The flier's sponsor is listed as Robert Huotari, a man who has written supportive letters to the editor about Joe Morrissey and made an in-kind donation of postcards to Morrissey's 2007 campaign for the House of Delegates. Huotari is also associated with a local print shop, Wythken Printing, that has donated $22,000 worth of printing to Morrissey's mayoral campaign.

Wythken co-founder Ric Withers said Huotari at times earns commissions for bringing the shop clients, but he stressed that Huotari is not an employee of the business. Withers said Huotari made an introduction with the Morrissey campaign. He added that Wythken is also billing the campaign as a client, not donating its services entirely.

"I know nothing about this stuff," Withers said.

Morrissey's campaign spokesman, Marty Mooradian, said none of the Republican fliers are sanctioned by Morrissey's campaign.

"It has nothing to do with our campaign," he said.

Asked why Morrissey's supporters are handing them out, he said "I can't control what those people do, but I can say they did not get a directive from us."

In a statement early this afternoon, Berry called the handouts "fake literature" and attributed them to "some of my opponents."