Ads hint McCollum is worried about rival

A series of television ads running on stations throughout Florida suggest Attorney General Bill McCollum, the Republican frontrunner for governor, may be getting worried about a primary challenge from Rick Scott.

The ads were bought by a secretive political committee that won't reveal its sources of funding, but that has ties to McCollum.

They attack Scott over his history as chief executive officer of Hospital Corporation of America, which was investigated and fined by the federal government for Medicare fraud.

They're carefully worded to avoid being labeled as explicit campaign ads. That allows them to pass through a loophole in Florida law that allows independent political committees to avoid reporting their donors.

The McCollum campaign denies any connection to the group, called Alliance for America's Future.

But they were produced by political advertising consultant Chris Mottola, and the time was bought by McLaughlin and Associates - both are strategists who work for McCollum's campaign and have worked for him in past races.

In 2009, McCollum took criticism for giving Mottola a no-bid contract for $2.5 million in public money for series of public service ads on cybercrime and Internet predators. The ads prominently featured McCollum, and critics said they looked more like campaign ads than public service ads.

Through a spokesman, McCollum declined to say that the group should reveal its donors or pull its ads. He "believes every organization engaging on issues or in campaigns must follow the law," said spokeswoman Kristy Campbell.

The Alliance has bought close to $1 million worth of time for the ads, and intends to buy more, said Barry Bennett, a member of its board.

Bennett said the other two members are Mary Cheney, daughter for former Vice President Dick Cheney, and Kara Ahern, a former aide to Cheney.

In Nevada, the group has run afoul of state elections officials for a similar series of ads about a governor's race candidate.

Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller is trying to force the group to register as a political committee and reveal its donors. He won an injunction this week to take the ads off the air temporarily.

The Florida ads don't explicitly advocate voting for McCollum or against Scott. Instead, they say, "Florida loses billions to health care fraud ... Rick Scott profited from the largest Medicare fraud scheme in American history ... Stop Medicare fraud. Call and report companies like Rick Scott's."

It provides a number for a toll-free federal Health and Human Services department tip line.

Bennett said the ad "isn't really about the governor's race as much as it is about public policy. ... The ad is about Medicare fraud."

The Nevada ads praise candidate Brian Sandoval, who's challenging incumbent Gov. Jim Gibbons in the Republican primary. The ads say Sandoval has "has conservative values," "won't raise taxes" and "will cut spending."

That's the functional equivalent of a campaign ad even though it doesn't explicitly ask viewers to vote one way or the other, said Matt Griffin, Nevada deputy secretary of state for elections.