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During his Oct. 5 endorsement interview with this newspaper, Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy criticized Amy Acton, his Democratic opponent, for how she is conducting her campaign.
Ramaswamy said: "I think that she's the beginning of a new kind of politics of real personalization. She's running a campaign on identity politics, not in the way that you traditionally may think about, but it's a different kind of identity politics. Identity politics that - I don't care to go into this now - actually has skillfully baited the worst instincts about aspects of identity in this race, and I think it's ugly. It's a scathing indictment of not only Amy Acton, but where we are."
Just a couple of weeks later, Ramaswamy's campaign began airing a controversial ad, and is reportedly spending $4.5 million to run it, featuring Acton's estranged mother, Donna Stearns Arthur.
In the one-minute commercial, Stearns Arthur says: "It's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar. She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She's lied her entire life. My daughter needs help, and she can't help you if she needs help herself. People can change, but first they have to tell the truth, and my daughter still isn't doing that. Don't vote for people who lie."
There's a lot that isn't mentioned in the ad.
First, Acton last talked to her mother more than 48 years ago, when the candidate was 12 years old. That final conversation came shortly before September 1978, when her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was indicted by a Mahoning County grand jury on a felony charge of rape for allegedly sexually abusing Acton for two years.
Rather than face the charge, Cledith Arthur fled Ohio and was considered a fugitive until his death in 2004. Warrants for his arrest were issued a number of times. He never faced prosecution.
Also, Donna Stearns Arthur sided with her husband, and the couple stayed together until his death.
There are court records about the alleged abuse as well as numerous other charges filed against the Arthurs. Donna Stearns Arthur was found guilty in 2021 of neglect of animals and in 1996 of felony theft by deception.
There is also a 1982 document from a Mahoning County deputy sheriff that states Cledith Arthur lived in a tent, corroborating Acton's account of spending a winter in a tent.
The Ramaswamy campaign initially wouldn't address if it was responsible for the commercial.
When I asked for a comment and whether the Ramaswamy campaign was responsible for the ad, I received a statement from Connie Luck, a spokesperson, who said: "We don't know what happened between Amy and her mother, who first spoke out about Amy in 2020, but we know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist who has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of before deciding who to entrust as governor."
It wasn't until Ramaswamy met with reporters later on Tuesday, with the ad garnering national attention and a great deal of outrage, that he acknowledged his campaign created the ad.
Ramaswamy's response was: "I would love for this race and this election to be about the substantive issues that impact Ohioans. Unfortunately, Amy Acton has been hiding from those issues. She won't debate me. She doesn't allow cameras at her events, and I think her record of continuously - certainly during this campaign - I would say spreading some defamatory, disparaging lies about me and my family that does deserve to be scrutinized, and this is part of a broader pattern that I think bears mention in this race as well." That pattern, Ramaswamy said, is people who know Acton best say you shouldn't vote for Acton and "it's important for voters to take all of that into account."
Ramaswamy said Acton "has lied in an unforgivable way" about him so "if she believes any criticisms of her are unfair or inaccurate, she would want to do the same thing" and debate him.
While it was expected that Democrats would condemn the ad, it also received criticism from Republicans.
Gov. Mike DeWine said: “The ad on its face is deeply, deeply troubling. But when you know the rest of the story, when you know the backstory, when you know that the husband of the mom was indicted by a grand jury after hearing testimony and that he took off along with the mother and that the two children never saw the mother after that,” it “makes it more serious. It makes it just more wrong.”
Jim Renacci, a former Republican congressman, wrote on social media: "The floor may have just fallen out from under the Republican campaign for Ohio governor. And any Republican who fails to distance themselves from this ad risks taking on water as well."
State Rep. Brian Lorenz, R-Powell, wrote: "I was disappointed by the recent television ad bringing painful family matters into this campaign. Using someone's childhood trauma as a political attack is inappropriate and should have no place in our public debate."
Lydia Mihalik, the director of the Ohio Department of Development, wrote: "I don't care what political party you belong to or which candidate you support. There are lines we shouldn't cross, and this is one of them. We can disagree on plenty of things without losing our sense of decency."
Also, U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, a Republican on the general election ticket with Ramaswamy, told the Associated Press: "I would not have run that ad."
Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Ramaswamy supporter who is running for state auditor, told WSYX, a Columbus TV station: "I probably wouldn't run an ad like that, but every candidate gets to make their own decision."
The Acton campaign was obviously prepared for this so-called "October surprise."
Shortly after D.J. Byrnes, who runs The Rooster, an Ohio political blog, disclosed the ad, initially without a disclaimer, the Acton campaign emailed a statement from her brother, Philip Stearns.
The Acton campaign knew that Ramaswamy was responsible for the ad before he said it.
Stearns said: "After (Cledith Arthur) was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy's rapist until he died. This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core - a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants."
Stearns also said: "It's not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at 12 years old from our birth mother's husband into a political talking point."
A short time later, Acton's campaign had an ad up with her brother saying while he received a lot of abuse as a child, "Amy always got the worst of it," and said Ramaswamy should be ashamed to use the abuse as "a talking point."
In a social media post, Acton said she and her brother "lived in fear of our birth mother's violent and erratic temper. Between the ages of 10 and 12, I was sexually abused by her husband while my birth mother did nothing to protect me. I've always known that she was deeply sick and unwell, and it's sad to see Vivek Ramaswamy exploit her all for his own political gain."
David Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.