Within minutes of the Kansas Supreme Court's decision to leave Democrat Chad Taylor off the Kansas ballot for U.S. Senate (dealing a blow to Kris Kobach–worst secretary of state in the nation) a Kansas City-area Democrat named David Orel filed a challenge trying to force Democrats to name a new candidate. David Orel also happens to be the father of a Alexander Orel, regional director for ultra-conservative Sam Brownback's re-election campaign.
Kris Kobach once again tried to intervene by joining the lawsuit, but the district court ruled against him and refused to let him join the suit.
Kris Kobach's week was about to get worse. Yesterday, David Orel was set to have his day in court, but his case took a serious hit after he failed to appear before the Shawnee County District Court:
“With all due respect to Mr. Orel, he filed a lawsuit against my clients, drug them into court in the middle of a heated campaign season, then thumbs his nose at this court and refuses to show up," said Randy Rathbun, a former U.S. attorney from Wichita who represented the party.
Judge Franklin Theis was
not amused:
"Without him here, it kind of turns this into political theater," Theis said.
Presiding Judge Larry Hendricks also had some serious questions about the military ballots that have already been sent (per federal law):
Democrats also argued that the petition should be dismissed because the secretary of state's office has already mailed out ballots to overseas military personnel, and some of those ballots have already been returned. An order to name another Democratic candidate, Rathbun said, would require invalidating votes that have already been cast and requiring those voters to cast new ballots.
Hendricks, the presiding judge on the panel, also raised the question of how officials would handle such a case if a soldier deployed in a combat zone were to die in action before he or she was able to cast a second ballot.
The judges indicated they would issue a decision no later than
1 PM on Thursday so the ballot printing won't be delayed any further.
So, now we wait for yet another court to hand Kansas Republicans and the worst secretary of state in the nation another loss. In the meantime, can you contribute $5 to help elect Jean Schodorf and send Kris Kobach packing?