COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A lawyer for the Libertarian Party of Ohio on Tuesday described efforts to disqualify the party’s gubernatorial ticket as a Republican-driven effort to intimidate the party.

“It’s all about the Republicans trying to intimidate the Libertarians,” said Mark Brown at a hearing to consider a challenge to the candidacy of Charlie Earl and his running mate Sherry Clark.

“It’s all a charade.”

Republicans responded, accusing the Libertarians of working with Democrats to try to get their candidates on the ballot.

“It’s laughable that a political party who clearly worked with the Democratic party to try and get their candidate on the ballot is falsely accusing a separate party of harming them," said Ohio GOP spokesman Chris Schrimpf. “The real story here seems to be that the Democratic Party thinks their gubernatorial and other candidates are so weak that they colluded with another party in the hopes that it would help benefit the Democratic party.“

Democrats shot back on one of the party's favorite topics, the economy.

“With Ohio leading the nation in growth in unemployment, 45th in job creation, and over 30,000 more Ohioans joining the ranks of the unemployed last year, most Ohioans care about the sad state of the economy, not the Republicans' inside baseball political games," said Elizabeth Walters, executive director of the Ohio Democratic Party.

The challenge to Earl’s candidacy alleged that people paid to collect signatures on nominating petitions from registered voters did not disclose who had employed them, as required by law. The challenge also argued that the so-called circulators were not members of the Libertarian Party.

Tuesday’s hearing was heard by Brad Smith, a law professor at Capital University and a former member of the Federal Election Commission. Smith will prepare a report with recommendations for Secretary of State Jon Husted, who ultimately will decide if Earl is bounced from the ballot.

The challenge was filed with Husted's office by Gregory Felsoci of Rocky River, who is a registered as a Libertarian. He did not speak at the hearing.

If the allegations in his challenge are shown to be true, more than 900 of the nearly 1,500 signatures on the Libertarian ticket's candidacy petitions could be disqualified, Felsoci’s attorney, John Zeiger, said as the hearing opened.

Invalidating that many signatures would mean that the Earl-Clark ticket would not have enough valid signatures to qualify for the primary ballot, and the Libertarians likely would not appear on the ballot in November.

Zeiger and attorney Steven W. Tigges presented a series of witnesses to try to bolster their arguments that the Libertarian Party had paid circulators for gathering signatures on behalf of Earl’s candidacy.

And they also showed some interaction with Democrats, including an admission from the Libertarian Party of Ohio’s chairman, Kevin Knedler, that he had a breakfast with Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern in January.

Knedler described the meeting as a thank-you breakfast for Democrats’ efforts to defeat legislation that would have changed the rules for minor parties to appear on the ballot in Ohio.

The bill passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly and signed by Republican Gov. John Kasich is on hold while a lawsuit filed by the Libertarians challenging its constitutionality is tied up in federal court.

Brown countered that the case was not made. Smith, the hearing officer, acknowledged during the hearing that even if there was talk over strategy between the two parties, that would not invalidate Earl’s candidacy petitions.

While the challenge deals with the Libertarians' ticket, it clearly is of interest to both the Republican and Democratic parties. Earl's candidacy could help the Democrats' likely nominee, Ed FitzGerald, because Earl might siphon away votes from Kasich. Schrimpf questioned that theory, though, suggesting the Democrats could lose votes, too.

Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges acknowledged the party had a role in pursuing the challenge in a media interview, although he quickly backtracked and said it was the Libertarians who made the challenge.

Schrimpf said Borges misspoke. He acknowledged the Republicans had looked over Earl's candidacy, but the party would not have had standing to file a challenge.

There is no definite timetable for a ruling on the challenge. Smith said he hopes to deliver his report quickly.

Boards of elections across Ohio are approaching deadlines for getting ballots prepared. Absentee ballots for the May primary must be ready to send to military voters personnel by March 22.

Brown, after the hearing, told Gongwer News Service he expects the dispute likely is headed to court.

"It's pretty clear that regardless of which way it goes, we're going to wind up in court. If we win, they're going to go to court. If they win, we're going to go to court."