Obama Birther Challenge Ends In Kansas

State will continue to review if Obama is eligible to be on ballot

A Kansas man on Friday withdrew a petition in which he argued that President Barack Obama should be removed from the state’s election ballot because he is not a citizen of the United States. The challenge filed this week has reignited the “birther” fiasco that forced Obama to release his official birth certificate to the public last year.

Joe Montgomery, the communications director for the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine, had originally written that “Mr. Obama has failed to provide any valid, certified documentary evidence to legally establish birth in this country, much less to citizen parents. Further there is substantial evidence showing that much of Mr. Obama’s alleged birth certificates have been forged or doctored, and have not been confirmed as legally valid, true and accurate.”

However, after receiving a wave of angry backlash, Montgomery withdrew his claim, writing to Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach, that he did not “wish to burden anyone with more of this negative reaction.”

“There has been a great deal of animosity and intimidation directed not only at me, but at people around me, who are both personal and professional associations,” he wrote. The conservative state is required to review any objections to the ballot, and will continue to try to obtain Obama’s birth certificate to ensure his eligibility for their ballots. Until then, the president will remain on the ballot. (New York Times)