A $1 million donation to a group that is bashing Gov. Ted Strickland on behalf of Republican John Kasich was inspired by Kasich's friendship with the donor, Rupert Murdoch, Politico is reporting this morning.
Murdoch is head of News Corp., which includes Fox News, where Kasich worked as a commentator and host for several years.
Murdoch was asked last night whether the million-dollar gift to the Republican Governors Association affected the perception of "fair and balanced" Fox News.
“It doesn’t reflect on Fox News,” he said, according to Politico. “It had nothing to do with Fox News. The RGA (gift) was actually (a result of) my friendship with John Kasich.”
Multiple Ohio TV ads by the Republican governors group have slammed Strickland, closing with the line "he didn't get the jobs done."
The Democratic Governors Association - which has run anti-Kasich spots - filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission accusing Fox of an illegal in-kind donation to Kasich because it showed a link to the Republican's web site while he was on The O’Reilly Factor. However, the DGA later withdrew that complaint.
News Corp. also has given $1 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which traditionally support Republican candidates. Murdoch told POLITICO he expected one of the donations to become public, but not both.
“The RGA we did,” he said. “We didn’t expect the other one.”
He added: “We are members of the Chamber of Commerce, and I just thought I was being a good member,” Murdoch said.
He was in Washington to receive an award from The Media Institute, the Politico item said.
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