Ray Marcano is a Columbus Dispatch contributing columnist.
Political operations show desperationwhen they go from the gutter and venture deep into the muck.
Vivek Ramaswamy supporters reached a new low in a campaign of lowsOct. 19 when someone released a video on social media of Donna Arthur trashing her estranged daughter, Dr. Amy Acton.
The video appeared on a list of X accounts that includes one run by The Rooster, a blogger, and Walter Curt, who says he’s a senior fellow at the Restoration of America, a group that raises money for conservatives.
The video itself doesn’t say who is responsible for producing what’s supposed to be an October surprise meant to damage the Acton campaign for governor.
In the video, Donna Stearns Arthur calls her estranged
daughter a mentally unstable liar, a central theme in Ramaswamy’s attack ads.
The video shows Arthur talking about her advocacy for sexual abuse victims before saying her daughter “lies,” though she doesn’t say about what. It’s disgusting connect-the-dots innuendo (she’s lying about abuse!), especially coming from a mother who stood by her husband when he was accused of sexually abusing Acton between the ages of 9 and 12.
Austintown Police arrested Cledith Arthur, Acton's stepfather, in 1978 for sexually rapingher when she was 12. Arthur lost custody of Acton and her brother, Philip Sterns. By all accounts, Acton hasn’t seen or spoken to her mother in decades.
“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,”Stearnssaid in a statement.
Where is Vivek Ramaswamy's condemnation of child rape?
Columbus Dispatch reporters have reached out to the Ramaswamy campaign for comment but have yet to hear back. One thing’s clear: His campaign should denounce an ad that reaches a new low, but it won’t because, at least for a little while, people will talk about it, and it will force Acton to address it (and she should).
But then, the other shoe will drop.
There will be stories about Arthur’s credibility.
Why would a mother attack her daughter in such a public way? Who’s behind the video? Was she paid to appear? Why did she stay with the man who sexually abused a preteen? How can she know what Acton’s like if she hasn’t seen or spoken with her? Are those Arthur’s words, or did someone write a script (which is likely)?
There will be stories about the recklessness and wretchedness of GOP operatives and how Ramaswamy stayed silent in the latest smear attempt that will reflect worse on him than on Acton. The campaign can deny knowledge of the video, and even if that’s true, it can’t deny its complicity by staying silent. The October surprise could sting Ramaswamy instead, as voters wonder why a man who touts integrity lives in a campaign of lies.
The hunger for power often leads to the muck. That’s where we are.
It’s not a place that’s going to help the GOP.
Ray Marcano is a Columbus Dispatch contributing columnist. The longtime journalist is the former national president of the Society of Professional Journalists, a two-time Pulitzer juror, and a Fulbright fellow.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ramaswamy's silence on sick ad of Acton's mom speaks to his depravity, desperation | Opinion
