By Spencer Hunt
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - A lawyer defending a John Dowlin television ad that called Pat DeWine's conduct shameful said Thursday he was "shocked" when he first saw it.

"It is difficult. It is rough. It is a hard statement," attorney Jack Gregg Haught told the Ohio Elections Commission. "But tough statements are not against the law in America."

A three-member panel of the commission agreed. They voted 2-1 to dismiss DeWine's complaint that Hamilton County commissioner Dowlin's campaign violated state election law by airing the ad.

DeWine, a Cincinnati city councilman, is challenging Dowlin in the Republican primary for county commissioner. The election is Tuesday.

The commercial, which first appeared Feb. 16, accuses DeWine of flip-flopping on a multimillion-dollar city tax deal for Convergys Corp. DeWine had voted against a $63.4 million incentive plan in July. He supported a $52.2 million package two weeks later.

The commercial states: "DeWine left his wife and children for a Convergys lobbyist whose company received the tax breaks DeWine supported."

DeWine's attorney, Mark Landes, tried to show the commercial was inaccurate. But the law demands he also prove that Dowlin's team knew it was false and decided to run it anyway.

"Sadly, that's the case," Landes said. "The law says you can lie if you're stupid about it."

Haught insisted the ad was accurate. On certain disputed points of fact, he said, Dowlin and campaign manager Robert J. Fredericks believed they were accurate before the ad ran.

In one dispute, Landes said it was inaccurate to call DeWine "a deciding vote" on the Convergys deal because it passed on a 8-1 vote.

Haught said that part of the ad would only be inaccurate if it said DeWine was "the" deciding vote.

DeWine has acknowledged he is in a relationship with the unnamed woman in the ad. DeWine said earlier this month that he separated from his wife, Karen, in June 2002 and filed for divorce in April 2003.

Commissioners Warren Tyler and William Booth voted to dismiss the complaint. Catherine Cunningham, dissented. They offered no explanations for their votes.

E-mail shunt@enquirer.com