Firm linked to misleading abortion text got money from former Kansas congressman’s PAC

A political action committee chaired by former U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp spent more than $26,000 on Alliance Forge, the Republican-linked tech firm that leased the phone numbers used to send misleading text messages advocating for an amendment stripping abortion rights from the Kansas Constitution.

Do Right PAC is the only major group working to pass the amendment that reported paying Alliance Forge this year, according to PAC finance reports filed with the Kansas Ethics Commission. Do Right’s spending report, which covers Jan. 1, 2022, through July 18, 2022, doesn’t say on what day it paid Alliance Forge.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Alliance Forge, a Nevada-based firm, had leased the phone numbers. Alliance Forge didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Star. The Post later updated the story to identify Huelskamp’s PAC as responsible for the text messages, citing anonymous sources.

“Alliance Forge did not consult on this message’s messaging strategy or content,” Alliance Forge chief executive David Espinosa told The Post in a statement.

Huelskamp didn’t respond to multiple calls from The Star on Monday and Tuesday. A message sent to an email address for Do Right PAC wasn’t immediately answered.

Huelskamp, a hard-right Republican, represented western Kansas in Congress from 2011 to 2017. Roger Marshall beat him in the 2016 Republican primary. A long-time abortion opponent, Huelskamp was arrested during the 1991 “Summer of Mercy” protests in Wichita that targeted physician George Tiller.

While Do Right PAC hasn’t commented, every other major group working to pass the amendment —including the Value Them Both Association and Kansans for Life— said Monday that it had no role in the texts.

Groups lobbying for or against the amendment must file reports, regardless of whether they are based in Kansas. Mark Skoglund, director of the Kansas Ethics Commission, also confirmed that the reports cover spending specifically for or against the amendment. The next finance reports are due Aug. 17.

The messaging platform used to send the texts said it had suspended the sender of the texts from its platform. Twilio, the developers of a communications app often used by political campaigns, deemed the messages violated their terms of use which prohibit the “spread of disinformation.”

The move came hours after Kansans, including former Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, received the messages the day before polls closed on a ballot measure that would remove the right to an abortion from the state constitution.

A yes vote would add language removing the right to abortion, which would allow lawmakers to pass laws severely restricting or banning abortion. A no vote would keep the status quo and uphold a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court decision that found a right to end a pregnancy within the Kansas Constitution.

Cris Paden, a spokesperson for Twilio, confirmed the suspension in an email Tuesday.