In an interview with TPM earlier this week, Kobach defended the move and Newby’s authority to issue it. He denied that it was any special favor from a former colleague, and said the state would have requested the proof-of-citizenship requirement no matter who stepped into the role of executive director of the commission.
“We had the letter drafted long before Newby was selected and it was going to go to whoever the new executive director was,” Kobach said when asked by TPM whether Newby’s appointment to the position played a role in the state’s request to change the form. “We were just waiting for an executive to be appointed, and whoever it was would have gotten the same letter.”