Perhaps he's overwhelmed or depressed by the onset of winter, but Rhinelander attorney Sam Gold insists Barack Obama's campaign has violated state law against misrepresentations in political ads. As a result, he wants the Democratic presidential nominee charged with crimes.

Gold cites an obscure state law that prohibits false ads. Of course, false ads and politics have been in bed together since the advent of advertising -- take the recent decision by the state elections board that Supreme Court Justice Mike Gableman lied in his ads about former Justice Louis Butler. But, we can all be selective in what we believe -- like Gold.

Maybe it's just a coincidence that Gold was a staffer for former GOP Congressman Scott Klug and once ran a campaign for John Sharpless, whose camp was known for attacking current Dem Congressperson Tammy Baldwin's sexual preference and trying to toss out a few false allegations of its own during Baldwin's first and successful run for the House in 2000.

Gold touts that Sharpless came within one percentage point of winning, but the way the campaign was run left a bad impression on many observers. Nonetheless, Gold claims no connections to Republicans running with the McCain gang now.

"I was watching (TV) this past Saturday night and saw an ad several times from the Obama campaign accusing John McCain of ruining America's health care system," Gold states. "I thought is was a new low for Obama to run an ad playing on the fears of the most vulnerable in our society.

"While in my legal opinion, the law is probably an unconstitutional restriction on free speech, it is on the books as good law unless a judge says otherwise."

Gold called the Oneida County Sheriff's office and asked it to file charges. He says he got the idea after hearing news reports that Obama's campaign was attempting something similar in Missouri.

If convicted, violators of the law can face up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Gold is licensed to practice law in Naples, Fla., where he regularly represented a citizens group that opposed city projects such as a sewer expansion and a park cleanup.

Bean Counting Bingo: City of Milwaukee Comptroller Wally Morics recently faced a panel of concerned aldermen who wanted to make sure Milwaukee wasn't sliding down the slope of other area municipalities or school districts.

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