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KC Star Blasts Kris Kobach For "Despicable Affiliation" With White Nationalists

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Last week, the Center for New Community reported that Kansas Secretary of State, Kris Kobach,spoke at a conference organized by white nationalists.  Kobach, one of the most extreme and vociferous anti-immigrant voices in the U.S., is a product of the Tanton network, which has deep ties to white nationalists. From CNC:

On October 25, white nationalist publishing house The Social Contract Press (TSCP) held its 39th annual Writers’ Workshop conference in Washington, DC. Among the featured speakers at the event was Kansas Secretary of State and virulent nativist Kris Kobach.

The annual Writers’ Workshop is the brainchild of white nationalist and founder of the organized anti-immigrant movement, John Tanton. The meetings began as a venue for Tanton and colleagues to exchange ideas and strategies as they worked to build the then-nascent anti-immigrant movement that exists today. The invitation-only meetings have been attended by prominent white nationalists over the years including Peter Brimelow, Sam Francis, and Jared Taylor.

That Kobach was so public about this relationship garnered him some unwanted attention back in Kansas. The editorial board of the Kansas City Star blasted Kobach:

The Social Contract Press is a quarterly journal with cover titlessuch as “The Menace of Islam,” “Victims of Immigration” and “Refugee Racket.” It is blatantly xenophobic and holds a spot on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of hate groups.

Any sensible politician would avoid having anything to do with it.

Yet there was Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, proudly participating in a writer’s workshop sponsored by the group last week in Washington, D.C.

After documenting Kobach’s ties the Tanton network, particularlyFederation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which is SPLC-designated hate group, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the editorial concludes:

Sadly, those affiliations have not harmed Kobach’s political career and may even have helped it. But by nurturing them, he participates in the harassment and marginalization of some of the very citizens he is sworn to represent.

That’s despicable behavior by an elected official.

It is despicable behavior by Kobach, but not surprising.