Researching Pepper's 'researchers'

Ever wonder how much time David Pepper spent poring over obscure bills and Ohio Senate session journals to come up with the ammunition he's been using against Mark Mallory in his negative ads?

Not much. Someone else did it for him.

The Pepper campaign spent $10,743 on a Florida outfit known as Howser-Kushlan Group, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Cincinnati Elections Commission. The official purpose was "consulting" -- a catch-all campaign term that can include everything from the media group that buys the television time to the lowliest staffer paid to answer the phone.

There's not much of a paper trail to this group, but its incorporation papers in the Florida Department of Corporations identify its partners as Jay Howser and Howard Kushlan. Howser's experience includes stints as a "researcher" for the campaigns of Sen. Bob Graham, the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone and the presidential bid of Vice President Al Gore. Kushlan's resume appears to be shorter, but he worked with Howser on the Graham campaign.

Together, they were part of an outfit, called the AK&H group, with a reputation for negative campaigning. Neither Howser nor Kushlan could be reached at their listed phone number, which appears to be disconnected.

Pepper said he paid the Howser-Kushlan group for "research." That's the new political euphemism for "opposition research," which was the old political euphemism for "digging up dirt on your opponent."

"No, they looked at my voting record too," Pepper said. "Any smart campaign does it. It's just doing your homework."

And he said they didn't just research Mallory. The expenditures came in March, April and May, when Pepper still had likely opponents in Vice Mayor Alicia Reece and Ohio Civil Rights Commissioner Charlie Winburn. (Presumably the op-research outfit didn't spend much time digging up Justin Jeffre's short voting record or old 98 Degrees liner notes.)

What did Pepper get for his $10,743?

"Let me put it this way: they're how I know that Mark Mallory has only managed to get two bills passed in the last seven years," Pepper said.

If that's all, Pepper might want to ask for his money back. The Enquirer got that same information from the Ohio Senate clerk's office and the Mallory campaign.