The national Republican party and the state GOP are blaming each other for a barrage of a dozen mailings sent to Utah voters on behalf of congressional candidate John Swallow. Utah Republican leaders are trying to distance themselves from the ads; the final two mailings will not be sent out.

Meantime, Utah Democrats allege the Utah Republican Party, the National Republican Congressional Committee and Swallow may have violated new campaign finance rules with the direct-mail campaign.

Republicans were caught in their own fire this weekend when the state party sent voters a mailing criticizing Democratic incumbent Jim Matheson for co-sponsoring a bill that would allow states to grant resident college tuition to the children of undocumented immigrants. The mailing does not mention that Utah Republican Congressman Chris Cannon and Sen. Orrin Hatch also support "The Dream Act."

Another card stuffed in mailboxes Monday accuses Matheson of "siding with big drug companies instead of Utah seniors" when he voted for President Bush's Medicare drug benefit.

Local GOP leaders were embarrassed by the negative tone of the 14 mailings and the apparent hypocrisy of at least two that attack Matheson for supporting Republican initiatives.

"We were holding our noses anyway. But that went too far," said Utah Republican Party Chairman Joe Cannon. "I and many others thought these were over the top."

Cannon says the state office had acted as a "conduit" for brochures produced for the NRCC by Arena Communications' Peter Valcarce. Arena workers would drop off boxes of mailings at the party headquarters. Republican volunteers would stamp them. And Arena would take the mailings to the post office for franking under the party's permit. Utah's Republican Party has spent $110,000 sending 12 mailings to 76,000 voters in the 2nd Congressional District.

"We thought we were being guided by the NRCC in this," Cannon said. "We did not feel we had control over the content."

After fielding complaints from conservative voters and candidates alike, Cannon says, party leaders decided to "disavow" any connection to the direct-mail pieces. But when the NRCC denied responsibility and shifted the blame back to the Utah party this week, Cannon revoked Arena's use of the party's franking privileges.

"If we actually had the responsibility for sending out these mailers," Cannon said, "many of them would not have gone out."

NRCC spokesman Bo Harmon insists the Washington-based committee, which has spent $1 million on similar negative television ads and recorded phone messages attacking Matheson, had nothing to do with the direct-mail pieces.

"We didn't produce them or pay for them," Harmon said. "This is just a misunderstanding of mail allocation."

But Utah Democratic Party Chairman Donald Dunn said Tuesday he will file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against the Utah Republican Party, the NRCC and Swallow for breaking federal campaign finance law. Dunn says either Harmon or Cannon is lying about the mailings. Under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, the NRCC should have been listed on the cards. And Dunn believes campaign disclosure forms showing all three paying Valcarce for consulting services reveals illegal coordination between the candidate and the national and state parties.

"Not only has Mr. Swallow turned his campaign over to the NRCC, the NRCC has hijacked the state Republican Party and they've taken this election to an all-new low," Dunn said. "People in Utah need to know who is paying for the smear campaign."

Valcarce did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Neither did Swallow.