Attack ad demand. Holscher’s campaign. Medical debt erased.

By Clay Wirestone | opinion editor

TOPEKA — The Tall Oaks Camp and Conference Center demanded Monday that U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall suspend a campaign commercial attacking Democrat Adam Hamilton that made unauthorized use of a photograph of children at Tall Oaks’ chapel in Linwood.

A senior advisor to the Marshall campaign said the ad was “corrected,” but hours after that statement was issued, a version of the commercial available on social media still included an image of the Tall Oaks’ distinctive chapel and about two dozen people sitting on pews.

Lea Ann Combs, president of the board of directors at Tall Oaks, a nonprofit summer camp and retreat center, said Tall Oaks wasn’t consulted by the Marshall campaign and didn’t approve inclusion of the photograph in the commercial. The ad denounced Hamilton in relation to allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated by a volunteer at Church of the Resurrection, the prominent Johnson County-based church founded and led by Hamilton.

“Our concern is straightforward,” Combs said. “This advertisement creates a misleading association between Tall Oaks, the young people pictured and events that did not happen here. Protecting the dignity of these young people and accurately representing our organization should be a shared priority.”

She said Marshall’s campaign should stop broadcasting the 30-second commercial until confirming the Tall Oaks photograph had been deleted.

TOPEKA — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cindy Holscher closed out a campaign interview by accepting the hypothetical challenge of trying to persuade a group of undecided Kansans to vote for her.

Holscher, who is challenging Republican nominee Ty Masterson on Nov. 3, slipped into campaign mode to emphasize her accomplishments as a member of the Legislature and the value of a governor working collaboratively at the Statehouse. She said the next governor must deliver for regular Kansans struggling to make ends and not kowtow to corporate elites or special-interest lobbyists.

TOPEKA — More than 21,000 Kansans are set to receive a letter this month notifying them that their medical debt has disappeared.

A pair of nonprofit organizations announced they will abolish nearly $34 million in medical debt for 21,490 Kansans who meet certain criteria in a large-scale, one-time economic relief initiative.

By Amii Castle

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that election officials can remove registered voters from their voter rolls using an inaccurate system called the SAVE database.

President Donald Trump wants to sharply curtail mail ballots. He’s called them “inherently corrupt” and baselessly condemned them as a major source of fraud.

A court battle that began when conservative-led states sued to block protections for transgender people has ended in a rollback of protections for people with disabilities — a result disability advocates have feared for months.

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