Anonymous campaign mailers sent ahead of Tuesday election

Registered voters in Wichita have received anonymous letters from “A very upset taxpayer and long time Wichitan” with no return address and identification of the sender ahead of Tuesday’s election.

The letter urges people to “clean house” and not vote for incumbents, including mayoral candidate Jeff Longwell, who has served on the city council for eight years.

John Geckles, a registered voter in Wichita, received the letter on Saturday and was angry about it.

“I think it’s dirty politics,” said Geckles, who suspects it came from a political group but can’t be sure. He questioned the legality of sending unmarked campaign materials.

Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman said her office does not handle complaints on campaign materials and refers those with complaints to the district attorney’s office.

Marc Bennett, district attorney, said that although he cannot comment specifically about this mailer, Kansas law deals with requirements for campaign materials while still leaving room for the First Amendment and freedom of speech expressed by individuals.

“Political fliers, mailers, things that are distributed en masse are supposed to contain the name of the organization and ‘Paid for by,’” Bennett said.

According to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, corrupt political advertising of a state or local office – a Class C misdemeanor – includes “publishing or causing to be published any brochure, flier or other political fact sheet which expressly advocates the nomination, election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate for a state or local office, unless such matter is followed by a statement which states: ‘Paid for’ or ‘Sponsored by’ followed by the name of the chairperson or treasurer of the political or other organization sponsoring the same or the name of the individual who is responsible...”

There is an exception to that part of the law that says the disclosure of the person doesn’t apply to “individuals making expenditures in an aggregate amount of less than $2,500 within a calendar year.”

When a mailer is anonymous, it makes it nearly impossible to determine if an individual meets that criteria.

This story was originally published April 6, 2015 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Anonymous campaign mailers sent ahead of Tuesday election."