Tony Mattivi: I’m the Republican with experience to be Kansas’ next attorney general
Throughout my campaign for the Republican nomination for Kansas attorney general, I have been overwhelmingly endorsed and supported by the law enforcement community of our state. I am honored to have that support, but many observers say it shouldn’t come as a surprise: I’m the only candidate in the race who would bring law enforcement qualifications to the job. Political observers were more surprised when I picked up the endorsement of The Kansas City Star. After all, I am a firm and unapologetic conservative. The editorial board of The Star is certainly not.
But reading The Star’s endorsement, its reasoning makes sense, at least to sensible people. The board understands that the office is too important to be used as a political weapon. The attorney general is the chief law enforcement official of the state. Despite my conservative values, The Star recognizes that my experience and my commitment to the office matter more than anything else. The board look at my opponents and see career politicians who will engage in political stunts. Yes, The Star board members disagrees with some of their conservative positions as they disagree with mine. But more important, they don’t want to see the office’s primary mission — law enforcement — fall to the wayside in favor of failed political lawsuits. In short, they don’t want to see our state embarrassed.
Why would The Star fear that our state will be embarrassed by my opponents? I’m not running for office to disparage either of them. But I don’t think it’s an unfair attack to point out that state Sen. Kellie Warren is stunningly unqualified for the job as the state’s chief law enforcement official. She has never prosecuted a single criminal case — not even a traffic ticket — and she has a shockingly slim resume as a courtroom attorney. Being a property lawyer is a noble and honorable profession, but it isn’t a qualification to be our state’s chief law enforcement official or even our state’s chief litigation counsel. Warren tells us that she will sue President Joe Biden, but she doesn’t mention that she has zero experience standing at a podium in federal court. Does Warren really believe that when she shows up to federal court — for the first time — to take on the Biden administration, she will be an even match for its attorneys?
Kris Kobach’s legal resume may be longer than Warren’s, but it is no more impressive. He boasts about having prosecuted voter fraud cases as Kansas secretary of state, but the public record reveals a slew of dismissals and diversions. Not one person is sitting in a jail cell today because of Kobach’s crusade only a few short years ago. And other cases brought by Kobach have ended in failure — not just defeat (no attorney is going to win every case), but embarrassing episodes of repudiation by a judiciary that is fed up with his antics. That’s why Kansas has had to pay millions to the ACLU in legal fees and why a Republican-appointed judge ordered Kobach back to remedial legal education.
But you have to hand it to these politicians: They’re undaunted by their failures. Whether it’s Warren’s blithe dismissal of courtroom experience or Kobach’s resume of failure, Kansans should be worried. Both of my opponents promise to pick up the banner and charge headlong into the fray. But neither of them has the experience or the discipline to pick the right fights and actually win them. The result would be an expensive and embarrassing string of headline-grabbing lawsuits. All the while, the professionals in the office would languish under the leadership of an attorney general who doesn’t know or doesn’t care what their job really is.
Tony Mattivi is a career prosecutor who retired from the U.S. Department of Justice last year. He is a candidate for the Republican nomination for Kansas attorney general.
