CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Early this week, Attorney General Darrell V. McGraw is planning to file complaints with the Federal Communications Commission and the Internal Revenue Service against a nonprofit group running attack ads against him.

The Center for Individual Freedom has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on these television advertisements.

But the group leaders refuse to reveal who is funding the ads attacking McGraw in the final weeks of an election campaign against Republican Dan Greear. 

On Friday, a man who answered the telephone at CFIF headquarters in Alexandria, Va., said, "It is free speech. A newspaper doesn't have to reveal the names of its subscribers. It is free speech."

Jeffrey Mazzella, president of CFIF, did not return telephone calls on Thursday and Friday. But in an e-mail, Mazzella argued the television ads attacking McGraw are unrelated to the November election.

Individuals who donate money to a political candidate are listed on that candidate's Federal Election Commission filings. So are any contributions made by political action groups, or PACs.

Even independent 527 groups, which are required to operate independently of any candidate and required not to attack that candidate's opponent by name, also must file reports with state and federal officials.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Fran Hughes said Friday, "We are going to pursue every legal remedy. They are not only impugning the attorney general in an election, but everyone that comes here every day and works hard."

Hughes believes the money is coming from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The president of the CFIF lists the Chamber as one of his biggest clients.

Neither the individual who answered the telephone for CFIF nor Mazzella mentioned the U.S. Chamber of Commerce while defending their group.

Hughes said, "Everyone has the constitutional right to face their accusers. We don't get the opportunity to face these people who are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to influence an election.

"We are not going to allow false statements to be used by people who won't reveal who is behind them."

On its Web site, CFIF calls its new television ads about McGraw a "public education effort in West Virginia."

Mazzella, in his e-mail, said the television ads attacking McGraw are educational and have nothing to do with politics.

"The ad in no way urges voters to oppose McGraw's re-election. In fact, it doesn't even mention the election.

"Rather, the ad addresses an issue that has thoroughly been reported on and editorialized about by every newspaper in the state and urges the citizens of West Virginia to call the attorney general and demand he return the people's money.

"But leave it to a career politician to intentionally mischaracterize our efforts when he can't dispute the substance of our speech," Mazzella wrote in his e-mail.

McGraw said the content of the CFIF ad falsely describes a legal settlement his office negotiated in 2004 with Purdue Pharma over OxyContin, a highly addictive painkiller sometimes called "hillbilly heroin."

The CFIF-financed television ad claims McGraw is "spending $10 million from a settlement meant to help workers and the elderly, instead divvying it up between his trial lawyer buddies and a fund only controlled by McGraw. ...

"Call Darrell McGraw. Tell him to return the people's money," the ad ends.

On Thursday, McGraw said the OxyContin settlement is being spent according to a court order from McDowell County Circuit Judge Booker Stephens.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Early this week, Attorney General Darrell V. McGraw is planning to file complaints with the Federal Communications Commission and the Internal Revenue Service against a nonprofit group running attack ads against him.

The Center for Individual Freedom has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on these television advertisements.

But the group leaders refuse to reveal who is funding the ads attacking McGraw in the final weeks of an election campaign against Republican Dan Greear. 

On Friday, a man who answered the telephone at CFIF headquarters in Alexandria, Va., said, "It is free speech. A newspaper doesn't have to reveal the names of its subscribers. It is free speech."

Jeffrey Mazzella, president of CFIF, did not return telephone calls on Thursday and Friday. But in an e-mail, Mazzella argued the television ads attacking McGraw are unrelated to the November election.

Individuals who donate money to a political candidate are listed on that candidate's Federal Election Commission filings. So are any contributions made by political action groups, or PACs.

Even independent 527 groups, which are required to operate independently of any candidate and required not to attack that candidate's opponent by name, also must file reports with state and federal officials.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Fran Hughes said Friday, "We are going to pursue every legal remedy. They are not only impugning the attorney general in an election, but everyone that comes here every day and works hard."

Hughes believes the money is coming from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The president of the CFIF lists the Chamber as one of his biggest clients.

Neither the individual who answered the telephone for CFIF nor Mazzella mentioned the U.S. Chamber of Commerce while defending their group.

Hughes said, "Everyone has the constitutional right to face their accusers. We don't get the opportunity to face these people who are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to influence an election.

"We are not going to allow false statements to be used by people who won't reveal who is behind them."

On its Web site, CFIF calls its new television ads about McGraw a "public education effort in West Virginia."

Mazzella, in his e-mail, said the television ads attacking McGraw are educational and have nothing to do with politics.

"The ad in no way urges voters to oppose McGraw's re-election. In fact, it doesn't even mention the election.

"Rather, the ad addresses an issue that has thoroughly been reported on and editorialized about by every newspaper in the state and urges the citizens of West Virginia to call the attorney general and demand he return the people's money.

"But leave it to a career politician to intentionally mischaracterize our efforts when he can't dispute the substance of our speech," Mazzella wrote in his e-mail.

McGraw said the content of the CFIF ad falsely describes a legal settlement his office negotiated in 2004 with Purdue Pharma over OxyContin, a highly addictive painkiller sometimes called "hillbilly heroin."

The CFIF-financed television ad claims McGraw is "spending $10 million from a settlement meant to help workers and the elderly, instead divvying it up between his trial lawyer buddies and a fund only controlled by McGraw. ...

"Call Darrell McGraw. Tell him to return the people's money," the ad ends.

On Thursday, McGraw said the OxyContin settlement is being spent according to a court order from McDowell County Circuit Judge Booker Stephens.

The settlement is helping finance programs to aid recovering drug addicts throughout the state and to build a new pharmacy school at the University of Charleston.

McGraw said his office has not received a single penny from the OxyContin settlement and that Stephens set attorney fees paid by Purdue Pharma under the settlement.

Hughes said, "The terms of the settlement were insisted on by Purdue Pharma. Nobody else has said the money was misspent."

On Thursday, McGraw also filed a complaint with Secretary of State Betty Ireland alleging CFIF violated state election laws by withholding the names of its financial supporters. Ireland did not take any immediate action.

Mazzella's e-mail criticizes McGraw for claiming CFIF is "knowingly dispersing false information" about him in its advertisements.

"Once we receive a copy of Mr. McGraw's complaint [to Ireland], perhaps we will better understand how he supports such a bold claim. But for now I will just chalk it up to baseless political posturing," Mazzella wrote.

The CFIF also attacked the Charleston firm of Curry & Tolliver, which filed 70 of 124 medical malpractice lawsuits against Dr. John A. King and Putnam General Hospital, in an Oct. 2006 press release.

Earlier this year, tens of millions of dollars in settlements were paid to patients injured by King's surgeries between November 2002 and June 2003.

The CFIF press release claimed Curry & Tolliver "unethically - and possibly illegally - solicited plaintiffs to sue Putnam General Hospital."

That CFIF charge was never proven.

In May and September 2007, Putnam County Circuit Judge Ed Eagloski issued orders prohibiting J. Kevin Oncken, a San Antonio lawyer representing Putnam General who made those charges against Curry & Tolliver, from making any future appearances in cases involving King.

Anthony M. Fabrizio, president of CFIF, was a leading strategist for former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., in his unsuccessful 1996 presidential campaign.

Today, he heads Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates, a large survey research and consulting firm, also based in Alexandria.

Fabrizio also does consulting work for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The group's Web site says, "Fabrizio's counsel is highly valued and sought after by numerous national organizations and trade associations, among them, the Air Transport Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., the National Restaurant Association, the Heritage Foundation and the National Rifle Association, as well as many others."

The organization also lists Pfizer Pharmaceutical, Philip-Morris (the tobacco giant), and Dow Chemical as clients, as well as the Christian Coalition and several political groups backing Republican candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives.

CFIF also has challenged in federal court a 2005 state law that requires groups to disclose how much they spend on attack ads against candidates and where their money came from.

In May, District Judge David A. Faber ruled language in the 2005 law was vague concerning political mailings, telephone calls, leaflets and mailings. But related issues about identifying contributors to television, radio and newspaper ads are still pending.

After Faber's ruling, the state Legislature passed a new version of the law seeking to deal with the judge's concerns.

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 348-5164.