The nastiest primary in Ohio...

Is not the one for governor or 2nd Congressional district. It's probably the race for ... Butler County auditor. Read all about it tomorrow, but here's a tidbit from reporter Jennifer Edwards:

The Butler County Auditor’s race has gotten so testy that one candidate called a press conference last week to announce he’s digging into the mileage records of the other candidate’s county vehicle.

Challenger Roger Reynolds, Liberty Township’s fiscal officer, aired his latest charges against Auditor Kay Rogers. He disputes whether she accurately reported her mileage of a county vehicle, a 2001 Chevy Tahoe she no longer drives.

He called for the state auditor’s office to investigate and make sure all taxpayer dollars that went to her for mileage were deserved.

Rogers, auditor since 1995, denied his accusations and released a few of her own. She filed an election complaint Tuesday against Reynolds, alleging his two commercials were inaccurate. Her lawyer also has called Time Warner.

The tiff was the latest episode in an ugly race that also has included other accusations and denials that resulted in state investigations.

Last month, a Hamilton man working in Reynolds’ campaign, Art Sauerwein, also called for the state auditor’s office and state ethics commission to investigate Rogers’ use of that 2001 Tahoe.

Sauerwein claims Rogers misused the vehicle in a variety of ways, including driving it for personal reasons, failing to report damages from a May 2004 collision and charging $1,250 in repairs to the county as “other expenses.”

Rogers denies those accusations, too. But she’s not driving the Tahoe anymore.

Rogers says she chose this year to drive her personal car on county business to help the county’s budget constraints.