Ohio political consultant aiding effort to smear Kasich in New Hampshire, New Day for America claims

More than amillion dollars worth of dark money is going for negative ads against John Kasich in days leading up to New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary, and the super-PAC supporting the Ohio governor is filing a lawsuit about them.

New Day For America hass not only taking the issue to the Federal Election Commission, it filed a formal complaint with WMUR-TV, New Hampshire's only local TV station, against the American Future Fund, a nonprofit. The super-PAC claims that American Future Fund violated federal law by getting involved in politics - a claim many campaign-finance reform advocates level against numerous nonprofits.

The 30-second spot concludes by saying: "John Kasich - Not a conservative. Not even a moderate. An Obama Republican."

That fund has been linked to GOP megadonors Koch Brothers as well as Ohio political consultant Ncholas P. Everhart -- former partner of Rex Elsass, who runs one of the nation's largest political operations from his Delaware County office and helped with Kasich's campaigns for governor. Everhartpleaded guilty last summer to misdemeanor charges of obstructing official business and falsification in exchange for the dismissal of separate felony charges, and separatelywas found guilty by a Delaware County jury of illegally engineering searches of Elsass' company's computers when he was being fired - a fifth degree felony.

The dark money group - so called because it does not have to disclose its donors, whose contributions are unlimited - plans to hit Kasich on the Common Core, expanding Medicaid through Obamacare and raising taxes, according to an FCC filing. The ads, booked by an Ohio firm Everhart co-founded, are scheduled to start today and run through the Feb. 9 primary - including during next week's GOP debate in New Hampshire. The founder of American Future Fund is also head of a super-PAC now backing former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; the group already has aired negative ads against Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, New Day says.

"Shady donors with concealed identities have teamed up with Mike Huckabee's super-PAC and a convicted felon to run a smear campaign against Governor Kasich in New Hampshire," said Connie Wehrkamp, New Day For America spokeswoman, in a statement. "The first-in-the-nation primary will be decided by New Hampshire voters, not faceless out-of-state millionaires."

Of course, New Day itself - which has run negative ads against Christie and Donald Trump - has been bankrolled by several $1 million contributions from outside of New Hampshire, including checks form Abigail Wexner, wife of Limited Brands founder Leslie Wexner of New Albany; Schottenstein Managment Co., central Ohio real estate developers; Tom Rastin, vice president of Mt. Vernon's Areil Corp.; and the Wendt Family Trust in San Francisco, FEC reports show.

In a letter to Manchester, NH, TV station WMUR, New Day said, "Not only does the advertisement fail to disclose the true identity of the sponsor of the advertisements, it is also false and misleading. We demand that your stations not run these advertisements for the reasons stated herein," said the super-PAC's law firm.

The American Future Fund spent about $25 million for GOP candidates in 2012 - including a TV spot slamming President Barack Obama for the Fast and Furious program -- receiving more than 92 percent of its $67.9 million in revenue from two organizations connected to Charles and David Koch, the Center for Responsive Politics found. Factcheck.org found false and misleading claims in several of its ads about Obamacarein 2009 and 2010, as well as false and exaggerated claims in TV ads about government spendingand theObama administration's ties to Wall Streetin 2012

Kasich himself has predicted his campaign would come under attack as his standing improves in New Hampshire polls.

In a fund-raising plea this morning, Kasich said, "(A)s we've risen in the polls, other candidates have started to attack me. Jeb Bush's team is even running misleading TV ads about my record of accomplishment in Ohio ... With less than two weeks to go until the New Hampshire primary election, we're gaining momentum and need your help to ensure that we can finish strong and go on to defeat Hillary! Help us fight back."

The super-PACs supporting both Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have honed in on the same topics the dark money group is targeting.

One is the expansion of Medicaid, allowed under the GOP-despised Obamacare, which has brought health-care coverage to about 600,000 lower-income Ohioans. Kasich has steadfastly defended the move as both economically sound and the compassionate right thing to do.

Another is Kasich's support for Common Core, which is viewed by Republican critics as tantamont to a federal takeover of education. Kasich stresses that state law requires that Ohio districts remain in control of curriculum decision, but makes no apology for requring higher standards.

The third leg of the anti-Kasich barrage is his proposal to increase Ohio taxes. A pro-Christie mailer proclaims "The Kasich Record: A Disaster for Ohio Working Families and Small Businesses."

What the ads by the groups backing Christie and Bush don't point out is that Kasich was proposing even higher tax cuts, which meant that under his plan Ohioans would wind up with a net tax cut. While the legislature abandoned large portions of Kasich's proposal, Ohioans ended up with a net state tax cut.In fact, Kasich says he has cut income taxes more than any current governor in America.

Rob Nichols, spokesman for Kasich's official campaign, said, "It's a testament to Gov. Kasich's continued strength that these shadowy, desperate, misleading attacks are now emerging. The governor's opposition to Obamacare is well documented, and he said no to a state exchange. He's also a well-known opponent to federal meddling in education, outlawed sharing personal student data with Washington and has a plan for reining in the out-of-control Department of Education by block granting its key functions back to the states and local school districts. The truth always wins out because voters see through these kinds of grimy, unprincipled smear attacks."











