Be skeptical of campaign mailer claims

Voters, beware. Some of those colorful postcards filling up mailboxes are worthy of suspicion. And the closer to the Aug. 2 primary, the harsher and even wilder the claims may get.

The timing is by design, of course, allowing little opportunity for candidates to respond or news media to do fact-checking.

If something sounds sketchy, try to check the source. Some of the direct mail pieces come not from candidates themselves but from outside groups with wholesome- or patriotic-sounding names meant to obscure their funders’ identity and agenda.

For example, a political action committee that calls itself Quality Schools for All Kansas Kids recently sent voters a card claiming state Senate candidate Troy Tabor “chose roads” over “our schools and children’s education.” That was the PAC’s twisted interpretation of a Facebook post in which Tabor criticized the relentless diversion of highway funds to cover budget shortfalls.

Quality Schools for All Kansas Kids is getting funding from the Kansas Chamber of Commerce PAC, which does not have a reputation of being pro-public schools.

Tabor, who called Quality Schools for All Kansas Kids a “false front,” is challenging Sen. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, whose role as Senate budget chair makes him accountable for the state’s highway fund sweeps and other fiscal decisions.

The Kansas Chamber also has ties to the Main Street Kansas PAC, which is behind mailers baselessly claiming candidates want to raid and privatize Medicare. Meanwhile, Kansas Club for Growth cards make dubious claims about candidates having “kept schools open” and “ended secret property tax increases.”

Groups supporting moderate Republicans can be accused of playing a sort of name game, too – including the Save Kansas Coalition (the anti-Brownback effort endorsed by four former governors), Game on for Kansas Schools and the MainStream Coalition’s MainPAC.

Even if the postcard sender’s name rings a bell, the message may be suspect. The Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce political action committee has a mailer out this week supporting Rep. Gene Suellentrop’s state Senate candidacy that credits him with helping keep schools open – though he called in late May for the Legislature to go ahead and let the Supreme Court close schools July 1.

Rather than take whatever a last-minute mailer says as truth, check other sources of information such as The Eagle’s online Voters Guide, which lays out candidates’ backgrounds and positions on the issues.

Then vote with care.

This story was originally published July 27, 2016 at 12:07 AM with the headline "Be skeptical of campaign mailer claims."