A non-partisan group that provides information for voters has sharply criticized state Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, over a campaign ad Francisco has run against her Republican opponent, Scott Morgan.

After hearing about the criticism from Project Vote Smart, Francisco said Tuesday she would change the ad.

Project Vote Smart said Francisco improperly used information from its research against Morgan, and took the information out of context for the ad.

“This kind of negative campaign activity is precisely the sort of tactic that the Project attempts to counter with its factual database,” the group said in a news release.

“By using the Project’s name to give credibility to these attacks, Marci Francisco is cheating the public out of their need for trusted, abundant, accurate, factual information,” it said.

Francisco and Morgan face off on Tuesday’s ballot for Senate District 2, which includes much of Lawrence.

The cause of Project Vote Smart’s ire was a radio ad and television ad by Francisco that says about Morgan, “In the Project Vote Smart survey he indicated support for the construction of two power plants.”

The ad was referring to the controversial proposal to build two 700-megawatt coal-burning plants in southwest Kansas. Francisco has opposed the project.

On the Project Vote Smart website, Morgan checked that he would support the project, but added his support was contingent on the adoption of a comprehensive energy plan.

Adelaide Elm Kimball, a board member and senior policy advisor for Project Vote Smart, said Francisco’s use of only part of Morgan’s answer was “completely manipulative.”

She said Project Vote Smart warns candidates that it doesn’t wanted to be cited in partisan ads. If it is, the group puts out a statement critical of the occurrence.

If the ad is also misleading, Project Vote Smart issues a harsher condemnation, which is what it did in Francisco’s case, she said.

“We’re trying to defend our reputation for accuracy and trustworthiness,” she said. She said Morgan contacted Project Vote Smart about the ad.

Francisco said she didn’t know that Project Vote Smart was opposed to candidates citing the group in campaign ads.

But she denied the ad was false. “I think the word would be ‘incomplete,'” Francisco said. She said the ad would be changed to note that Morgan said he would support the coal plants as part of a comprehensive plan.

“It’s a very easy fix,” she said.

Francisco said the point of the ad was to say that Morgan has given different answers about the coal project at various times in the campaign.

She said an ad that Morgan has run against her is false because it indicates she voted “pass” on House Bill 2066, when she actually voted against it. That bill would have allowed construction of the coal project. Morgan has run a political ad that indicates she voted “pass” on the bill and displays his Web site address for details. On that Web site is a link to a “pass” vote on an amendment to the bill and not the vote on the bill itself.