During his 2022 campaign for attorney general, Kris Kobach said that, if elected, he would sue the president of the United States every week. In my opinion, he had it all backwards.
During the 1970s, I had the honor of working for Attorneys General Vern Miller and Curt Schneider. Both were Democrats, and during this period, Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford were Republicans.
Both of these attorneys general felt their job was to serve the best interests of Kansans by working with presidents or congressional leaders of both parties to get the job done for Kansas. Bipartisanship was our goal every day. These two attorneys general were relentless in everything they did. And it did not matter whether the issue was large or small, they gave it all to protect Kansans.
Miller and Schneider wanted to serve Kansans by working across party lines to deliver real results.
In those days, we often asked for federal assistance from an up-and-coming Republican senator named Bob Dole, who had no issue assisting an office held by individuals from the other party because it meant he was helping Kansans.
The attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer and legal counsel for Kansas. It shouldn’t be a position focused on partisan politics; it should be focused on protecting Kansans.
Kansas needs an attorney general like Chris Mann. He is a true public servant and started as a police officer before being injured in the line of duty, and became a prosecutor. He has served as a staff attorney with the Kansas Securities Commission. And throughout his career, Chris has protected Kansans from violent criminals, putting murderers and domestic abusers in prison.
Chris’ focus has always been on protecting Kansans, not playing political games, and it will be the same as attorney general.
Chris Mann will be an attorney general we can all be proud of.
– Richard Shank, Hutchinson