A prominent New Hampshire backer of Jon Huntsman has "severed all bonds" with his campaign over "a ‘lack of integrity and honesty of the parties within the campaign’ regarding financial matters,” NBC News' Jo Ling Kent reports. Richard Brothers, former state commissioner of employment security, backed Huntsman for president in March, back when he was still our ambassador to China. Brothers is now supporting Newt Gingrich, CNN's Rachel Streitfeld reports. He told CNN that he thought the New Hampshire campaign was mismanaged.

Brothers emailed senior staffers to complain that a business he co-owns, Reliant Strategies, was contracted to give advice to the campaign for $15,000 a month starting March 10, Kent reports. But Reliant hasn't been paid since July, and when Brothers asked for payments due, he "was informed by the campaign that the original $15,000 rate had been dropped to $5,000 without his prior consent, effective August 1." (Huntsman's campaign denied this.) Meanwhile, Huntsman's former campaign manager, Susie Wiles, has decided to back Mitt Romney.

The pro-Huntsman super PAC Our Destiny, financed in part by his dad and run by former aides, has aired ads that the campaign can't afford. Last week, The Times reported that Our Destiny had "breathed new life" into Huntsman's campaign but, "Several people with knowledge of the situation say it has also put Mr. Huntsman in an awkward position with his father, Jon M. Huntsman Sr., who has both propelled Mr. Huntsman and cast a shadow upon him... But, at times in spite of his own aides’ hopes, Mr. Huntsman has been unwilling to signal that he wants his father, the founder of Huntsman International, to go all in on his behalf. People close to him, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share the candidate’s thinking, said he did not want to be seen as having an election delivered to him by his father’s wealth."

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at ereeve at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Elspeth Reeve