Group behind misleading abortion amendment texts tied to former Congressman Tim Huelskamp, report says
A PAC led by former Congressman Tim Huelskamp was behind a misleading text message urging support for a proposed abortion amendment to the Kansas Constitution, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
The messages, which were sent Monday afternoon to registered Democrat voters, inaccurately implied that voting yes on the amendment would protect abortion rights in the Kansas Constitution, when in fact the opposite is true.
Kansas voters are heading to the polls Tuesday to weigh in on the amendment. A "yes" vote would support amending the constitution to say that abortion rights are not protected under the Kansas Constitution. A "no" vote would preserve that right.
More: Kansas voters decide future of post-Roe abortion rights with election results hours away
"Voting Yes on the Amendment will give women a choice," the messages at issue read. "Vote YES to protect women’s health."
The Post reported Tuesday afternoon that the Do Right PAC, led by Huelskamp, paid a Nevada Firm, Alliance Forge, to defend the text messages.
The group didn't respond to an email seeking comment Monday about their possible involvement and Huelskamp didn't immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment Tuesday.
Of the Do Right PAC's $254,000 in donations reported to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission last month, $250,000 come from Catholic Vote Action, an Indiana-based group that bills itself as "America's top Catholic advocacy organization."
The Ethics Commission report also shows over $26,000 in payments to Alliance Forge.
The number that sent the texts was leased from Twilio, a California-based company. Company spokesperson Cris Paden said in an email Tuesday that the number was disabled for violating the company's terms of service, "specifically prohibiting the spread of disinformation."
Mark Skoglund, director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, said Monday the texts don't violate state law.
If a text blast advocates for or against a candidate, then messages are required to have a "paid for" attribution denotating its origin.
But a separate statute governs communications related to constitutional amendments and makes no mention of telephonic or text message communications, Skoglund said.
Additionally, there is no statutory requirement that any campaign messaging be truthful.
The texts would appear to violate Federal Communications Commission rules requiring texts and calls state their source at the beginning of the message.
Andrew Bahl is a senior statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at abahl@gannett.com or by phone at 443-979-6100.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas abortion amendment texts from Tim Huelskamp PAC, report says
