LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Douglas County commissioners are keeping a building code that requires a mandatory penalty for constructing a home without a permit amid claims of favoritism toward Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
The commission on Wednesday heard from a boisterous crowd who questioned why Kobach wasn't fined after be started constructing a residence inside a building previously classified for agricultural use only.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports Kobach told the county's codes department in 2013 he was planning to build a 2,250-square-foot steel barn on his 159 acres.
But in spring 2014 a county inspector found Kobach building a 1,250-square-foot, two-bedroom living space inside the barn. Kobach later received an occupancy permit even though he didn't have an approved water source and the plumbing beneath the concrete foundation hadn't been inspected.
