Mike Curtinis a former editor and associate publisher of The Columbus Dispatch, and a former two-term state lawmaker who served on the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission.
For 53 years, I’ve covered and written on Ohio government, politics and elections.I’ve also co-authored three editions of The Ohio Politics Almanac, a guide to the state’s political history.
In my judgment, Ohioans never have witnessed a more depraved, amoral political attack than the one just launched by Vivek Ramaswamy against Dr. Amy Acton.
Ramaswamy knows, and does not care, that his attack is provably false.
What happened to Amy Acton
The relevant facts are contained in Mahoning County’s public court records. In August 1978, Austintown police arrested Cledith Arthur, stepfather of 12-year-old
Amy Stearns (later Acton) following a sexual assault investigation initiated by Stearns’ father.
In September 1978, a Mahoning County grand jury indicted Arthur on a felony rape charge. Arthur pleaded not guilty. The young victim testified against him. However, in October 1978, before a trial could take place, Arthur fled the state with the victim’s mother, Donna Stearns Arthur.
Donna Stearns Arthur chose to leave the state with her husband rather than attempt to keep custody of her two children, Amy and younger brother Phillip. The two children have remained estranged from their mother ever since.
In October 1978, a judge declared Arthur a fugitive from justice and issued a warrant for his arrest. Additional warrants were issued in 1981 and 1983, but Arthur evaded prosecution for the rest of his life. He died in 2004 in Mechanicsburg, Pa. without ever facing trial. Donna Stearns Arthur remained with him until his death.
Acton has spoken publicly about being a survivor of sexual assault. Her brother validates her account and credits her for trying to protect him in an abusive home environment.
What Ramaswamy did
Ramaswamy’s campaign located an elderly and troubled Donna Stearns Arthur – 48 years after she abandoned her two children – to film a campaign ad accusing her estranged daughter of being a liar.
Phillip Stearnsis appalled that Ramaswamy would take advantage of his mother in this way. “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.”
All Ohioans should be appalled. Perhaps especially all alumni of St. Francis Xavier High School in Cincinnati, from which Ramaswamy graduated in 2003. For 195 years, the all-boys, Jesuit school has pursued a mission of shaping young men to have a fierce devotion to the truth – based on the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
In Jesuit teaching, honoring the truth is paramount, even and especially when it comes at a personal cost. Compromising on the truth is a grievous moral failing.
Moreso than any candidate for governor in Ohio history, Ramaswamy has vividly demonstrated he lacks the moral character for any elective office.
Mike Curtin is a former editor and associate publisher of The Columbus Dispatch, and a former two-term state lawmaker who served on the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Vivek Ramaswamy doesn't want you to know this happened to Amy Acton | Opinion
