Foe of immigrant tuition denies supremacist links

The star witness for supporters of a bill that would repeal a law that allows in-state tuition for undocumented students has allegedly received financial backing from white supremacists, opponents of the bill say.

But attorney Kris Kobach dismisses the claims by immigrant rights activists as as "hurtful" smear campaign.

Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri, has testified before House committees that Utah is placing itself at risk of a lawsuit by allowing undocumented students who meet certain requirements to pay in-state tuition, while citizens from other states pay a higher rate.

The bill, HB7, saw what could be its death knell Friday. The House Rules Committee, which has previously held the bill, sent it to the House floor on a 6-4 vote. But the House voted 35-34 to effectively return the bill to Rules.

During the final three days of the session next week, the legislative rules dictate that the House and Senate work on the other chamber's bills. However, if the rules are suspended — which often happens if they convene in the evening — the House could consider their own bills, and Rules could send out additional bills.

Sponsor Rep. Glenn Donnelson, R-North Ogden, said as far as Kobach's alleged ties to white supremacists goes, the most important thing is that Kobach "knows the law."

"Whatever he does in his campaign doesn't taint the law," Donnelson said. "All kinds of slander goes on. ... It doesn't concern me."

Kobach is lead attorney in a federal lawsuit over a similar law in Kansas and is an attorney in a California state suit over the same issue. Utah Assistant Attorney General Bill Evans has said that Utah isn't violating any law by offering the tuition rate to undocumented students.

While Kobach calls white supremacy "reprehensible," a source of his campaign funding does have an indirect connection.

When he ran for Congress in 2004, Kobach's campaign received $10,000 in donations from the U.S. Immigration Reform PAC, according to Federal Election Commission reports. The PAC is chaired by Mary Lou Tanton, whose husband, John Tanton, publishes The Social Contract, edited by Wayne Lutton.

Lutton is also associate editor and book review editor for The Occidental Quarterly, a publication that civil rights groups say is a white supremacist organ. The quarterly's mission statements says in part: "Immigration into the United States should be restricted to selected people of European ancestry."