waivers by the county administration, precipitating public controversy. Kobach served as a missionary to Uganda in 2005 and 2006. Previously, he had volunteered to help build a school in a South African township through the Get Ahead Foundation. He served as a Big Brother. He was a national rowing champion (men's pair event, master's division in 1998; men's double event, master's division, 2001, 2002). He is an Eagle Scout. On February 7, 2018, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) issued an "F" rating, its lowest possible rating, for a Missouri-based group called Veterans in Defense of Liberty (VIDOL). The BBB found that the 501(c)(4) organization received less than 6% of $1.4 million in donations solicited for the organization. Over 94% of funds went to American Target Advertising (ATA), a Virginia-based company which mailed solicitations for donations. Kobach, who has no military background, said he joined the group's advisory board because he cares "deeply about veterans and veterans' issues" and would review the organization's financial records to determine whether to sever ties with the group. In July 2019, VIDOL said it had revised its previous IRS 990 form to reflect a much lower percentage of its revenues going to Richard Viguerie's conservative fundraising apparatus, ATA. Seventeen months later, on July 12, 2019, it was reported that despite the VIDOL organization's difficulties, Kobach still remained on its board of directors. The St. Louis Better Business Bureau indicated it did not have sufficient evidence to revive its original "F" rating. Chris Thetford, spokesman for the Bureau, said Magill's group doesn't currently have a revised rating because its IRS form 990 for 2017 wasn't yet publicly available, so the bureau backed its initial consumer warning, one remaining online with a clarification from the advertising firm about the prodigious costs of outsourcing direct mailings. He said if consumers desire to write a check to the organization they should be told that their contributions are not being solicited for a charitable cause. Thetford further said, "The real issue here...It was not conspicuously disclosed to people on their marketing materials that donations were not tax deductible." In October 2020, Kobach pitched a line of products to Kansas legislators with businessman Daniel Drake, claiming their Sarus Systems products would "kill COVID." Their claims were characterized as misleading and unsubstantiated by an independent investigation, done over a two-month period by the Columbia Journalism Review. Electoral history References Sources External links