“Birther” Challenge @ Kansas Objections Board Hearing

I haven’t been following this very much, but here is the skinny from HUFFPOs viewpoint. 

The deal is that Kansas officials plan to hold a hearing this afternoon (9/13) to weigh whether President Barack Obama is a citizen and should appear on the state’s November ballot.

snip:

The Kansas Objections Board will be considering a challenge filed by Joe Montgomery, a Manhattan resident, who Monday objected to Obama being on the ballot. He claims the president is not an American citizen since his father was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Kenya. The all-Republican board — which consists of Secretary of State Kris Kobach, Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer and Attorney General Derek Schmidt — has the power to remove Obama from the ballot in his mother’s home state.

I love how they point out that the board is “all Republican”.  Like the average Republican politician would even have the nuts to take this issue seriously.

Montgomery, the communications coordinator for the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University, said in his filing that he does not believe Obama meets the criteria for citizenship because of his father’s citizenship. He cites several Supreme Court rulings in the filing, which he says validate his argument. In the filing, Montgomery said that the rulings show a “natural born citizen” is a person born of two American citizens.

Now, here’s the usual kicker – near the bottom of the article:

The Kansas Objections Board previously tossed out an objection to Obama that was filed in April, saying that the board could not consider the objection on technical grounds, since Obama had not been submitted as a candidate for the general election. Obama became a general election candidate during last week’s Democratic National Convention. Other states via courts or elections boards have dismissed objections to Obama’s citizenship and ballot placement.

Alas, it appears that — State Democratic Party officials dismissed Montgomery’s objection and said they would not be attending today’s hearing in Topeka. “This is a fictitious and baseless suit,” state Democratic Party spokesman Dakota Loomis said. “It should be cleaned up by the end of the day.” Full article at pink link.

54 days kittens! 

UPDATE:  The usual glimmer of hope — no doubt to be dashed on the rocks of corrupt and pandering politicians on Monday.

UPDATE: 5:52 p.m. — The all-Republican Objections Board voted unanimously on Thursday afternoon to delay a final decision on Obama’s eligibility for the state’s ballot until a meeting Monday, pending either documentation on the president’s citizenship from Hawaii officials or the presence of the Obama campaign.

According to tweets from the meeting, Kobach proposed that the board meet again Monday to discuss Obama’s citizenship and look into receiving more documentation. Board members expressed concern that Obama’s campaign did not attend the hearing, instead submitting a letter defending the president and saying he is eligible for the ballot in Kansas. State Democratic Party spokesman Dakota Loomis told HuffPost earlier Thursday that Democrats would not be attending the hearing, which he dismissed as “fictitious and baseless.”

Joe Montgomery, the Kansas State University employee who brought the objection, attended the hearing. Tweets from meeting attendees indicated that the entire board had concerns about Obama’s campaign not attending.

In May, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R) suggested that he would not allow Obama onto his state’s ballot unless Hawaii provided a certified copy of the president’s birth certificate. Hawaiian officials provided a list of steps on how they would release the documents, requiring Arizona to prove need. Bennett later backed down on the suggestion.