GOP Campaign For Gillmor's Seat Turns Nasty

The race to replace the late Rep. Paul Gillmor (R-Ohio) is turning increasingly nasty, as the two leading Republican candidates have argued over who's more conservative on taxes and have tied each other to unpopular former GOP governor Bob Taft.

State Rep. Bob Latta just launched a new ad accusing state senator Steve Buehrer of “sponsoring the Taft gas tax,” for working at a company that was the “center of Ohio’s largest corruption scandal” and for taking money from jailed Republican fundraiser Tom Noe.

“Steve Buehrer – worked with Taft. Took money from Noe,” the ad concludes.

The ad attempts to turn the tables on Buehrer, who benefited from a recent advertising blitz from the anti-tax Club for Growth portraying Latta as a tax-hiker.

Last week, the Club for Growth aired an ad attacking "tax-and-spend Bob Latta" for voting to approve a budget advanced by Taft, whose woeful performance ratings plagued Ohio Republicans last year.

The Club for Growth, which spent $75,000 on the advertisement, is backing state senator Steve Buehrer in the primary. The ad drew a complaint from Latta’s campaign, alleging they misrepresented one of his votes in the legislature.

The special primary election is scheduled for November 6.