Kansas officials bar dog from running for governor

(UPI) The Kansas Secretary of State's Office said a dog that filed paperwork to run for governor is not eligible to serve in the position.

Terran Woolley of Hutchinson filed paperwork last weekend to officially enter his dog, Angus, as a candidate for governor. Woolley had read about teenagers who entered the race after discovering the state does not have any specific eligibility rules.

'Basically, I was reading some stories about the young teenagers that were entering the governor's race and I thought, 'I wonder what it takes to be in the race,' and I thought, 'I wonder if my dog, Angus could run,'" Woolley told KWCH-TV.

The office of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is also running for governor, appeared to bring Angus' candidacy to an end.

"Officially, we will not allow a dog to run for governor," Bryan Caskey, director of elections for the Kansas secretary of state's office, told the Kansas City Star. There's several laws that reference that the governor has to be an individual or a person, and so we are relying on that, and if a dog comes in to file for office, we will not allow that.

Woolley joked that Kobach may have felt threatened by the canine's candidacy.

"I feel that maybe the secretary of state is scared of facing him in the primary or in the general election, I guess, since Angus is a Democrat," Woolley said.

Caskey was asked last September if a dog would be allowed to run for governor in the state.

"I'm not sure how to answer that" he told the Kansas City Star at the time. Because I cannot point to a law that sets any qualifications to run for governor. So a dog has never tried to file -- I don't know what would happen if one tried to. ... I can't point you to a law that says anything about the qualifications to run for governor.