(Updated: Adds comment from Orman, Kobach campaigns)
State ethics officials on Monday fielded inquiries about text messages from the same phone number urging to voters to back independent candidate Greg Orman and Republican Kris Kobach in the Kansas governor’s race.
One text message sent Monday — less than 24 hours before the polls open — noted that Democrat Laura Kelly once had an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association. It said, “Greg Orman has consistently supported common sense gun laws. Vote Greg Orman. It matters.”
Another text came from the same phone number on Sept. 28, saying, “Kris Kobach is a dependable leader with a plan to move Kansas forward. Watch your mailbox for the Kris Kobach information pamphlet we sent you. Thanks!”
A spokeswoman for the Kobach campaign was looking into the matter late Monday afternoon. Kobach’s campaign manager, J.R. Claeys, said late Monday that the Kobach campaign did not send out the text. He further added that the flier referenced in the text message did not exist. The Orman campaign said it did not send out the text message. The Kelly campaign didn’t comment.
Orman spokesman Nick Connors chalked the text up to “dirty” political tricks trying to tie Kobach to Orman and dissuade independent voters from casting a ballot for Orman.
“They’re trying to link Kris Kobach and Greg Orman as the same team and they’re trying to get the media to write a story so they can push it around and they can say, ‘Hey, look independents, Kris Kobach and Greg Orman are the same person, they’re on the same team,” Connors said. “It’s a cheap dirty to try and link Kris Kobach and Greg Orman together.”
Mark Skoglund, executive director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, said his office had received some questions about the text messages. He couldn’t say anything beyond that the agency had received questions about the texts.
Neither text had a paid-for attribution. But under state law, a paid-for attribution is not required for social media messages of 280 characters or less, namely for the Twitter platform.
The law is less clear about whether a paid-for attribution is required for text messages, officials said.
