What a con man Kris Kobach is. The Kansas City Star and Pro Publica published a story this morning about how Kobach swooped into communities and convinced them that "they've got trouble, right here in River City," and it's not pool like in the Music Man, it's Mexicans. The mayor of Valley Park Missouri noticed that fifty whole people with Spanish in their blood moved in:
“You got one guy and his wife that settle down here, have a couple kids, and before long you have Cousin Puerto Rico and Taco Whoever moving in," said the mayor, REALLY.
Kris Kobach met with several communities facing the Mexican menace and convinced them to pass ordinances that would lower the hammer on anyone hiring or housing "illegals." Several communities made English their town's official language because of course they did.
THEN when the ACLU inevitably sued the municipality for legislating unconstitutional bigotry, the towns found that they could hire a (legally) moonlighting Secretary of State from Kansas to assist them in defending their "law" -- Kris Kobach!
After two years of litigation and nearly $300,000 in expenses, the ordinance was largely gutted. Now, it is illegal only to “knowingly” hire illegal immigrants there — something that was already illegal under federal law. The town’s attorney can’t recall a single case brought under the ordinance.
“Ambulance chasing” is how Grant Young, a former mayor of Valley Park, describes Kobach’s role. Young characterized Kobach’s attitude as, “Let’s find a town that’s got some issues or pretends to have some issues, let’s drum up an immigration problem and maybe I can advance my political position, my political thinking and maybe make some money at the same time.”
Kobach used his work in Valley Park to attract other clients, with sometimes disastrous effects on the municipalities. The towns — some with budgets in the single-digit-millions — ran up hefty legal costs after hiring him to defend similar ordinances.
Read the rest. It's the biggest case of legal malpractice I've read in a long time. Kobach is now running in a Republican primary for Governor of Kansas. Sam Brownback eat your heart out.
