Dan Burrows, the chief deputy for Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, is leaving Kansas to take a job in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
The spokesperson for the attorney general on Saturday confirmed that Burrows has been tapped for a role in the White House staff secretary’s office.
Danedri Hebert said Burrows’ departure date from the attorney general’s office and his start date in the Trump administration are not set.
“He has done an amazing job in our office,” Herbert said in a text.
“He’s served Attorney General Kobach well, and more importantly, in all of his decisions and advice to the boss, it has been obvious that he has what’s best for Kansans at front of mind,” she said.
“We are very sorry to lose him, but Kansans are going to have a good friend in Washington when Dan goes,” Herbert said.
Burrows, a native Kansan who grew up in Belle Plaine, declined comment.
The staff secretary’s office manages the paper flow to and from the president.
The staff secretary circulates enrolled legislation, proposed executive orders, decision memoranda, speeches and other presidential documents to relevant White House offices for clearance and comment.
The goal is to ensure that the president has an opportunity to hear the views of relevant senior White House advisers.
The staff secretary further ensures that any document forwarded to the president is in suitable condition, technically and substantively, for presidential review.
The office also is responsible for making sure that the president’s decisions and requests are transmitted to the proper staff members for appropriate action.
Last month, Trump named one of his personal attorneys, Will Scharf, to serve as White House staff secretary.
Scharf unsuccessfully ran for attorney general of Missouri, losing the Republican primary in August.
Both Scharf and his opponent, Andrew Bailey, had been endorsed by Trump.
In an extensive interview with the Sunflower State Journal in 2023, Burrows described himself as having oversight of the litigation filed by the attorney general.
“I’m the chief deputy attorney general, which is a jack-of-all-trades in some sense,” Burrow said in that 2023 interview.
“The easiest way to describe it is that I’m in charge of all the attorneys and all the litigation. My job is to make sure cases get litigated in court and make sure the massive range of things that this office does are adequately managed.”
There also have been times when Burrows has testified before the Kansas Legislature, either in person or in writing, on any number of legal issues.
Burrows came to Kansas after working as legal director for Advance Colorado, which described its mission as promoting limited government, free enterprise and low taxes.
Burrows was involved in a number of cases at Advance Colorado, including one lawsuit challenging Colorado’s campaign contribution limits as too low and another challenging Boulder’s multiyear ban on oil and gas development.
A federal judge ultimately upheld Colorado’s limits on campaign contributions and the city of Boulder settled the litigation over the oil and gas ban for $35,000.
He also represented a construction company that challenged Colorado’s family and medical leave program because it violated the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights in the state constitution.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state, which provided up to 12 weeks of paid time off to Colorado workers who are either sick or caring for their newborns or seriously ill family members.
The law was challenged because it was funded from a 0.45% premium paid by the employer and 0.45% paid by the employee.
“The Act did not represent a change to income tax law, and, in any event, the premiums collected do not represent an impermissible added tax or surcharge,” the court ruled.
Burrows also had been a major in the Army Reserves where he’s worked as an environmental law attorney for the U.S. Army Legal Services Agency and as an assistant command judge advocate for the 209th Regional Support Group.
He also worked as a special assistant U.S. attorney in the economic crimes section in the District of Colorado.
He also was acounsel for the
Also, Burrows clerked for Judge Margaret Ryan on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
He also served as the Central and West Plains loordinator for the Colorado Republican Party in 2008.
Burrows received a bachelor’s from the University of Virginia and his law degree from the University of Iowa.
A native Kansan, Burrows grew up in Belle Plaine and is a third-generation graduate of Belle Plaine High School.
