Surprised? Don't be:
http://www.bradenton.com/...
A Kansas City Democrat who filed a brief with the Kansas Supreme Court in opposition to Chad Taylor’s withdrawal from the U.S. Senate race is the father of a Brownback campaign staffer.
The Kansas Supreme Court will review Tuesday whether Taylor, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, should be allowed to come off the November ballot. David Orel, a 57-year-old from Kansas City, Kan., filed an amicus brief with the court on Monday.
The brief argues that allowing Taylor to withdraw from the ballot would rob Orel, a Democrat, from his right to vote for his party’s nominee.
“This case is about preserving the integrity of primary elections and the votes cast in such elections,” Orel’s brief, written by his attorney Thomas Haney, states.
His son, Alexander Orel, works as a regional field director in the Kansas City area for Gov. Sam Brownback’s re-election campaign. - The Wichita Eagle, 9/15/14
Brownback's just looking out for his buddy Roberts while the Kansas Supreme Court is debating this:
http://www.kansascity.com/...
The Kansas Supreme Court on Tuesday debated the meaning of the word “declare” — with a U.S. Senate race at stake.
A lawyer for one-time Democratic Senate nominee Chad Taylor told the court his client officially withdrew from the race Sept. 3 when he submitted a letter to that effect. Kansas law allows nominated candidates to withdraw if they declare an incapability to fulfill the duties of their office.
But Pedro Irigonegaray, representing Taylor, said the declaration need not be in writing, and need not be made to the secretary of state. Instead, he said, Taylor followed the law by simply referring to it in his letter.
“We believe that the statutory requirements were fully satisfied” by Taylor’s withdrawal letter, Irigonegaray said.
Ed Greim, a lawyer for Secretary of State Kris Kobach, argued otherwise. He said Taylor needed to explicitly state his incapability in a letter to the secretary of state in order to withdraw. - Kansas City Star, 9/16/14
By the way, here's a little more info on Kobach's lawyer:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
One of the officials at the center of the Bush administration's U.S. attorneys scandal is helping to author briefs for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach in the lawsuit that could help determine one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country.
Bradley Schlozman, who stepped down from the Justice Department in 2007 amid controversy and is now an attorney practicing in Wichita, Kansas, is one of the signatories of a new brief from Kobach's office. Kobach is fighting this week in the Kansas Supreme Court to keep Democratic Senate nominee Chad Taylor on the November ballot.
Schlozman was one of several high-level Justice Department officials who left the department after TPM helped uncover politically motivated firings and conduct during President George W. Bush's administration. He was said to have helped prevent the Civil Rights Division's voting rights section from opposing voter ID laws and was also accused by former employees of adding negative comments in subordinates' performance reviews if they didn't follow the political line, as TPM reported at the time.
He once notoriously said that he was replacing Democratic hires with "good Americans," TPM reported at the time. From the Civil Rights Division, he was appointed as the U.S. attorney in Kansas City in 2006 after his predecessor had been abruptly fired.
A 2009 Inspector General report concluded that Schlozman violated federal law when he "considered political and ideological affiliations in hiring career attorneys and in other personnel actions affecting career attorneys" while he headed the voting rights section of the Civil Rights Division. - TPM, 9/16/14
Clowns all over this circus. Republicans need Taylor to stay on the ballot in order to spare Roberts a humiliating defeat from Greg Orman (I. KS):
http://www.usnews.com/...
A Public Policy Polling survey shows Republican Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts is much more in danger of losing his seat than many expected. Political newcomer Greg Orman, an independent business man, leads the three-term senator 41 percent to 34 percent, according to the poll released Tuesday. The Democrat in the race, Chad Taylor, dropped out of the contest because his own chances to beat Roberts were slim, but is expected to remain on the ballot. He garnered only 6 percent support in the survey.
The last poll, released Sept. 8 and conducted just after Taylor withdrew from the contest, showed Roberts and Orman in a much closer race. Then, Orman led Roberts by a single percentage point: 37 percent to 36 percent.
The poll surveyed 1,328 likely voters between Sept. 11-14 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. - U.S. News, 9/16/14
Lets kick some GOP ass in Kansas in November. Click here to donate and get involved with Orman's campaign, Jean Shodorf's (D. KS) Secretary of State campaign and Paul Davis' (D. KS) gubernatorial campaign:
http://www.jeanforkansas.com/
http://www.ormanforsenate.com/...
http://davisforkansas.com/