By Gregory Childress

gchildress@heraldsun.com; 918-1046

Chapel Hill -- A former town councilman has taken credit for a political postcard sent out by an unregistered political action committee that supported Councilman Mark Kleinschmidt's mayoral bid and was critical of Councilman Matt Czjakowski.

Cam Hill said Tuesday that he plans to file the paperwork today with the Orange County Board of Elections to register a political action committee he calls Chapel Hill Caucus (CH C) of which Hill is the lone member.

"I'm going to register as a PAC tomorrow," Hill said when reached by phone on Tuesday.

Hill served on the council from 2003-07. He lost his 2007 re-election bid to Czjakowski by a little more than 60 votes.

But Hill said revenge for that defeat was not his motivation for the mailing, which apparently violated state election law because it did not state whether Kleinschmidt had given his approval.

"I want Mark Kleinschmidt to be mayor," Hill said. "If I wanted revenge, I would have killed his dog."

The chairmen of the Orange County Democratic and Republican parties asked election officials to investigate CH C to determine if it broke election laws by sending out the mailer.

By registering as a PAC today, Hill would avoid breaking the law, which requires PACs to register with the election board 10 days after forming, accepting money or spending money.

Hill said he doesn't have any future plans for the PAC, but said it could prove to be a useful tool.

"It'll be useful to continue to have a voice that way if I want to," Hill said.

In addition, Hill backed Kleinschmidt's claim that the mayoral candidate had no knowledge of the mailer.

Kleinschmidt said earlier this week that he didn't know about the mailer and didn't authorize it.

On Tuesday, Kleinschmidt, while campaigning in front of the Chapel Hill Library, said he was too focused on the election to think about Hill or the mailer.

"I have not had room in my head to even think about it," Kleinschmidt said.