Democrats Accuse Fox of Illegally Aiding GOP Candidate

The Democratic Party vs. Fox News plot gets deeper. Democrats have filed a complaint against Fox News for what it calls an illegal in-kind contribution: running Ohio gubernatorial candidate John Kasich's website address at the bottom of the screen.

The Democratic Governors Association has filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission against Fox News, saying former Fox News personality and GOP gubernatorial candidate John Kasich improperly benefited from an Aug. 18 appearance on Fox.

Fox News improperly ran Kasich's campaign Web address at the bottom of the screen for about 1 minute and 30 seconds during Kasich's appearance on the Bill O'Reilly show, an illegal in-kind contribution, the complaint says.

The compaint also says Kasich raised more than $21,000 from the appearance, citing a speech that Kasich made in Cincinnati on Aug. 21, where he reportedly said, "The other night, I was on a show with a man who always gives you the last word, Bill O'Reilly. And I said, if you want to help my campaign, our campaign, and you have any extra nickels or pennies, send them to us in the next 21 hours, we received over $21,000."

The complaint cited two apparent violations of Ohio law: A prohibited in-kind contribution in the form of free political advertising and failure to include a proper disclaimer for the political advertising.

Read the full story from Mark Niquette at Columbus Dispatch blog The Daily Briefing.