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Thursday, September 2, 2010
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Still skeptical about Kobach a week later
Published April 3, 2010
Tuesday afternoon brought an interesting e-mail from Carol Dingman, a former city council member in Farmers Branch, Texas.
Farmers Branch, you may recall, is one of the cities receiving legal representation from Kris Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a legal authority on illegal immigration.
The City of Albertville is considering hiring Kobach as legal council. He was invited by Mayor Lindsey Lyons and councilman Chuck Ellis to provide insight into remedies dealing with illegal immigration.
Last week in this space, I gave my opinion that “Kobach had not passed my smell test, not yet,” and I still have the same concern. I am pleased that the Albertville Council decided to take more time on this issue before retaining Kobach, if they do at all.
Emotions on that column are strong, both for and against. Both Ellis and Kobach were given space to respond to my opinion on Tuesday.
You may be interested in Ms. Dingman’s opinion, as well. She served three terms on the Farmers Branch City Council, leaving office in 1987. She is the first woman ever elected to that council, has lived in Farmers Branch since 1970 and has been a leader on a number of local committees.
Ms. Dingman wrote, “I live in Farmers Branch, Texas. As a former city council person, I have closely followed our city’s anti-immigration fight since the beginning.
“I have researched Kris Kobach, who was mentioned the first time this issue came up. Our mayor said he was an expert in immigration law who would help the city on a pro bono basis. I have requested copies of all the legal bills the city has accrued since the start of litigation in 2007. We will have paid almost $4 million in legal fees at the end of this fiscal year (Sept 30, 2010).
“Mr. Kobach was paid $100,000 of that. So much for pro bono. Kobach is closely connected with the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), whose agenda is to use cities and states to test out their immigration legislation to see if it is constitutional.
“Both of our city’s ordinances were written by Kobach and both were ruled unconstitutional. I believe our city’s taxpayers are being asked to foot the bill for the benefit of a national organization that is never mentioned in any discussion of the issue.”
She invited me to call her and we had a nice conversation. She had no trouble speaking her mind and her opinions are strong.
“Farmers Branch got involved with Mr. Kobach in 2006, when one of our very political city councilmen picked him up,” she said.
She isn’t happy with what has happened to her town in the past four years.
“He is hooked up with FAIR,” Dingman said. “Google them and decide if you agree with what they stand for. To me, it seems FAIR is against all immigration, period. FAIR is using our tax dollars to accomplish their mission. They want to effect change, from the bottom up, in small communities and are using our money to do so.”
Dingman is quite angry about that. The legal bill is approaching $4 million. But the money may not be most important to her.
“What is really frustrating,” she said, “is that this fight has really changed the atmosphere of our town. We’ve always had a small-town feel and this issue has destroyed it. It has ruined our reputation. I’ve never seen such hateful rhetoric. We are now known worldwide as a racist city and it has effected our economic development. I’m embarrassed to say I’m from Farmers Branch.”
She closed by saying one more thing.
“The ACLU follows Mr. Kobach around. If your city does what our city did, it will cost more than you expect and it will divide your community.”
Many people were upset by my smell test. Many others supported it wholeheartedly. Ellis, in his rebuttal Tuesday, tried to paint me as a supporter of illegal immigration. That’s nonsense.
Someone needed to say what I did and I’ll say it again. Let’s slow down and really check all this out before we find ourselves four years and $4 million down the road with no real change – unless you want the kind of change Farmers Branch, Texas, has experienced.
I’ll take all the hits necessary to avoid that.
Ben Shurett is publisher of The Sand Mountain Reporter. He can be contacted at ben.shurett(at)sandmountainreporter.com.
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