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Kansas gubernatorial candidate and lawyer Kris Kobach earned more than $800,000—and more in political capital—by helping clients craft anti-immigration ordinances that were largely unenforceable, costing them hundreds of thousands or even millions in expenses, according to a joint report from the Kansas City Star and ProPublica. The report states that Kobach would approach towns with a perceived immigration problem and offer his help in crafting anti-immigrant ordinances. But these ordinances, the report adds, were so poorly written that they were largely either unenforceable or overturned, leaving towns burdened by legal fees. One town had to file for a state bailout after it was forced to pay the ACLU $1.4 million in attorneys fees. Kobach’s legal work was so poor in one case, the report notes, that a judge “ordered him to spend six hours in continuing legal education.” Kobach generally denies that his ordinances have failed, and has instead used the cases to attract more business and to bolster both his successful 2010 campaign for Kansas secretary of state and his current campaign for Kansas governor. “It was a sham,” said the former mayor of a town that hired Kobach. He “kept telling us, ‘We can win this. We’ll just keep appealing it,’ which I felt was very misleading. It was just a sad situation that we had to go through, and everybody now regrets it.”