The state’s top governmental ethics official wants to require recorded campaign telephone messages to identify who is paying for those messages.

The same kind of requirement already applies to most print and broadcast political advertisements, and Carol Williams, executive director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, said the requirement should apply to the recorded campaign messages that come into voters’ homes and workplaces by telephone.

She said increased use of recorded messages for campaign purposes was upsetting and confusing for some voters. They’ve complained about the politically charged content of the messages and lack of identification as to who was behind them.

“People have a right to know who is sending the message and who is paying to have it made,” Williams said. “The message may be received by the listener differently if they know who is paying for it.”

She said during the August primaries, several recorded telephone campaign messages in legislative races were factually wrong.

Williams said she would ask the ethics commission to recommend to the Legislature that it pass a law requiring phone messages that advocate for a specific candidate to include information about who is paying for the message.