TOPEKA — An adviser for Republican congressional candidate Derek Schmidt says the “fake newspaper” Democratic rival Nancy Boyda mailed to 160,000 households is “illegal” and “dishonest.”
Schmidt, a three-term Kansas attorney general and former state Senate majority leader, is challenging Boyda for the 2nd District seat that Boyda held from 2007 to 2009.
Boyda has repeatedly produced campaign materials this year without including the mandatory disclosure that they were paid for by her campaign. That includes an eight-page publication, which she labeled “The Kansas Voter Guide,” that arrived in mailboxes last week. A similar publication earlier in the month included the disclosure as part of an advertisement for the campaign at the bottom of Page 5.
The publications provide Boyda-friendly mock news stories, a side-by-side comparison of the candidates on various issues, letters of endorsement for Boyda, and cartoons making fun of Schmidt.
In a statement for this story, Boyda says she mistakenly swapped a page that included the “paid for” designation with the printer at the last minute. She apologized to the voters of the 2nd District and thanked the Kansas Republican Party for calling attention to the situation in its weekly email newsletter.
“Believe me, the last thing we needed was negative press about what we believe is an excellent way to communicate directly with the voters,” Boyda said. “Again, I apologize we did not follow the letter of the law. It was never our intent.”
On Friday, the GOP newsletter complained that Boyda was “breaking federal campaign finance law” by not clearly labeling her publication as paid for by her campaign.
“Politicians who can’t adhere to even the most basic laws do not deserve your approval — or your vote,” the GOP newsletter said.
Kansas GOP chairman Mike Brown in September filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging Boyda failed to include “paid for by” disclosures on billboards, videos, yard signs, campaign communications and her campaign website.
Eric Pahls, a Schmidt adviser, said Boyda was being “intentionally dishonest” by not disclosing her publication was “a paid hit piece.”
“Nancy Boyda’s fake newspaper is just the latest in her series of illegal and deceitful campaign activities that are currently under investigation,” Pahls said in a statement for this story. “She’s either incompetent or dishonest — Kansans will reject her either way.”
Boyda said she originally planned to produce three newspapers, but the printer informed the campaign that it only had the capacity to print two. She said the page that included the “paid for by” designation was “inadvertently left off” when she reworked the second and third mailers into a single publication.
She also noted that the return address on the mailing label reads “Boyda for Congress.”
“I want to be clear, that was our mistake, not the printer’s,” Boyda said. “This is an incredibly busy time for everyone and they were good partners to work with. It was our duty to get it right, not theirs.”
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
Correction: This story has been updated to note that a publication sent by Boyda’s campaign earlier this month included a “paid for by” disclosure as part of an advertisement for the campaign at the bottom of Page 5.
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Mackenzie Clark/Lawrence Times
