State Senate confirms Kobach’s pick to lead the Kansas Bureau of Investigation
The Kansas Senate unanimously approved Tony Mattivi to lead the state’s top investigative agency.
Mattivi, a former federal prosecutor and candidate for Kansas attorney general, has led the Kansas Bureau of Investigation on an interim basis since the beginning of the year. The Senate’s unanimous vote moved him into the role on a permanent basis.
“His experience is exactly what this state needs in this very important role,” said Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced last year he would nominate Mattivi to the role after he beat Mattivi in the Republican primary for attorney general.
“I can think of no one that I would put my reputation behind, and my sense of duty behind more so than Tony Mattivi,” Kobach said during Mattivi’s confirmation hearing Tuesday.
“He’s got what it takes.”
Mattivi spent 22 years as a federal prosecutor. As an assistant U.S. attorney in Kansas, he worked on federal drug trafficking cases and several high-profile terrorism cases. During his career he also volunteered to assist with war crime trials of officials from Saddam Hussein’s regime and terrorism detainees at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay.
After retiring in November 2021, Mattivi worked as general counsel for Medcor, an international company specializing in health care services for businesses.
During his confirmation hearing Tuesday, Mattivi said he had worked with the KBI throughout his career in federal law enforcement.
He said Kobach had already asked him to start an initiative to prosecute distributors of fentanyl once he is confirmed, including investigating fentanyl overdoses as homicide and increasing sentences for those convicted.
“I am very disturbed troubled and concerned about what we are seeing across law enforcement,” Mattivi said. “I worry we are at the leading edge of a tidal wave.”
