Print Email

ACORN prompts Kobach to run

By DUANE SCHRAG

Salina Journal

Kris Kobach's desire to be Kansas Secretary of State can be summed up in one word:

"ACORN," he told a modest audience that gathered Thursday for lunch at Salina's Western Sizzlin restaurant.

Salina is one of eight cities Kobach, who until recently was chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, is visiting to announce his desire to be secretary of state.

ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- is an aggressive get-out-the-vote organization that represents low- and moderate-income people nationally. "Since 1970, ACORN has been building community organizations that are committed to social and economic justice," its Web site says.

Kobach describes it differently.

"ACORN is a criminal enterprise," he said Thursday.

He said 12 ACORN workers in Missouri were convicted of violating voter laws in connection with 2006 elections.

Voter fraud was the central theme of Kobach's campaign stop. He warned of the "rise of ACORN" and said it was only after the November election that he learned ACORN has three offices in Kansas.

"We didn't find out until after the election how busy they have been in Kansas," he said.

ACORN's Web site lists offices in Kansas City, Topeka and Wichita. None of the telephone numbers listed works, nor do the e-mail addresses.

Kobach said he plans to push for a photo identification law, which would require voters to present an approved photo ID before they vote. He also wants to require that people prove they are citizens before they are allowed to register to vote.

Kobach teaches constitutional, election and immigration law at the University of Missouri Kansas City law school. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard in 1988 and received his law degree from Yale. From 2001 to 2003 he was chief adviser on immigration law and border security in the office of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

He is married, has three children and lives in Piper.

nReporter Duane Schrag can be reached at 822-1422 or by e-mail at dschrag@salina.com.

Discuss This Story:

Email this story to a friend:

Subject:

Recipient:

Sender's email (required):



Enter text seen above: