Tim Freeman on Friday filed an elections complaint against his rival in the May 20 primary in the Republican race for the District 2 seat in the Oregon House of Representatives.

Freeman accused Jim Fox of distributing “false and misleading” campaign fliers supposedly signed by the candidate that make it appear Fox personally walked through various neighborhoods when he didn’t.

Freeman provided The News-Review with four of the fliers, two of which appear to carry Fox’s signature and two hand-signed by two other people that read “Sorry I missed you. Jim.”

“This is obviously an attempt to deceive the voters into thinking Mr. Fox is actually going door to door himself in all cases, when, in fact, he isn’t,” Mel Cheney, Freeman’s campaign manager, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Bill Bradbury. “Voters have a right to know that the material that arrives at their homes and in their mail boxes (SIC) is authentic and factual.”

At the same time, an attorney retained by Freeman sent out a letter to Fox accusing him of distributing “false and misleading” statements about Freeman in several campaign mailers being sent out to District 2 voters.

Fox, who said he has resoled two pairs of shoes that he’s worn out while stopping at more than 7,000 homes, said he never intended to mislead anyone with the handbills. He dismissed the complaint filed by Cheney as “politics as usual.”

“I think they’re grabbing at straws,” said Fox, who said he said he typically walks through neighborhoods with a group of seven other family members and supporters.

He said he signed two of the fliers provided by Freeman and the others were signed by his wife, Lorraine, and their daughter-in-law.

“If I had wanted to, I could have stamped a bunch of them that said ‘Sorry I missed you. Jim.’ up here,” Fox said, pointing to an empty space on the flier. “So they think that I’m lying that it wasn’t me? No, I’m just saying ‘Sorry I missed you.’ And if my wife wrote that, I don’t see a problem with that.”

Throughout the campaign, Fox said there were only three times when volunteers canvassed neighborhoods when he was not present. During those instances, no one wrote on the fliers, he said.

Freeman has accused Fox of unfairly suggesting in his campaign mailers that Freeman would vote to raise taxes and support a sales tax if elected to the Oregon House.

A one-page letter sent Friday by Roseburg attorney Derek Simmons asked Fox to monitor his campaign materials and to comply with an Oregon election law prohibiting making false statements about candidates.

One mailer said Freeman received a $3,500 contribution from the Oregon Petroleum Association PAC, which supports an increase in gas taxes, while another said Freeman was backed by “liberal special interest groups who want to raise your taxes ... and support a sales tax.”

Freeman, who owns Garden Valley Shell in Roseburg, said he has been clear in his public remarks that he opposes raising taxes or creating new ones.

“I will not support a sales tax or an increase in the gas tax,” he said.

Fox said the statements made in his mailings have been accurate.

“We’re very comfortable with what we’ve done,” he said.

Fox, who owns the Fox Den eateries in Douglas County and seven other western Oregon restaurants, has come under fire in recent days by a political action committee established to oppose Fox’s candidacy because of his extensive state lottery holdings.

Last year, Fox’s Douglas County companies — the Fox Dens in Roseburg and Winston, Fox’s Sage Cafe and Renard’s in Roseburg and Foxy’s Suds & Suds in Sutherlin — earned $1.02 million in lottery commissions, according to the Oregon Lottery Commission. Altogether, Fox’s companies earned $2.7 million last year from the lottery.

“The truth is that Jim Fox is a gambling operator,” said Seth Buechley, the head of Don’tGambleWithFox.com.

Buechley, the CEO of a California wireless company and owner of the former Coldstone Creamery and Pizza Schmizza stores in Roseburg, said Fox has downplayed his lottery connection in his campaign and instead has focused on his ownership of the Treasure Chest Restaurant in Winston, which he sold a decade ago.

Fox said he has been open about his businesses and hasn’t tried to steer away from information about his lottery earnings. He said information on the commissions is public record and that anyone could ask the state for his records. He also said his name is right out on front of nearly all of his businesses, rather than using another name.

“We’re not hiding anything,” he said.

He said he has focused on the Treasure House because that’s where he got his business start in 1982 and spent more than a decade preparing food and washing dishes while his wife worked as a waitress.

“When I talk about the Treasure House, it’s to show how humbled I am about the experience and how I will never forget the people of Southern Oregon who supported us there,” he said.