Although Secretary of State Kris Kobach has handed over his election responsibilities to what the Wichita Eagle gratuitously calls “a staunch conservative,” his lead over Gov. Jeff Colyer continues to widen. As of late Friday, Kobach led Colyer by 217 votes.
“Although I would discharge my duties ethically, impartially, and responsibly,” Kobach wrote in a Friday letter to Colyer, “I have carefully considered your request and have decided that it is in the best interest of the citizens of Kansas that I permit another to perform the duties of the secretary of state until the conclusion of the 2018 primary election process.”
Eric Rucker, a top deputy of Kobach, has assumed his boss’s responsibilities. The Eagle’s Jonathan Shorman saw fit to say of Rucker that he “is known as a staunch conservative.” This might matter if Colyer were something other than a staunch conservative or if staunch conservatives were indifferent to vote fraud, but neither is the case. Shorman dropped this nugget in, it would seem, for no better reason than to question the sincerity of Kobach’s recusal.
Not surprisingly, the recount has gotten a little testy, not quite on the Bush-Gore 2000 level, but testy nonetheless. Kobach also criticized Colyer’s suggestion that Kobach had been giving direct election advice to county election officials.
“As governor of Kansas, your unrestrained rhetoric has the potential to undermine the public’s confidence in the election process,” said Kobach in response. “May I suggest that you trust the people of Kansas have made the right decision at the polls and that our election officials will properly determine the result as they do in every election.”
Whatever the final result, this contest between two staunch conservatives will have proved to be the most tightly contested primary in Kansas history. Now if only the media can tell us what “staunch” means and why they think “staunch” is bad.
