Upon receipt of verification from Hawaii that President Obama was born there, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett said that it satisfies his state’s requirement for placing the President’s name on the ballot for the November election.
After a delay of eight weeks, Bennett finally received verification that allowed him to get out from under national attention he received when he first made the request to Hawaii’s Department of Health. Bennett had responded to a constituent’s request that he verify Obama’s place of birth before allowing his name to be placed on the ballot. When the pressure from an ongoing investigation into Obama’s origins continued to build and Hawaii delayed in responding, Bennett was apparently looking for a way out.
Bennett agreed to see Mike Zullo, Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s lead investigator in the matter, to review the evidence already uncovered that appeared to question the President’s place of birth. Following that interview, Zullo said that Bennett was clearly uncomfortable, remained unconvinced, but was troubled by Hawaii’s delay in responding to his request. Said Zullo:
I knew when I met with Mr. Bennett last week in Phoenix, before we left for Hawaii, that he was desperately trying to get out of the political corner he had painted himself into.
Bennett obviously believed Obama was telling the truth. He was shocked when Hawaii didn’t immediately issue the verification. As it dragged on into weeks, Bennett became desperate to do whatever Hawaii asked to get what amounts to even this meaningless letter.
Zullo had a chance to examine the letter Bennett received from Hawaii’s Department of Health Registrar Alvin Onaka, and noted at least two deficiencies that, in his opinion, rendered it meaningless. The letter didn’t include Obama’s date of birth, and the Registrar’s stamp on the letter was initialed “gk,” which indicated that someone other than Onaka had applied the stamp. Said Zullo: “I suspect these defects are not accidental. My suspicion is that top officials in the Hawaii DOH [Department of Health] and the Hawaii Attorney General’s office created a defective document that could be disclaimed [later] rather than take the time to produce a thoroughly proofread and officially certified legally binding state document.” Zullo added:
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