Led by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Vice President Mike Pence, the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity would be an amusing, money-wasting sideshow if not for the serious damage it could do.

Kobach and crew recently prompted actual guffaws at a meeting when a so-called expert proposed voters undergo the same background checks as gun buyers.

It’s unknown whether the presidential commission would propose loopholes to allow voters to avoid background checks, as the government does for gun buyers.

It’s also unknown how background checks would enhance the system’s integrity.

Studies and data show voting violations are rare, but the most common voting law violations that do occur involve absentee ballots and people voting in multiple states. Neither would be prevented by conducting background checks.

But the commission isn’t really interested in credible data or improving the integrity of elections, which brings us to the damaging part.

The commission’s goals can be understood by looking at Kansas’ elections as overseen by Kobach.

Kansas last year threw out 13,717 ballots that residents cast in the November election. That’s more trashed ballots than Florida, which has several times more residents.

A review by the Associated Press showed that Kansas tossed out about three times as many ballots as states of similar size.

Kansas officials offered no plausible explanation.

The state also denied an untold number of Kansans their right to vote because the secretary of state said there was a “glitch” in the system.

No efforts were made to notify the public or those individuals affected. And no pre-election steps were taken to correct the situation for affected Kansans.

There also have been problems with Kobach’s office providing accurate information on voter registration deadlines. And Kobach also has had issues complying with judges’ rulings when he loses voting rights cases in court.

Kobach’s overall strategy is to reduce voter turnout among certain demographic groups that are likely to vote for Democrats. It’s how he hopes to help himself get elected governor in 2018 and to help President Donald Trump win re-election in 2020.

To further his cause, Kobach is writing political columns for the conservative website Breitbart. In one, he claimed massive fraud in the 2016 New Hampshire election.

At the voting panel’s September meeting, New Hampshire officials explained to Kobach why his claims were reckless and wrong. College students in New Hampshire can legally register and vote locally – even if they have not switched the address on their driver’s license. That’s the case in many states.

Kobach knew that. But as his record in Kansas shows, he chooses to ignore facts in favor of sensational allegations and malfeasance. So expect Kobach and the commission to continue on their reckless path, focusing not on facts, but on what they want the country to believe.

And expect them to continue to ignore the biggest threat to our elections: Russia’s interference. Russia was responsible for propaganda, the distribution of fake news and a series of email hacks. Russia also infiltrated states’ voting systems. According to testimony at congressional hearings, those efforts were successful in at least some instances.

The refusal to address documented foreign threats in favor of targeting American voters makes clear the panel’s goal. It doesn’t want to enhance the integrity of the election process; Kobach and crew intend to undermine it.

They want to create mistrust and doubt about elections, then persuade Congress and states that additional laws are needed. Those new laws would help limit participation in elections to voters who think and act like Kobach and Trump.

Journalists and government watchdogs who have tried to keep informed about the panel’s plans and actions have repeatedly been denied access to what should be public records.

For example, Kobach and the panel aren’t using government email accounts, as required by federal law. Instead they use private emails to discuss public business. Kobach claims the emails are exempt from open records law because he’s serving on the panel not as an official of Kansas, but as a private citizen.

Like so many of Kobach’s claims, that one defies reality, logic and the law.

 

 

The following is from a transcript of President Donald Trump’s remarks at a recent campaign rally in Phoenix:

“It’s time to expose the crooked media deceptions, and to challenge the media for their role in fomenting divisions.”

(Applause)

“And yes, by the way — and yes, by the way, they are trying to take away our history and our heritage. You see that.”

(Booing)

“… These are truly dishonest people. And not all of them. Not all of them. You have some very good reporters. You have some very fair journalists. But for the most part, honestly, these are really, really dishonest people, and they’re bad people. And I really think they don’t like our country. …”

Trump’s remarks were not surprising. Hatred for journalists has been one of the few issues on which the president has been consistent.

Many Americans share that hatred, so maybe it’s time to meet some of the people the president calls the enemy.

For example, Anja Niedringhaus and Kathy Gannon.

Niedringhaus was killed and Gannon was shot twice but survived in Afghanistan in April 2014.

The two Associated Press journalists were covering Afghan elections when an Afghan police officer walked up to their car and shot them.

Niedringhaus was German. Gannon was born in Canada.

Both were experienced international journalists.

Much of the international news Americans get originates from a huge network of journalists who work far from their homes and families. In other cases, local journalists are hired because they know the issues and the terrain – geographic and political.

That was the case with Nick Ut.

In the 1960s, when Ut was 15, he went to work for AP in Vietnam, following in the footsteps of an older brother who was killed by the Vietcong while shooting photos for AP.

Ut gained fame with a photo of a young girl, doused in napalm, fleeing a Vietnamese village.

After taking the photo, Ut rushed to the girl, providing first aid and getting her to a hospital.

Ut immigrated to the United States in the 1970s and became a naturalized citizen. He continued to work for AP for more than 50 years, retiring earlier this year.

Daniel Pearl’s career wasn’t nearly as long. He died in 2002 at the age of 38.

Pearl, a southeast Asia reporter for the Wall Street Journal, grew up in Los Angeles. He was, according to friends, full of heart and humor. He had a gift for music and for journalism.

He was kidnapped and murdered by al-Qaida terrorists in Pakistan. He left behind a pregnant wife.

But you don’t have to travel abroad to face danger as a journalist – although unlike in many nations, murders of journalists in the United States are rare.

Chauncy Bailey was killed because of a story. As editor of the Oakland Post in California, he was investigating a crime ring being run out of a local business when he was shot and killed in 2007.

I’m not arguing that all journalists are like Bailey, Niedringhaus, Pearl or Ut.

Far from it.

Most of us who make a living in journalism will tell you we aren’t heroes. Not even close.

And we’ll tell you journalism is more often about covering school board meetings and reading court documents than the stuff of action movies.

We’ll also tell you that journalists are like the rest of your neighbors or acquaintances you see in the grocery store. Journalists care for elderly parents. They struggle with how to save money for their kids’ education. They try to balance family and work. A few may drink too much. Or cheat on their taxes.

In other words, journalists are like most people.

Despite what some Trump lackeys claim, real reporters don’t make millions of dollars. And they don’t spend their time in front of cameras spouting political rhetoric.

Their mission is to find, report and explain the events and developments that shape your world.

None of them do it perfectly, and not all of them do it well. But most of them are good at their jobs.

On the whole, it’s a profession with more honor and honesty than most.

History can be messy, as demonstrated by the debates over statues and monuments that honor leaders of the Confederacy, such as Robert E. Lee.

Messy can be a good thing – or at least better than insisting on a simplistic, good-versus-evil version of history.

Messy allows us to recognize the failures of our past and the flaws of our heroes – and appreciate the progress we have made as a nation.

Consider the controversy in Charlottesville, Virginia. No, not the one that arose when white supremacists came to town shouting Nazi slogans and assaulting their political foes.

A few months earlier, the president of the University of Virginia was lambasted by students and faculty because she often quoted Thomas Jefferson.

Never mind that Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, was the nation’s third president, almost doubled the size of the country with the Louisiana Purchase, and founded and designed the university they attend.

He also owned slaves.

For that evil, the protesters argued, he should be refused all honors.

Their argument refuses to recognize the evolution of society. It rejects the idea that we should judge people in the context of their own period in history, which came with different morals and values.

It’s as if, even though they attend a major university, they never learned that what makes history – and heroes – are humans who achieve great things despite their flaws and weaknesses.

It’s true some flaws and failings are so serious that they should disqualify a person from being honored. Where to draw that line is subjective.

But we shouldn’t conflagrate the issue of statues with the issue of bigotry. Eliminating the former won’t eradicate the latter.

If tearing down Confederate statues could eliminate prejudice, many of us would stand in line to buy hammers. But our messy history and the even messier histories of other countries provide ample proof that removing symbols doesn’t erase evil.

Consider Russia, where government officials have a long record of rewriting the past, and ridding the present of historical figures who drop from favor. It’s a country that after the fall of the Soviet Union renamed its cities, tore down statues of its Communist leaders and rewrote its history books.

None of that stopped Vladimir Putin from taking power and resurrecting authoritarian and oppressive policies reminiscent of Josef Stalin.

Putin is a fan of Stalin, who killed millions of his own citizens. Under Putin’s leadership, monuments to the once-repudiated despot have begun to return, as Putin has imprisoned and killed his political foes, invaded neighboring nations and took control of the media.

No, a nation that denies its past is not protected from those who would repeat it.

It’s a lesson worth heeding as, in New York City, officials consider removing a statue of Christopher Columbus as a “symbol of hate.”

While it’s worth discussing whether white Europeans should get credit for “discovering” lands inhabited by complex societies, it’s also worth considering how European exploration and trade shaped the world in which we live.

Columbus is a historic figure because of his achievements and their consequences.

The same is true of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and numerous other leaders whose value systems, from our modern perspective, were shamefully flawed. But who, given the mores of the time, were mere humans who accomplished great things.

As others have noted in the debate over statues, Washington dedicated much of his life to forming our nation. In contrast, Robert E. Lee gained fame trying to destroy it.

Some people have suggested that statues of Confederate war heroes be replaced with their Union counterparts, but that would create more problems. Many statues of Union military leaders are already under fire because of the Army’s inhumane and brutal treatment of Indians before and after the Civil War.

As an alternative, the politically correct might suggest that we memorialize Indian leaders. But many Indian tribes and leaders kept slaves.

So instead of replacing statues and controversies, why not let them stand as symbols of our progression as a society.

Give Americans more information about the flaws of our heroes and the mistakes of history. We will be a better nation if, rather than deny our history, we learn from it.

 

Kansas has made little progress in its efforts to create good-paying jobs for its residents.

Since Labor Day 2016, there’s been little growth in employment, and the size of the state’s labor force is stagnant.

Despite what you hear from Gov. Sam Brownback’s cheerleaders, the disappointing numbers are not a result of a tax increase passed by the Legislature. Data show that the jobs picture actually started to improve once state lawmakers got serious about a plan that would allow Kansas to meet its financial obligations.

But that likely is coincidence.

The ability of state officials to affect the economy is minimal. Too many other weighty factors are at work, such as the farm and oil economies and aviation and ag-related manufacturing.

What those in charge of policy can do to boost the economy is provide a fair tax policy that puts the state on solid fiscal ground. And they can offer a good education to every Kansan who wants to improve life for himself and his family.

In coming months, here are some numbers to help track how we’re doing in putting the pieces together:

1,427,140

According to the federal Department of Labor, that’s how many Kansans were employed in July. The number represents an increase of about 9,000 from July 2016, but that was after a couple of years of declines, leaving the number close to what it was back in July 2014.

The federal government uses two surveys to measure employment – one of businesses and another of households. The surveys’ numbers differ because they measure different employment situations; the thing to watch is how either count changes over time.

Any politician can spin a particular month – making it seem really good or bad by comparing it to his month or year of choice. Looking at several data points over longer periods of time provides a better idea of whether Kansas is offering its residents jobs and attracting new workers with opportunities.

1,482,735

That was the size of the labor force in July.

And it’s one of the more worrisome numbers for people who care about the state.

The labor force includes adults who are working or who are looking for work. And it has been shrinking in recent years.

It is about 2,000 higher than in July 2016, but it’s down more than 10,000 from July 2014.

The shrinking labor pool is the main reason the state’s unemployment rate is low: It’s not because job growth is good, but because the labor pool is getting smaller.

That’s especially important to western Kansas businesses that have trouble finding good workers.

31 percent

That’s the percentage of Kansans 25 and older who have earned at least a bachelor’s degree.

The figure is good compared to similar states. And although we lag behind states such as Colorado, Kansas is positioned well to compete for high-paying, skilled jobs if we’re willing to invest in ourselves.

A study by Wallethub, and published by Forbes, ranked the most educated states in the country. The analysis considered not only education attainment, but also the quality of K-12 schools and gaps in performance among races.

Kansas ranked 14^th, between New York and Hawaii.

Massachusetts, Maryland and Colorado were at the top of the list.

At the bottom were Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia.

Too many politicians and Kansas leaders claim that Kansans don’t need college educations. And while it’s true that not all of us are cut out for college – and that there are jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree – it’s also true that a college education provides people with more options and greater opportunity.

Let’s not sell our kids or our state short.

38^th

That’s the ranking Kansas got in another Wallethub study – one that measured economic health and potential. As noted above, the state has been hurt by the sluggish farm economy and low prices for oil

But, consider: Colorado, Maryland and Massachusetts all made it into the top 10. At the bottom were Mississippi, Louisiana and West Virginia.

That’s likely not a coincidence.