KPR file photo of Kansas House Minority Leader Paul Davis (photo by Stephen Koranda)
Updated!
Within hours of releasing its first television ad, the Paul Davis campaign came under fire from the Kansas Republican Party because an actor used in the commercial had an arrest record for sex crimes. Davis, the Democratic candidate for governor, quickly pulled the ad and issued an apology. KPR's J. Schafer has more.
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Davis TV Ad Dismisses "Liberal" Label in KS Gov's Race
For more than a month, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has been calling his Democratic opponent, Paul Davis, a “liberal, Lawrence lawyer who loves President Obama.” Today (WED), the Davis campaign fired back. Sort of. KPR’s J. Schafer has more.
This (WED) afternoon, the Kansas Republican Party issued a press release stating that Jeff Montague (MAWN-tayg), who appeared with Davis in the ad, was arrested in 2007 as part of a prostitution sting operation in Topeka. The Kansas GOP also says that Montague was suspended from a teaching position at Topeka's Seaman High School due to inappropriate conduct with a male foreign exchange student, and was subsequently banned from participating in events carried out under the auspices of the Boy Scouts of America.
Hours after the Kansas Republican Party's revelations, the Davis campaign removed the ad from its website. Paul Davis issued the following statement: "We produced a series of ads. Today, it was brought to our attention that a participant in one of those ads has serious issues in his background. Upon hearing of these issues, the ad, which ran for a few hours, was pulled down immediately. I want to apologize to Kansans for this mistake."