Senate race a sideshow

The novelty of seeing Kansas at the center of the fight over U.S. Senate control is wearing off, as partisans start to demonstrate how far they are willing to go to assure victory for their side.

The Kansas Supreme Court justices stood out amid the nonsense last week for unanimously and quickly doing their job of settling a narrow and legitimate question: whether Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor had complied with state law in his Sept. 3 letter ending his challenge to Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., or whether Secretary of State Kris Kobach was justified in keeping him on the ballot.

Instead of declaring himself “incapable of fulfilling the duties of office if elected,” as called for in a 1997 law, Taylor asked that his name be withdrawn “pursuant to” the statute. The court decided that wording did the trick and Taylor’s name must go.

But judging from the hysterical responses, you’d have thought the court had issued its decision on letterhead for the campaign of Greg Orman – the well-funded independent who looks strong in the opinion polls against Roberts and even stronger without Taylor in the race.

One of the new national hired guns for Roberts’ campaign, Corry Bliss, baselessly accused the “liberal activist Supreme Court justices” of “deliberately, and for political purposes,” disenfranchising more than 65,000 voters. Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, called it “troubling to see our state’s highest court again perpetuate political activism and condone a national power play that deceives and invalidates Kansas voters.”

And Kobach didn’t help his credibility, already suspect because he is on Roberts’ campaign committee, by first saying that ballots must be mailed to overseas voters this weekend, then, after the Supreme Court overturned his decision, saying he would delay the mailing a week, and then reversing himself and ordering the ballots mailed but with a disclaimer. Meanwhile, it’s unclear whether Kobach can force the Democrats to pick a replacement candidate (though that won’t stop the litigious secretary of state from trying).

Nor should the court’s ruling be any source of pride for Kansas Democrats. If Taylor was not committed to running and serving if elected, he shouldn’t have argued otherwise to primary voters. In the absence of a credible explanation for Taylor’s sudden exit, the involvement in the case of prominent Democratic attorney Marc Elias spoke volumes.

Meanwhile, with the court ruling having caused some prognosticators to suggest the Democrats might hold the Senate after all, many eyes and much unregulated campaign dollars are about to focus on Kansas in dueling efforts to save Roberts or help Orman.

If some voters may turn off entirely and sit out the election, disenfranchised out of disgust, others will surely see the display as proving Orman’s point about how worthless Washington has become.

Kansas voters will need to keep their wits about them from now through Nov. 4, as out-of-staters with more money than conscience bombard them via media, phone and mailbox. And the next time Kansans feel taken for granted and left out of the national political fights, they can recall 2014 and shudder.

For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

This story was originally published September 20, 2014 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Senate race a sideshow."