Photo sourced from @wcdispatch on Twitter
As the most expensive gubernatorial campaign in Ohio history nears its end, Republican candidate and billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy is deservedly facing bipartisan pushback for a $4 million attack ad campaign featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton.
“Amy has a serious problem, she is a liar, she lies about her past,” Donna Arthur says directly to the camera. “She’s lied her entire life. My daughter needs help. And she can’t help you if she needs help herself.”
It’s a message that places all of its punch on the shoulders of the messenger; after all, who knows someone better than their own mother? The catch is that family dynamics are never simple, and, in this specific case, the factual record establishes that they were allegedly criminal.
Following the ad’s circulation on social media, Acton and her brother provided a trove of legal documents and previous local media coverage confirming that they were removed from their mother’s care in 1978 after Acton—then 12—was raped by her stepfather, to whom her mother remained married until his death in 2004.
The still-unfolding controversy serves as an especially traumatic example of what may be the singular universal truth when it comes to both family and politics: The messenger is as important—if not more important—than the message itself.
Ramaswamy has now doubled down on his campaign’s ad, and we may never know how—or whether—Ramaswamy’s campaign vetted Arthur before putting her in front of their camera. But a competent researcher reviewing Acton’s previous press coverage should have found the 2019 column in her hometown newspaper recounting her stepfather’s alleged sexual abuse, the resulting criminal charges, and her estrangement from her mother. Those were leads to investigate: pull the court records, establish the chronology, and examine Arthur’s role before presenting her as an authority on her daughter’s character.
Following that trail should have produced a clear recommendation against this ad. The relationship that made Arthur seem like a compelling messenger became, upon examination, the very reason not to use her.
