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Kobach: Panel not sign of ties
Published 2/11/2012 in News
By MARY CLARKIN
Special to The Telegram
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said he "had no idea who was going to be on my panel" when he agreed to appear Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Washington, D.C.
Kobach will share the stage with Robert Vandervoort, executive director of ProEnglish and who has past ties to the white nationalist group, Chicagoland Friends of American Renaissance, a news release from the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights critically pointed out Thursday.
Vandervoort's ProEnglish opposes bilingual ballots, bilingual education, and will host a panel discussion at the CPAC event on "The Failure of Multiculturalism."
Vandervoort also will be a member of an official CPAC event, a panel entitled, "Immigration: High Fences, Wide Gates: States vs. the Feds, the Rule of Law & American Identity." Kobach and others will be on the panel, too.
Kobach has gained national attention for his role writing laws in other states regarding illegal immigration. In Kansas, he pushed through a voter photo identification law last year.
Kobach noted that two other members on the panel, U.S. Reps. David Rivera and Mario Diaz-Balart, both of Florida, are Hispanic. Also, the panel moderator, Congress of Racial Equality's spokesman Niger Innis, is African-American.
The email sent by Devon Burghart of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights focused nearly entirely on Kobach and Vandervoort, mentioning the other panel members only in the closing paragraph.
"Give me a break," said Kobach.
"It's ridiculous," he said, to link the Hispanic members of Congress and CORE's spokesman to white nationalism because they are participating with Vandervoort on a panel.
Kobach said he does not recall ever meeting Vandervoort. He also said organizers usually try to put people with differing views on panels, to make it interesting.
The two split on bilingual ballots, mandated by federal voting law. Kobach said he thinks bilingual ballots are "reasonable," so voters will clearly understand the ballot.
Ideally, Kobach said, everyone would understand English.
Efforts to reach Vandervoort and the Chicagoland Friends of American Renaissance were unsuccessful.
Found 1 comment(s)!
Kobach is not working for the People of Kansas
We have another Phillll Kline on our hands with Krazy Kris Kobach. He is off at the CPAC meeting and not in Kansas doing his work. He claimed he would not miss any work in Kansas, but he obviously was gone on a weekday or two do this panel.
There were other white supremecists on that panel or another panel. There was a guy worse than Vandevoort there.
Kobach was there to encourage the kind of race talk that he has done here in implementing his new voting rules before the general election. He is trying to suppress the vote of people who might vote against him and other Republicans.
All the state-provided legal fees that Philll is still getting should show Kansans that we have another in Krazy Kris.
Hate is not a Kansas value and we need to vote this guy out as soon as possible.
Posted by: SWK Voter on 2/11/2012