TOPEKA — The U.S. Senate campaign of Republican candidate Roger Marshall defended Wednesday an attack ad against Democrat Barbara Bollier on abortion, gun and immigration policy that relies on aggressively edited video clips of Bollier to distort her remarks about health care, public service and honesty among politicians.
The first general election commercial released by Marshall after winning the GOP nomination in August asserted Bollier sought restrictions on firearms and included video of her saying, “I’ll work to ban them nationwide.” She uttered those six words, but did so while discussing her commitment to working in the Senate to prohibit “surprise” medical bills. The Bollier nugget relied upon by Marshall had nothing to do with guns.
“I’m leading the charge to outlaw surprise bills in Kansas,” Bollier said in her July 23 campaign ad. “And, I approve this message because in Washington, I’ll work to ban them nationwide and that will come as no surprise.”
