人兽性交

Anti-immigrant law drafter extraordinaire Kris Kobach continues to play dumb about the racist organization bankrolling his efforts, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), and its founder John Tanton. In a piece published by yesterday, Kobach, who is also the Kansas secretary of state, was quoted claiming that he is 鈥渘ot familiar with [Tanton鈥檚] writings or his views.鈥� He also said: 鈥淚 have not done any legal work for any organization that expresses or supports racial discrimination, nor will I ever do so in the future. 鈥�

Really, Kris?

Kobach is 鈥渙f counsel鈥� at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, the legal arm of , which the Southern Poverty Law Center (人兽性交) lists as a hate group. The reasons are multiple: FAIR has taken money from a foundation described as 鈥渘eo-Nazi鈥�; the group has employed and put on its boards members of hate groups; and its president, Dan Stein, has said that many immigrants hate America. Stein has also attacked the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act, which ended years of racist immigration quotas, as retaliation 鈥渁gainst Anglo-Saxon dominance.鈥�

As to , his long list of racist comments includes questioning the 鈥渆ducability鈥� of Latinos and arguing that 鈥渇or European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that.鈥� Tanton has dabbled in anti-Semitism and even expressed hopes of taking a 鈥減olitically incorrect鈥� tour of Atlanta with a Holocaust denier. Tanton, who founded FAIR in 1979 and was long its principal ideologue, remains on the advisory board of FAIR today.

It鈥檚 not like these facts have been hidden from Kobach. The 人兽性交 has been reporting on Tanton and FAIR鈥檚 extremism for more than a decade. Staff members at 人兽性交, including myself, have repeatedly contacted Kobach for comment about his relationship to FAIR and Tanton, most recently with a series of E-mails in 2010. At the time, Kobach the newspaper at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, where he taught constitutional law, that 鈥渘either he nor members of the Immigration Reform Law Institute or Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) had been interviewed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (人兽性交).鈥�

Well, he is a lawyer, and it is technically true Kobach hadn鈥檛 been interviewed. But that鈥檚 only because he refused to respond to our requests for comment. And he was just plain wrong about FAIR; I have repeatedly interviewed Dan Stein.

It seems ridiculous that Kobach would play coy like this. The fact of the matter is that many others besides 人兽性交 have asked Kobach about his relationship to FAIR and . In a 2009 interview with The , reporter Julia Preston asked him about his work with FAIR and the 人兽性交鈥檚 contention that the group has ties to white nationalists. Kobach reportedly called the allegations slander and said, 鈥淚 would immediately disassociate myself from any litigation that was racist in nature.鈥� So let鈥檚 be clear here: Kobach tells Salon that he鈥檚 鈥渘ot familiar鈥� with Tanton鈥檚 views, but when he talks to the Times three years earlier, he鈥檚 familiar enough with Tanton鈥檚 views to denounce our allegations about them as slander. Hmm.

In February 2010, a reporter with the Phoenix FOX affiliate Kobach: 鈥淎re you troubled by any of the statements or beliefs or activities of anybody at all in FAIR?鈥� His response: 鈥淣o, I鈥檓 not.鈥� 鈥淎nd,鈥� he added, 鈥渋f I encountered anyone who was in any way involved in that organization who had engaged in any kind of discrimination, I would immediately聽disassociate聽myself.鈥�

Ah, promises, promises.

Kobach has even been pressed about his connections to FAIR by lawmakers. In a February 2010 hearing in Nebraska regarding an anti-immigrant law Kobach was pushing there, State Sen. Bill Avery asked Kobach whether he knew that the 人兽性交 had classified his umbrella group, FAIR, as a hate group. According to immigrant rights activist , who was in the audience, 鈥淜obach replied that he was indeed aware of 人兽性交鈥檚 classification of FAIR as a hate group鈥攂ut that it was wrong.鈥�

The connections between Kobach and Tanton run even deeper. As Politico pointed out earlier this month, a PAC run by Tanton鈥檚 wife Mary Lou has been giving Kobach money for some time. The online news source that Federal Election Commission files show that the U.S. Immigration Reform PAC (USIRPAC) gave Kobach $10,000 in 2003 and 2004.

And what has Kobach done for his salary at FAIR鈥檚 legal arm? He鈥檚 worked as hard as he can to throw the undocumented out of the country. Kobach wants immigrants to 鈥渟elf-deport鈥� and he has gone about it by pushing legislation in several localities and states that have made life hell for legal immigrants, citizens and the undocumented alike.

The 人兽性交 has documented the devastating results of Kobach鈥檚 activities, in terms of sowing racial divisions and bankrupting communities with legal fees, in its , 鈥淲hen Mr. Kobach Comes to Town.鈥� The latest casualty of Kobach鈥檚 efforts is Alabama, where a law he wrote, H.B. 56, was passed last year and has led to as well as . His track record is so heinous that his own state of Kansas in the last week has his attempts to pass anti-immigrant legislation there. Kansas House Democratic Leader Paul Davis told the Lawrence paper that the more people learn about the effects of similar Kobach laws in Arizona and Alabama, 鈥渢he more people shy away from the direction he wants to go.鈥�

Let鈥檚 hope Davis is right. And maybe it鈥檚 time Kobach made good on his oft repeated promise to dissociate himself from activities and groups motivated by racism and discrimination?