Topeka ? Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ re-election campaign was fined $1,500 Thursday for violating the state campaign finance law.

The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission found that Sebelius asked for contributions from registered lobbyists during a prohibited time period.

Commissioner John Solbach of Lawrence said the violation was accidental but occurred nevertheless.

“It appears to be totally inadvertent,” Solbach said. “There was no intention to violate the campaign finance act.”

Sebelius issued a statement that said she respected the commission’s ruling, adding that she would “take immediate action to make sure nothing like this mistake occurs again.”

In dispute was an April 12 e-mail sent by the campaign to 92,000 people.

In the e-mail, Sebelius promoted her work on school finance. The e-mail included a link to a Web site where a contribution could be made.

The problem was that the e-mail went to 16 lobbyists. State law bans legislators, statewide officials and candidates for those offices from seeking or accepting donations from lobbyists, corporations or political action committees while the Legislature is in session.

Campaign officials said there was never an intent to solicit funds from lobbyists. A vendor hired to work on the e-mail distribution list tried to remove the addresses of all lobbyists but failed, they said.

After a hearing on the issue, the commission met behind closed doors for 15 minutes and then emerged to approve the fine.

Commissioner Robert Miller said $1,500 was an appropriate fine because the commission had fined Atty. Gen. Phill Kline the same amount for a similar violation.

The maximum fine for the violation is $5,000. The decision was unanimous, with Chairwoman Sabrina Standifer recusing herself. Standifer, who was appointed by Sebelius and is a longtime acquaintance of the governor, said she didn’t want any decision by the commission attacked because of her relationship with Sebelius.

Last month, Kline was fined because some invitations to a fundraising reception were mailed to lobbyists.

On Thursday, Kline’s chief deputy, Eric Rucker, attended the Sebelius fine hearing. Asked why he was there, he said, “This is of interest to the office and the public.”

Sebelius officials said her campaign’s solicitation was different than earlier cases because it involved an e-mail update on the school finance issue and then a link to make a contribution.

“It will also be helpful to have some guidance on the use of e-mails, since this technology is becoming more widely used to communicate with voters,” Sebelius said in her statement.

After Thursday’s hearing, the Sebelius campaign’s deputy political director, Joe Scranton, wrote a check to pay the fine.

The commission last year fined two legislators for soliciting campaign contributions from lobbyists during the legislative session.

In August, Sen. Kay O’Connor, R-Olathe, was fined $3,000 when she sent letters in April to about 150 people, including 17 lobbyists, concerning her potential campaign for secretary of state. O’Connor denied any wrongdoing.

A month earlier, House Speaker Pro Tem Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, was fined $1 for a similar offense. But Merrick reported the problem to the commission, saying the invitations for a June fundraiser were inadvertently mailed early while he was on a hunting trip.