Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer and Secretary of State Kris Kobach hammered away at each other in a GOP forum Thursday night as they tried to gain the upper hand in the closing weeks of the governor’s race.
Time and again, Colyer and Kobach pounded away on everything from the controversy over the American flag at the University of Kansas, to a pardon Kobach sought for a campaign contributor, to illegal immigration.
Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer portrayed himself as a stable executive as Kobach and Colyer went back and forth during the 90-minute debate at Johnson County Community College’s Yardley Hall.
Forced out from behind a podium, the candidates discussed the issues as they paced along the stage in an arena-like atmosphere where the audience cheered their candidates on with approval or jeered remarks they didn’t like.
The forum was similar to the last Republican debate in Salina where Colyer was on the offensive against Kobach, challenging him on the pardon of a campaign contributor and questioning his opposition to abortion and taxes.
He suggested Kobach was more a leader of image than substance, alluding to his courtroom defeats to the ACLU over the proof-of-citizenship voting requirement.
“There are show horses and there are war horses. Kansans know the difference,” Colyer said. “The worst thing is a show pony that thinks it’s a war horse.
“If the first inclination is to run to the cameras constantly, yell and scream, and then lose to the ACLU, once, twice, three times and not win for you, it’s not in your best interest,” the governor said.
Kobach, meanwhile, said Colyer was telling half truths and outright lies about his record, at one point even suggesting that he was a victim of a series of negative television ads either run by Colyer or a “dark money” group from Ohio.
At one point, Kobach invoked the Bible in saying he wouldn’t bear false witness against someone else.
Colyer opened the forum, immediately raising the issue of the paint-spattered American flag art exhibit at the University of Kansas.
Outraged that a “desecrated” American flag was flown on the campus of a state university, Colyer said he called school officials and demanded that it be removed. It was later taken down and moved to a museum.
“Someone wants to use taxpayer funds and taxpayer-funded institutions to desecrate our flag, I say not in Kansas and not on my watch,” Colyer said.
Kobach wouldn’t let the governor claim victory. It wasn’t sufficient, he said, to only move the flag to another location on campus.
“You can’t claim victory when you don’t have it yet,” Kobach said. “You want real victory and real victory is that flag gets out of that museum.”
Throughout the forum, Colyer questioned Kobach’s integrity, especially over the secretary of state seeking a pardon for a campaign contributor charged with threatening a cab driver by putting a gun to his head.
Colyer recently declined to grant the pardon.
At the debate in Salina, Kobach said there wasn’t a gun involved in the crime, a point Colyer rebutted Thursday night by reading from the police affidavit in the case that indicated a gun was used.
“Kris Kobach stood up and told everyone that there was not a gun used” in that incident, Colyer said. “He lied to you, the people of Kansas.”
Colyer then proceeded to read from a police affidavit in which the victim told authorities that it was a dark-colored handgun with red-colored grips.
As Colyer asked Kobach if he would pardon the man charged in that case and tell the truth about the gun, the governor was drowned out by shouting from the audience.
The campaign contributor pleaded guilty in Johnson County to attempted robbery and a judge expunged his record in 2014.
Kobach said he sought the pardon because he wanted to help his friend get his Second Amendment rights returned.
The expungement, Kobach, said, wasn’t good enough in the eyes of the federal government to get his gun rights returned.
“Yeah, there was an affidavit,” Kobach said, “but guess what the judge found? The judge’s finding was that no firearm was used in a commission of a crime.”
At the end of that exchange, Selzer stepped forward and said to a cheering audience, “I hope you see me as a calm and sensible businessman.”
Selzer said he was the only one of the candidates who has demonstrated he can lead in business and government.
During his time as insurance commissioner, Selzer said he cut costs and improved customer service.
He proudly pointed out that the department’s website was recognized second nationally for providing consumer assistance by NerdWallet, a personal finance website.
Meanwhile, Kobach went after Colyer, questioning why he hasn’t done more to push legislation that discourages illegal immigration.
Kobach pointed out that when the governor was in the Kansas House he voted against a bill that would have cut off public benefits to undocumented immigrants.
“I would love him to come up for a minute and explain that vote,” Kobach said.
And Colyer did just that.
The governor read from the explanation of vote – joined by other conservative lawmakers – that said the bill was weaker than existing law.
“For the first time, Kansas will be making a statutory right for illegal aliens to receive any and all state financial care no questions asked,” Colyer said in reading the explanation of vote on that bill.
Honesty, Colyer said, should be a central issue in the campaign.
“Integrity is an issue for Republicans,” Colyer said. “There is only one candidate on this stage who has been fined by a federal judge for lying in federal court.”
The audience started booing when Colyer alluded to Kobach being held in contempt of court during his defense of the state law requiring proof of citizenship for would-be voters.
As the debate wound down, Kobach said he’s been hit with a “barrage” of negative ads during the last six weeks.
He urged peace, saying repeated attacks will only handicap the primary winner in the general election.
“Have you seen any come back from us,” he asked. “I believe there’s a matter of honor, there’s a matter of principle where we as Republicans say we are not going to say anything false about anyone else in this particular race.”
