HAMILTON — In a bitter race for Butler County prosecutor, Republican challenger Robin Piper on Tuesday said his opponent's two most recent salvos hit below the belt:

        • TV ads and fliers picturing Mr. Piper and drug paraphernalia — a syringe, razor blade and pills — along with statements alleging he “repeatedly lied” about his drug use.

        Mr. Piper said the “smear campaign” has prompted him to consider filing a defamation suit against his opponent, Butler County Prosecutor Dan Gattermeyer, a Democrat.

        • An opinion from Mr. Gattermeyer's office, hand- delivered to the county sheriff on Tuesday, advises that Mr. Piper's minor misdemeanor marijuana citation in 1981 prohibited him from legally owning a gun.

        Mr. Piper said providing that unsolicited opinion a week before election day was a misuse of the prosecutor's power and he called the opinion flawed.

        Mr. Gattermeyer declined

        repeated opportunities to discuss either matter Tuesday. Instead, he issued written statements through a consultant.

        He defended the drug-use ads, saying they provided relevant information voters need.

        Mr. Piper, however, says the ads include claims that cannot be documented in any reliable way. He also said the ads' claim that he “admits to doing every hard drug in the book,” distorts what he actually said, and includes a partial quote he says is taken out of context.

        In a tape-recorded March 17 news conference, Mr. Piper said he didn't want to become mired in details of drug experimentation from a quarter-century ago. “If you want to, assume I tried everything,” he told reporters. “You can assume that, like George (W.) Bush, I did a lot of things which I'm ashamed of ... But I've blown past all that.”

        As for the gun-ownership opinion, Mr. Gattermeyer's statement says it came in response to recent public discussion of the issue.

        Sheriff Harold Don Gabbard said he couldn't recall previously receiving a prosecutor's opinion without re questing it.

        In February, when Mr. Gattermeyer was managing then-prosecutor John F. Holcomb's campaign, (Mr. Holcomb later died) a prosecutor's employee took a chartered plane to Put-in-Bay, Ohio, saying he was there on an official investigation. He obtained records about Mr. Piper's marijuana citation that normally wouldn't be released, Put-in-Bay officials said. Those records were leaked to a Cincinnati TV station and the Put-in-Bay incident has dogged Mr. Piper ever since.

        There is no record of the outcome of the 1981 citation, but Mr. Piper said he paid a $60 fine by mail, then went on with his life.

        Mr. Piper said he's frustrated that, despite his attempts to discuss issues, so much attention has focused on the marijuana citation — a decriminalized offense that's on a legal par with jaywalking.

        “If Dan Gattermeyer thought for one second there was anything legitimate to be investigated, he would have been required by sound judgment and prudent thought to appoint an independent prosecutor. No prosecutor would investigate his political rival,” Mr. Piper said.

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