Controversial ad featuring Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate’s mother made by GOP opponent

The controversial new political advertisement featuring the estranged mother of Ohio Democratic gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton calling her daughter "a liar" was produced by her Republican opponent Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign team, the GOP nominee’s camp confirmed Tuesday night. 

Ramaswamy’s team has said it plans to spend $4 million to keep distributing the commercial, which first appeared overnight, despite criticism that the ad rehashes Acton’s painful childhood, which included facing homelessness and sexual abuse as a child. 

Big picture view:

Acton and Ramaswamy have been locked in a tight race to replace outgoing Gov. Mike DeWine, with Acton, the state’s former public health director, and Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire and former Republican presidential candidate who has the support of President Donald Trump.

What they're saying:

Acton spent Tuesday pushing back on the commercial and indicated prior to the confirmation from Ramaswamy’s camp that her opponent was behind it.

"I won’t normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is just something I’m complaining about, who today just released an ad using my birth mother, who I was removed from at the age of 12 for severe abuse and neglect, and sexual abuse," she told Spectrum News, a cable news outlet in Ohio.

Ramaswamy responds

During a town hall in Westerville, Ohio, Ramaswamy talked about the commercial, according to a video posted onto social media by WCMH-TV. In it, Ramaswamy said he wished the campaign was about substantive issues and accused his opponent of "spreading defamatory, disparaging lies about me and my family. That does deserve to be scrutinized."

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The backstory:

The ad first came to light in a post by an Ohio political blogger. In the one-minute spot, Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, encouraged people not to vote for her daughter and insinuated that her daughter has mental health issues. That initial version did not have the usual "paid for" tag that is required for televised political commercials, raising questions about who was behind it.

In an initial statement, Ramaswamy’s campaign did not say if Ramaswamy’s side was behind the commercial or knew who made it. In it, Ramaswamy campaign spokesperson Connie Luck said Acton "has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of."

The other side:

Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, released a statement through the Democratic candidate’s campaign saying that the siblings were removed from their mother’s custody as children after Arthur’s husband was indicted for raping Acton as a child. Acton says she has not seen Arthur since they were in a courtroom together in 1978. Stearns also appeared in a new commercial created by Acton’s campaign in response to the one featuring Arthur.

Dig deeper:

Court records obtained by the Associated Press show that Cledith Arthur was charged with raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter after Acton’s father reported the allegations to law enforcement. Prosecutors alleged Arthur’s crimes occurred between December 1976 and April 1978. The AP reports Cledith Arthur pleaded not guilty and was indicted by a grand jury. He missed a court hearing and was a fugitive until at least 1981. He has since died.

 

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