mean that Stephen Crawford supports the Mafia?" -- Baltimore Sun, 5/21/96

Later in the same piece, the editorial board of the Sun writes:

Instead of reacting responsibly to this campaign flak, Mr. Bartlett instinctively attacked major contributors to his opponent with the kind of far-fetched, thoughtless insinuation that only undermines his own credibility with the general electorate.

We only hope the editorial writers at The Kansas City Star will recycle this line, just as Kobach apparently recycled his defense.

What did political bloggers do before the Internet could summon up instances of political plagarism with the touch of a button? Oh, wait...

Fan Mail Friday

2004-09-24T14:14:00.000-05:00

It's Friday, which means it is time to read from and reply to your letters...

DL writes in regarding our Patriot Act story...

In the Sun story, Kobach actually attacks Moore for voting against all of Section 215: "against funding a section of the Patriot Act that allows the federal government to obtain business records, library records and other documents with a court order." The amendment you mention just had to do with library records only.

DL's right. Kobach is stretching when he says Moore voted against all of Section 215. Thanks for pointing that out -- sometimes we just go too easy on him.

Since the FEC reporting period ends next Thursday, TK writes in to ask about Kobach's fundraising and whether we've heard how it is going. TK reports that Kobach supposedly "spent most of his time in New York during the convention raising funds." Kobach also did have Cheney in and claims to have raised $225,000 at that event alone.

If you consider that their stated goal is $1 million between the primary and the general, at the very least we're thinking Kobach should report in excess of $450,000.*

In fact, we wouldn't be surprised if Kobach outraised Moore during the quarter given the Cheney event, fundraising at the RNC, and his repeated hammering of cultural issues designed to fire up the conservative base. Moore would still have a commanding lead in terms of total money raised, however.

Whatever Kobach reports, he's going to need it to overcome what has been a bad September.

* This is somewhat ahead of Phill Kline's October 2000 filing (he's the closest comparison in terms of ideology and was also running in a presidential year), but Kline didn't have Cheney and was operating with contribution limits that were half of what they are today.

Kobach prefers Pledge over poor

2004-09-24T10:07:00.000-05:00

Constitutional law professor Kris Kobach apparently doesn't care much for the Constitution. We've already seen he likes to add in religious undertones, now he's attacking Congressman Dennis Moore for voting against a bill that would prohibit the federal courts from hearing cases involving the Pledge of Allegiance.

This vote was a simple one to make -- vote with Tom DeLay, you're making a politician's vote. Vote against it, as Moore did, and you're making a Congressman's vote.

Screw the Constitution, I've got an election to win and an issue to demonize!

How ironic, then, that on the exact same day, we can assume Kobach would have joined in lock step with DeLay to defeat an extension of tax relief for working families earning between $10,000 and $11,000 a year. That covers 4 million low-income families.

That's an additional cost of $4.3 billion to the $146 billion bill. The Republicans called it "welfare" attached to a tax bill. Of course, it's not welfare-- all of these families are working, they're just working the kinds of low-income jobs Republicans wouldn't even let their kids work. As Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) said, "That is your Republican compassion. That is indecent, it is un-Christian and it is immoral."

Go here for an excellent analysis on how yesterday's bill actually increases taxes on low-income working families.

The point is, of course, that Kobach's priorities as a Congressman would be politically charged "culture votes," while kicking the working poor in the teeth. The message to 4 million American families yesterday?

"I won't give you a tax cut, but how about the pledge of allegiance instead? Just recite it at the check-out lane next time you can't afford to buy milk for your kids, despite working two jobs."

Stiffing Social Security

2004-09-23T01:26:00.000-05:00

Social Security relies on the contributions of workers today to pay benefits today. To facilitate this, the IRS requires employers to withold Social Security taxes (FICA) from employees' paychecks.

This applies to for-profit businesses, non-profit organizations and political campaigns. Yet once again, as we saw with yardsign laws*, Kris Kobach apparently thinks this law doesn't apply to him.

A review of Kobach's FEC reports reveals no payments of Social Security taxes this election.

A review of Congressman Dennis Moore's reports, on the other hand, shows that he is following the law, as are Kansas candidates Sen. Sam Brownback, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, Rep. Jim Ryun, and Rep. Jerry Moran.

Jim Sullinger of The Kansas City Star addressed this very issue on October 30, 2002, with regards to Adam Taff's campaign, writing:

"Under IRS tax guidelines: 'An individual is an independent contractor if you, the person for whom the services are performed, have the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result.' ... Paid staff members in campaigns usually take orders and direction daily from campaign managers and candidates and seldom perform their jobs independently."

Kobach's staff salaries are marked as "political consulting" in his reports, yet one can hardly consider campaign staffers -- who do work at the direction of the candidate, in the candidate's headquarters, using the candidate's equipment -- independent contractors.

We assume Social Security will eventually get its money when the Kobach campaign staffers file their taxes (paying both their share and the campaign's share**), but this is yet another example of a campaign and candidate that wants to play by different rules; or worse, wants to make the rules up as he goes along.

* Scroll down the article for a discussion of Kobach's scholarly opinion that yard sign laws are unconstitutional. A similar story ran in The Olathe Daily News but they don't maintain online archives.

** Clearly, there's only one solution to this shifting of Kobach's bills to his underpaid staff...

Workers of the Kobach campaign unite! You have nothing to lose but the election!

Kobach gets hit by the Pitch

2004-09-22T21:19:00.000-05:00

Pitch whistles a couple of fastballs at Kris Kobach this week that both deserve mentions.

Kobach's Big Tent is getting pretty crowded. Jerry Falwell, Gun Owners of America/Larry Pratt, FAIR, Phyllis Schafly...the list goes on, so reports Leonard Zeskind.*

There's a web of connections detailed in the article that we can't do justice to via mere excerpts, so go read it:

All's FAIR
Kris Kobach loads up with anti-immigration ammo

Also in this week's Pitch, a story about the effects of the tuition law Kobach is suing to overturn:

Dream On, Chiquita
An education is a terrible thing to waste on an immigrant

Turns out one of the handful of Kansas students who has benefited from the bill was given a volunteer service award by President Bush. Egads, the conspiracy goes all the way to the top!

The article shows the pluck and irreverance we Turks admire, and the writer -- Tony Ortega -- got a response from Kobach regarding the aspiring architect at K-State:

"Everybody's a citizen of one country," [Kobach] said. "One option [for Pardo] is a subsidized education in her own country."

The candidate was being polite, though. So the Strip will translate the answer he gave when this meat patty told him about the young architecture student who just won a presidential award for her work in the community:

Go back to Mexico, bee-yatch.

* When the author of a 2,000-word article about you has the following mini-biography listed at the end of the story, it's probably safe to say you're not going to be adding that particular story to your scrapbook:

"Leonard Zeskind covered the gun lobby and militia for Rolling Stone in 1995. He is now finishing a book on the history of the white nationalist movement."

Though for all we know, some militia leader has a Zeskind article proudly tacked up to the wall of his armory (garage) where he can gaze upon it when he looks up from the latest issue of Soldier of Fortune.

(Patriot) Acting Out

2004-09-22T13:25:00.000-05:00

The KrisWatch B.S. Meter: Section 3

We're sticking with "Barely Supported" for the BS meter, but again we welcome your suggestions...

We keep hearing, again and again, that Kris Kobach was involved in drafting the Patriot Act, or at the very least the immigration policies spun off of it. What we also have heard, though, is that the Patriot Act ain't so bad. According to Kobach, it's impossible civil liberties may be threatened by the Act, because, "Historically...you have seen litigation of every course to make sure that doesn't happen."*

And, speaking of controversial civil liberties threats, what about the willy-nilly searching of library records? Here's what Kobach has to say about that:

"With respect to library records, what people fail to remember, what the critics of the Patriot Act fail to mention is that Grand Juries have been able to subpoena library records for decades without any judicial approval. In contrast, under the Patriot Act, if it is ever used, this provision requires a judge to approve and issue the subpoena of the records."** (italics added)

That's right-- "if it is ever used."

The section in question is Section 215. It has created a ton of controversy, and Attorney General John Ashcroft has been operating essentially a propaganda campaign to put the controversy to rest by claiming, among other things, that Section 215 has never been used. You can read an excellent critique of this propaganda here.

It's curious, then, that Kobach is attempting to attack Congressman Moore for voting "against funding a section of the Patriot Act that allows the federal government to obtain business records, library records and other documents with a court order." What he's talking about is Congressman Moore voting against funding for the library-search portion of Section 215.

So, let's re-cap, shall we?

Kris Kobach doubts this part of Section 215 will ever be used and says it "has never been used."

John Ashcroft flat out proclaims this section of Section 215 will never be used.

And yet Dennis Moore is to be criticized for voting against funding a portion of Section 215 which will supposedly never be used anyway?

There's only one thing to call that... BS.

What other unused programs will Kobach be funding in Congress? Maybe a more sequential return to the moon? Or perhaps he'll reach out to hunters?

* So now lawsuits are good again?

** Yes, grand juries -- made up of citizens -- not a secret court, which is what the Patriot Act allows the FBI to go to for a warrant to search your -- or our -- library records. But rest assured, if you have a complaint about the secret court's application of the Patriot Act, you can file a complaint...with the same secret court and only then if you're a government lawyer or agent with the proper clearance. Well, at least they're consistent.

The Falwell Connection

2004-09-22T10:16:00.000-05:00

Mike Hendricks, your straightforward approach is always to be admired, particularly when you break it down far better than we could. Plus you've got a column in The Kansas City Star, rather than just a piddly blog.

Candidate gets a bad connection

What are we supposed to think about Kris Kobach making the rounds of conservative churches this week with the likes of the Rev. Jerry Falwell? ...

Certainly pols can't pick their friends. But when they choose them, as did Kobach when he volunteered to tag along with Falwell and Johnston, it's for a reason.

My only question is: Why on earth would Kobach want to associate himself with a divisive figure like Falwell at this stage in the campaign? ...

Somehow, I'm guessing, all this won't sit well with many of the moderate voters Kobach needs to win over.

It's doubtful many of them would agree with the statement that the 9-11 terrorist attacks were God's way of punishing America for its immorality. ...

Or that Falwell “live(s) to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools.”

But hey, what do I know? I'm not a shrewd political strategist.

The question: Is Kobach?

Good questions all.

Vets back Moore, perplex Kobach

2004-09-22T09:57:00.000-05:00

The political arm of the Veterans of Foreign Wars have endorsed Congressman Dennis Moore, reports Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star today.

“I think he has done a lot legislative-wise for veterans' benefits and active-duty personnel and we really, really appreciate that,” said Ray Calore, commander of the VFW's District 2 in Kansas. “There are so-called politicians of all persuasions out there, Democrat and Republican, who obviously don't do enough. I think Dennis Moore is doing a fine job for veterans.” ...
The VFW's Web site shows that Moore consistently voted the way the organization wanted during 2003. Among other things, Moore voted for a $23.9 billion appropriation for Veterans Affairs, according to the VFW.

So Moore's record on veterans issues is strong, hence the endorsement. But Kris Kobach is perplexed...

Kobach called the VFW's endorsement of Moore “really strange,” especially because the congressman voted against a constitutional amendment banning desecration of the flag.

Wow, great comeback.

Are you sure the VFW isn't interested in gay marriage, too? Add another random cultural issue on there and you may be able to swing the endorsement...

Kobach promotes study by anti-gay extremist

2004-09-21T14:36:00.000-05:00

Researcher cited by Kobach says giving homosexuals civil rights has created "germ machine" -- Cameron advocated quarantine for anyone with HIV and even extermination of homosexuals

In yesterday's Lawrence Journal-World online chat, Kris Kobach was asked to name the study he often cites that says children are harmed by living in a family where the parents are homosexuals.

Kobach's response:

Regarding the adverse impact on children who are raised in homosexual households, the studies are numerous. You might start with Dr. Paul Cameron, The Family Research Institute of Colorado Springs, "Homosexual Parents, Adolescents," (1996) 31, 757-776.

Who is Dr. Paul Cameron?

Well other than saying that allowing homosexuals to have civil rights has created a giant "germ machine," calling for the quarantine of anyone with HIV, and, according to fmr. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, recommending the extermination of homosexuals, Cameron is someone who has received multiple rebukes and censures during his career. Our favorite quote comes from the American Sociological Association:

"Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism" and he "has repeatedly campaigned for the abrogation of the civil rights of lesbians and gay men, substantiating his call on the basis of his distorted interpretation of this research."

Sounds like a very credible source, Kris. Anyone else you'd like to recommend? We'd be happy to Google them for you too.

End running into the sanctuary

2004-09-21T09:04:00.000-05:00

Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star has a lengthy article today on the effort to mobilize evangelical churchgoers by local pastors, Jerry Falwell and "constitutional law professor" Kris Kobach.*

Yep, that's what the invitation to the event with Falwell tomorrow night calls him. No mention of the fact that he just happens to be running for Congress this year. Why, that's not even the reason Kobach will be coming on this tour with Falwell, says the Rev. Jerry Johnston.

Johnston said Kobach was invited to join the activities because of his expertise on constitutional issues.

Johnston said Kobach's appearances have nothing to do with the congressional race in which Kobach has campaigned heavily against abortion and gay marriage.

“We are not taking him there to turn these policy briefings into a political campaign for Kris Kobach,” Johnston said.

Of course not! They're just taking Kobach there to talk about very issues that he just happens to be running on in front of an audience that just happens to be very likely to vote for him based on those issues at an event that just happens to be sponsored by a tax-exempt church and that just happens to be designed to encourage the attendees to vote.

What a remarkable series of coincidences!

* They may want to check Kobach's credentials first. At a recent speech at Mid-America Nazarene University, constitutional law professor Kobach reportedly said that Jesus is the foundation of the American government -- an interesting statement from a constitutional law professor, considering that there is no mention of God or the Creator in the Constitution, let alone a reference to Jesus Christ.**

Reading something into the Constitution that isn't there? That sounds a lot like one of those dreaded liberal activist judges who likes to add his/her own opinions into the interpretation of the Constitution, rather than a "strict constructionist."

** Yes, God is mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, however that is not any more of a binding document now than the Articles of Confederation.

*** And yes, the headline is a reference to the sci-fi classic Logan's Run.

Kobach's ad: Claims vs. Reality

2004-09-20T11:00:00.000-05:00

In the first attack ad of the general election, Kris Kobach takes aim at "illegal aliens" -- and voters' fears -- using scary night vision footage of scary immigrants (they could be terrorists!) crossing the border.

Kobach's ad says more about him -- and his extreme position when it comes to immigrants -- than it says about Congressman Moore.

Here's a rundown of Kobach's claims and the reality.

Kobach opens* by saying the borders are "wide open" and features a quote from a wire story** saying that al Qaeda "could launch an attack from south of the border." The article he cites is actually about attacks in Central America, not the United States.

Kobach then claims that "Dennis Moore refuses to send troops to the border" and cites House Vote 196.

On that vote, 20 Republicans joined Moore in opposing the amendment, including Reps. Flake, Kolbe, Wilson, Drier, and Cunningham, all of whom represent border states (Arizona, New Mexico, and California.)

The sponsor, Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) stressed that deploying troops is not mandated by the amendment. "I emphasize that this is optional," he said, making Kobach's claim about the nature of Moore's vote misleading on its face.

On the merits of sending troops to the border, Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), himself a veteran and representative of a border area, had this to say about the plan Kobach supports:

"I used to think this was a good amendment, until you start thinking about it. You just do not send a Marine or someone in the Army to the border. ... [W]hen you take a look at what it actually does, with our military so thin today and so drawn out, it would be disastrous, I think, for our men and women in the service itself." (Emphasis added)

Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), himself a former Border Patrol agent, had this to say: "We should not use military personnel for these kinds of jobs" because it "reduces unit readiness and overall combat effectiveness of our armed services."

Republicans used to be critical of sending the military to do police work. Now some of them advocate the very same thing in order to get elected.

Kobach then claims Moore "even voted to give illegal aliens amnesty and in-state tuition." Kobach cites one bill and one vote for this claim.

HR 1684, which Kobach criticizes Moore for co-sponsoring, says that students should be treated the same when it comes to state residency requirements, regardless of their immigration status. It does not give them automatic in-state tuition.

Who else co-sponsored this bill that Kobach thinks is so radical? Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) and 145 other Republicans and Democrats. It was introduced by Republican Rep. Chris Cannon of Utah, which is not exactly a liberal hotbed.

Regarding the vote, Kobach claims House Vote 53 in 2002 was a vote to "give illegal aliens amnesty." Once again, Kobach shows his extremism.

Rep. Dennis Moore voted with 92 Republicans, including Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) and the Majority Leader, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), on this issue because it wasn't a vote for "amnesty" -- it was a vote to agree to Senate amendments on a bill that would push back an already existing deadline (to April 30, 2002) to allow a limited classification of immigrants who already have jobs in the United States to pursue legal U.S. residency without leaving the U.S.

These amendments the House agreed to were passed by the Senate on a Unanimous Consent motion -- meaning Kansas Senators Brownback and Roberts agreed as well. But since the Senate never took up the bill again, it went nowhere...

...except into a Kobach campaign ad where he shows us he's more extreme on immigration than Tom DeLay, and that's saying something.

* Kobach's opening shot is of him on the campus of the University of Kansas, which he never actually attended. Did his consultants say having the tall shaft of the Campanile in the background would project manly strength?

** Kobach says this story comes from The Kansas City Star rather than, say, the Biloxi Sun Herald or any of the dozens of other places it ran, to give it a local feel. The statement he quotes is by the reporter, not by any expert.

Kobach launches first KS03 attack ad

2004-09-19T09:12:00.000-05:00

We're getting reports that Kris Kobach has launched the first attack ad of the Kansas-3 general election. So far the ad has only been seen on cable TV -- not broadcast channels which reach more people -- but we do know it attacks Congressman Moore on the issue of border security and immigration.

Kobach made immigration and immigrants a focus of his primary campaign -- much to the delight of certain supporters -- so it figures that he would do the same in the general election.

Kobach brings up the issue of tuition for children of illegal immigrants, once again dishonestly implying that they get special treatment -- something the non-partisan League of Women Voters of Kansas has already debunked.

The ad also criticizes Moore for not voting to send the National Guard to stand watch on the border. Of course Kobach never says:

1. How Kobach would pay for this costly deployment.
2. Where these troops would come from, considering the Guard is already overstretched by Iraq and Afghanistan deployments.
3. Whether and how the Guard would be trained for the new border security mission.
4. What the Guard would do when it captured illegal immigrants.

This last point is the biggest one, in our opinion. Kobach has criticized releasing the illegal immigrants right back across the border into Mexico -- but where else would they be sent? And if he is concerned about terrorists slipping in amongst immigrants, then they must be screened -- but where?

Does Kris Kobach want the National Guard to set up detention camps along the border? Guantanamo on the Rio Grande?

Beefing up the border patrol -- which is trained for this mission -- and continuing its policy of sending illegal immigrants back into the heart of Mexico or the violator's home country, not just across the border, is a way to address the supply.

Yet, we're never going to get anywhere on this issue until we address the demand for low-cost labor -- namely the demand from many industries, including the meatpacking industry in SW Kansas, for low-cost, transient, and yes illegal, workers. Crack down on the employers -- i.e. the demand -- and the supply will take care of itself.

But going after business doesn't make for a good attack ad, so Kobach again trots out his National Guard canard. Heck, maybe they can work on that space-based missile defense system Kobach wants while they're sitting around the desert.

Fan Mail Friday

2004-09-17T09:55:00.000-05:00

Time for another Fan Mail Friday, where we read from and respond to your letters.

TK writes in with information beyond the tip on the Stealth Truck, saying that Kris Kobach has new literature on the way, if it hasn't arrived already. This literature and/or the Kobach campaign in general, TK reports, wants to focus on what we'd call a 3x3 approach to the issues -- specifically issues Kobach thinks Rep. Moore is wrong on:

Economy: Tax cuts, tort reform, ergonomics standards

Defense: Missile defense, troops on the border, Section 215 (a.k.a. library records inspection)

Social Issues: A vote on homosexuals in the Boy Scouts, anti-gay marriage amendment, Unborn Victims of Violence Act

Thank you, TK -- keep up the good work!

L, who also wrote in to claim responsibility for the DCCC asking us to write the Kansas-3 report, has suggestions for the meaning of "B.S.":

BS=Being Silly
BS= Beaudaciously Spinning

ER writes in to ask us to add a trackback feature to the blog. We checked and Blogger says it doesn't offer such a feature, but if ER knows of a reliable and easy way to add trackback via a third-party offering, we're all ears.

If you've got something to say to KrisWatch, including new ways that you can link Kevin Bacon to either Moore or Kobach (see below), write in. You too could be featured in Fan Mail Friday, or possibly Hate Mail Hump Day (that's on Wednesdays), depending on the content. And, as always, we'll protect your anonymity if you request it.

Six Degrees

2004-09-16T13:24:00.000-05:00

In a press release issued Tuesday, but just recently posted to his Web site, Kris Kobach lashed back at Congressman Dennis Moore on the issue of Kobach's donation from Gun Owners of America, whose leader Larry Pratt has a variety of opinions and ties to organizations that most Kansas-3 voters probably wouldn't care for.

Kobach stretches big time to connect Moore to Gun Owners of America, claiming Moore is a hypocrite on the issue.

Kobach's reasoning? That Moore accepted a contribution, not from Gun Owners of America, but rather from another Member of Congress who...more than four years earlier...had gotten a donation from Gun Owners of America.**

Kobach's manager, Todd Abrajano, claims Moore is telling "lies and distortions" yet never points out what part of Kobach accepting $3,000 from Gun Owners of America this election isn't true and/or what parts of Larry Pratt's views and connections aren't true.

We may have to fire up the ol' search engines if Kobach is wanting to get into a game of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon*" when it comes to political donations. Given the various groups and individuals who have donated to Kobach for Congress, it could get interesting.

* Kevin Bacon did give $2,000 to the Democratic National Committee which gave money to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee which gave money to Dennis Moore. There, did it in three jumps.

** Update 3:10 p.m.: We went to the FEC site and checked the old reports, which the Kobach campaign apparently didn't do, since they could only say Rep. Baca received the donation in "his 2000 election campaign." (OpenSecrets is good, guys, but nothing beats looking at the real thing.)

Rep. Joe Baca received the $5,000 from GOA on September 17, 1999. He gave $1,000 to Moore on December 4, 2003. This is a gap of more than four years and it spans three election cycles (2000, 2002 and 2004) -- an even bigger leap than we originally thought, or that the Kobach campaign wants you to believe.

Kobach must have competed in the Olympics -- but in gymnastics, rather than rowing -- because his ability to stretch is stupendous.

We've heard...

2004-09-16T11:25:00.000-05:00

...that the National Rifle Association is none too pleased with the results of its Kansas-3 poll. Too many moderate ticket splitters (i.e. Bush-Moore voters) for its liking.

...that two police officers were on hand to keep the peace during Kris Kobach's Tuesday meeting with the KU College Republicans.

...that the Kobach campaign is trying to recruit KU interns with offers of class credit and a chance to "assist and advise Kris daily" -- which could explain his campaign's performance thus far.

...nothing that either proves or disproves Kobach's involvement in the U.S. Olympic Trials, as discussed in Operation Olympic.

...that there's a building desire for more discussion of policy issues, which we'll strive to meet in the coming days and weeks.

...that Fan Mail Friday will return tomorrow with some good stuff.

Got something you think we should hear? Drop us a line.

Are you ready to rock?

2004-09-15T13:13:00.000-05:00

The KrisWatch B.S. Meter: Revolution #2

When Kris Kobach speaks, sometimes you have to listen very closely, but if you do you can hear the B.S. right away. Other times, it takes a little time for the truth to filter out.

You might remember Peter Freund. He was Rep. Jim Ryun's campaign manager, but quit to defect to Kobach because Ryun had "not fought strongly enough" on issues like gay marriage and abortion, while Kobach would.

This caused such a stir that the campaign retracted the release. Kris Kobach himself told Steve Kraske of The Kansas City Star on April 29, 2004, in reference to Freund, "He's not going to have any position in our campaign."

Apparently, Kobach wasn't being truthful, because a tipster has forwarded us an e-mail dated 9/12/04 from pfreund@kobachforcongress.com.

Seems that, according to his signature, Freund is now field director* for Kobach for Congress.

So when he said Freund wasn't going to have "any position" in the campaign, what Kobach really meant was "He'll be my field director."

Could that be considered a "Kris Kross"?

But if showing Kobach's deception wasn't enough, there's more...

Freund's message is trying to drum up support for a "Rock for Kobach" event in Lawrence. He asks its recipients to print up the flyer themselves in order to skirt federal campaign finance laws and save a pittance for what we can only assume to be a struggling campaign.

"Attached is the flyer for Rock for Kobach at the Granada. Let's print these out on coloured paper and get them EVERYWHERE in Lawrence (can we all pitch in to make copies? If the campaign does, we have to stamp "paid for by Kobach for Congress" at the bottom of each.). We'll also take them with us when we do our lit drop the morning of the 9th, the same day as the concert."

Freund's flyer touts such bands as Lip Riddle, which will be coming off of performances at Northgate Middle School and Algowa State Prison (that one, they note, is "In house ONLY").

Lucky for the Kobach campaign, FEC violations usually don't garner a prison sentence...though some may be troubled by his support for any sort of rock music -- even Christian-themed -- because even Christian rock music is apparently from the devil.

And if you're wondering, yes, the B.S. Meter does go all the way to 11.

Update: 5:48 p.m. * For the non-politically minded, a field director is generally in charge of voter registration, get out the vote operations, door-to-door canvassing, lit drops, and other activities involving direct contact with voters in the field. In a district as closely divided as Kansas-3, it is a critical position.

Sporadic firing continues

2004-09-15T08:45:00.000-05:00

The Associated Press picked up the story about Kris Kobach and Larry Pratt, filing this report that appeared in the Lawrence Journal-World.

Kobach campaign manager Todd Abrajano is quoted as saying. "Absolutely, we're going to keep it" in reference to the donation from radical gun group Gun Owners of America.

We've seen TV reports on this matter and even heard a report on Hot 103 Jamz, so it is getting play. We'll keep monitoring the story for any developments...

In the meantime, the KrisWatch B.S. Meter is flashing red, so expect a new report later today. We're taking a flyer on a topic your German friend might say was e-mailed direct from right field.

Under the gun

2004-09-14T07:46:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago, we detailed Kris Kobach's connections to a web of anti-immigration groups.

Now, his connections to an extremist gun group and its leader has been revealed by Laura Ziegler of KCUR. She details Kris Kobach's ties to a radical gun-rights group and its extreme leader in an excellent Monday report.

Larry Pratt, director of the Gun Owners of America, has ties to white supremacist and anti-Semitic organizations, according to the highly regarded Southern Poverty Law Center*, which is dedicated to rooting out racism and extremism, and author Leonard Zeskind, who Ziegler also interviews.

According to these sources, Pratt promotes vigilantism and says all gun laws are unconstitutional. On his website, Pratt also wrote that gun control led to the 9/11 attacks being successful, that welfare was worse for black families than slavery, and that teachers should be issued guns.

Kobach, who like GOA, opposes the assault weapons ban, met with Pratt and accepted $3,000 from his organization. Kobach says that he was unaware of Pratt's past associations when the two met, but even after reviewing the public record on Pratt and Gun Owners of America, he says "If it turned out that their organization was supporting things that I regarded as too extreme or beyond the pale, then of course I would consider returning the contribution."

Tuesday Kobach told Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star he would not return the contribution. Apparently the public record we link to above isn't too extreme for him.

Pratt resigned from Pat Buchanan's 1996 presidential campaign after information on his views and ties to extreme groups came to light. Yet, in the KCUR interview, Kobach even goes so far as to defend Pratt, decrying "smear tactics" by opponents of Pratt.

We think the voters are in greater need of defense here: from Kris Kobach and yet another of his extreme supporters.

Oh, and Kris, good luck with your continued courting of labor unions. We're sure they'll really appreciate you implying in the Star that unions are tied in with the mob.

Related stories:
Lift of weapons ban worries police (AP)
Some fear ban's end may trigger violence (LJW) -- Kobach never called the reporter back to comment on this one

Update: ThirdDistrict.org is wondering about the radio report which started it all. As we mentioned above, it is KCUR, not Air America, which aired the report. And we thought you read us regularly.... [sniffle, tear]

Kobach, Falwell to speak

2004-09-13T11:24:00.000-05:00

Reader TL forwards us this tidbit from a local conservative site about another Republican who is coming to town to appear with Kris Kobach. It appears here unedited.

Jerry Falwell with be speaking at Antioch Family Worship Center at 7:30 am on Thrusday September 23, 2004, on Antioch and I-35 and will also be speaking on Wednesday Evening at 6:30 pm. at the First Family Church in Overland Park, Kansas. Do not miss these events. Kris Kobach will also be addressing several of the critical legal issues at stake in the election including the importance of passage of the marriage amendments at both the state and local levels. See www.kobackforcongress.com. THIS MEANS YOU AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW - BE THERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We'll certainly mark our calendars. Maybe he'll talk again about how gays, feminists, and abortion rights supporters are responsible for 9/11.

Stealth Truck

2004-09-12T17:21:00.000-05:00

It is a truck like no other. It moves silently. It can't be traced. It can't be stopped. And it's coming...to give you political literature. And maybe register you to vote.

The next summer blockbuster? Nope, it is just Kris Kobach's magical mystery mobile campaign headquarters.

Team Kobach is very proud of its mobile HQ. So proud, in fact, that apparently it forgot to list any expenses for rental or purchase of the truck on its FEC reports.

The only expense related to the Kobach mobile campaign headquarters appearing on any of Kobach's FEC reports comes on 3/8/04 when Kobach paid Signs Now $3,710.36 for "Full color graphics on sides of truck."

That's it. No rental fees. No purchase fees. Not even any fuel fees. Kobach's truck apparently moves without fees, fuel or regard for federal election laws regulating campaign expenditures.

If the Kobach campaign has been given the truck, for a month or forever, it should be listed as an in-kind donation. If it is paying for the truck, it should be listed as a disbursement.

Yet it is truly a stealth truck, at least in the eyes of the Federal Election Commission.

This isn't the only questionable activity that comes out during a review of Kobach's FEC reports, but it is one that we didn't notice ourselves. Big ups to TK for the tip on this one.

We'll have more from TK in this week's Fan Mail Friday. Respect.

LWV on Kobach's "misinformation"

2004-09-11T09:02:00.000-05:00

The kick-off weekend of the NFL is not conducive to political blogging, but we didn't want to go more than a couple of days without a post, so here is the text of a letter from the League of Women Voters of Kansas that appeared in the Sun a couple weeks ago. It clears up some "misinformation" from Kris Kobach about the disputed Kansas tuition law.

Students are treated same

This letter is to correct some misinformation provided by Kris Kobach in a July 22 Sun Newspapers article on the 3rd Congressional District candidates. Mr. Kobach, on behalf of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), has filed a lawsuit challenging recently enacted legislation in Kansas that allows Kansas high school graduates whose parents are undocumented immigrants to receive in-state tuition at Kansas universities.

These students are being treated the same as any other graduate of a Kansas high school. They receive no special favors, do not qualify for any federal aid as a result of the Kansas law, and are not displacing American-born children in our state universities. The Kansas law is based on three years attendance at a Kansas high school followed by graduation from high school. Many parents whose children will benefit from this law have applied for U.S. citizenship; however that process takes many years to complete. In the meantime their children deserve to better themselves by pursuing higher education, a proven pathway to becoming productive citizens. Further, these parents are taxpayers; they pay sales taxes, income taxes and property taxes.

The Regents universities of Kansas, which were supportive of the legislation, estimate that fewer than 400 such children will be able to take advantage of the in-state tuition, as opposed to the several thousand estimated by Mr. Kobach.

The League of Women Voters of Kansas is a strong supporter of this legislation.

Janis McMillen
president, League of Women Voters of Kansas

Operation Olympic

2004-09-09T07:38:00.000-05:00

The KrisWatch B.S. Meter

When you are as interested in politics as we are at Kriswatch, you develop a sense for what is true, and what is, well, B.S. For those of you with sensitive ears, we'll refer to B.S. as "Barely Supported."*

You may remember we commented once already about this profile of Kris Kobach in the Topeka Capital-Journal. Today, we are commenting on this paragraph alone:

"He water-skied competitively. Rowing came later, mostly at Oxford. Kobach said he tried but failed to make the U.S. Olympic team as a rower, his team coming in second."

Hmmmm... when you claim you tried to make a U.S. Olympic team and fell just short, particularly when running for public office during an Olympic year, the bells and whistles on the old B.S. meter make quite the racket.

It isn't like this is a matter of pressing national urgency, but we were curious and we did some checking.

Now, we want to be very careful with where we go with this, because we are not making any claims and we are not making allegations; we are simply reporting what we have found so far, and asking you, the Kriswatch reader, to assist us by providing further information that we don't currently have access to.

A search through the relevant and reputable sources we have been able to come up with finds no record of Kris Kobach competing in either the 1992, 1996, or 2000 U.S. Rowing Olympic Trials.

In 1992 and 1996 the four- and eight-man boats were determined in camps, not in races, which could lead one to conclude he finished second in a two-man competition. Yet, we find no record of a two-man boat including Kris Kobach as a competitor finishing second in a 1992, 1996, or 2000 U.S. Rowing Olympic Trials finals race.

It's entirely possible, of course, Kobach was misunderstood or misparaphrased in the article, and/or that he participated in one of the camps which determined the four- and eight-man boats and was one of the last people cut from those boats. That isn't synonymous with "his team coming in second," but it could be the case.

This is the sum of the information we have been able to collect.

We have exhausted our available sources, yet our B.S. meter continues to clang away. Therefore, we are looking for anyone who can to come forward and either refute or confirm this second place finish. (Or who can tell us that we are just political observers, not researchers, and we don't know what the heck we are talking about.)

This includes you, Kobach campaign. We know you weren't shy about e-mailing Taffwatch with information on Taff during the primary, so feel free to drop us a line now. Seriously. If you request it, your anonymity will be protected.

Stay tuned -- hopefully we'll have a final determination on this issue in the near future.

* We also welcome your advice as to the kindest way to define the B.S. for our B.S. meter. We aren't married to "Barely Supported," and we have already tossed aside "Borderline Specious." Any suggestions which don't involve "Bovine Secretions" will be considered.

In the works...

2004-09-08T13:38:00.000-05:00

We've been hard at work on the KrisWatch B.S. Meter, which we hope will have its debut tomorrow, hence the lack of posts yesterday and today...though this itself is a post, we suppose, so it would just be a lack of posts yesterday.

A Third (and Fourth) Way

2004-09-06T17:04:00.000-05:00

We missed this one when we checked the Kansas City Star this morning. Brad Cooper has a story on the third party candidates running in KS03. Not only do they not get the cash and party support of Moore and Kobach, but their story gets run on Labor Day, no less. No respect.

Joe Bellis, running on the Libertarian Party, says Kris Kobach isn't the most conservative candidate in the race:

[Bellis] said that his views are most like Kobach's but that the Republican nominee wants bigger government.

“He's supposedly conservative. I'm very conservative,'' Bellis said.

Reform Party candidate Richard Wells is considering withdrawing from the race, the Star reports, since he and Kobach have the same position on many issues, such as their shared support for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and their opposition to abortion.

When you're deemed to be "conservative enough" for the nominee of the party that ran Pat Buchanan as its candidate in 2000, you're pretty darn conservative.

Happy Labor Day

2004-09-06T10:42:00.000-05:00

KrisWatch is off today, but MooreWatch Watch is back in action, so if you need your fix of Kansas-3 politics, head on over...