Kansas City News Blog

Earlier this week we reported that Kris Kobach has raked in more than $115,000 defending Hazleton, Pennsylvania — a town sued by the ACLU for passing an immigration ordinance that would punish landlords and business owners for hiring or harboring illegal immigrants. Having helped Mayor Lou Barletta craft the sweeping measure, the University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor stepped in to defend the small city. But Kobach argues he’s no “mercenary.” Though he doesn’t dispute the triple-digit payout we reported, he says it’s a crude representation of his compensation.

“That’s actually sort of a gross number, that includes all the flights to and from Pennsylvania, fifteen days in hotel rooms and some students who, over the summer, wanted to do some work, so I’ve been paying them, as well,” Kobach told the Pitch on August 2, having phoned in from a law school speaking engagement on the East Coast.

“The title, ‘Kobach Cashes In,’ sounded like I was making a mint off it,” he said. “But I’m charging 50 percent of the rate that a Philadelphia partner would charge for the work and two-thirds the rate a Kansas City lawyer would charge.”

He says he’s ready to go pro bono if the city can’t meet his reduced-rate fees. “If they run out of money, I told them I’d represent them for free and finish this case out until the end,” he says.

Until then, we’d wager that Kobach is making more in his part-time defense of Hazleton than most residents of the small Pennsylvania town — especially the immigrants targeted by ordinance. – Carolyn Szczepanski