COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Democrat Dr. Amy Acton’s ex-mother has appeared in a new attack ad, calling her gubernatorial candidate daughter a liar. Court documents show Acton’s stepfather was arrested for raping her when she was a child and her biological mother lost custody.
Watch the full video below:
Democrat Amy Acton’s ex-mother calls her a liar in ad, court documents say otherwise
This new commercial features Donna Arthur, formerly Stearns.
“I worked at the Children and Family Service Association, where I created one of the first two sexual abuse programs in America…Amy has a serious problem.” Arthur states in the ad. “She’s a liar. She lies about her past.”
It’s an ad that circulates on the Internet but doesn’t say who paid. It was first published by Columbus-based political blogger The Rooster.
Acton is lying about his background, Arthur claims in the ad.
“She says she grew up in a tent,” she said. “None of this is true.”
Acton should not be elected governor, Arthur says.
Court documents tell a different story
Acton has not had contact with her mother since she left the courthouse when her stepfather was accused of raping her, the candidate said.
Mahoning County court records we obtained show that Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged with sexually abusing then-12-year-old Acton. The abuse took place between the ages of 10 and 12, she said.
Acton’s younger brother Phil Stearns said their mother lost custody because she “stayed married to Amy’s rapist until she died.”
Last week, Stearns opened up about their upbringing.
“I got a lot of abuse, but Amy always got the worst,” Stearns said. “She continued to endure this abuse because she knew she had to protect me.”
Police found the stepfather living in a tent when Acton was a child, according to court records.
After pleading not guilty, he posted bond and fled, becoming a fugitive from the state until his death in 2004. Police tried to find him for many years, documents show. He and Acton’s mother moved to Pennsylvania, according to public records.
Backlash
The ad sparked a massive backlash, including from sexual assault survivors who blame Acton’s opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy.
“I was taken aback, and I think it’s pretty atrocious and despicable, given the circumstances, and I wonder myself, as a survivor of such heinous crimes, how someone running for governor of our state (could broadcast this),” said Jessica Miranda, a former Democratic lawmaker and current Hamilton County auditor.
It is “abhorrent and outrageous” to think that anyone could vote for him after this, Miranda continued.
Even Republicans like Mark Pukita say this goes too far, adding that the constant attack ads over the past few months, as well as campaigns like this, have cost him his votes.
“I don’t know any good mother who would do that to their child, so she’s clearly an unfit mother,” Pukita said. “Why should I take advice from an unfit mother? It would be like taking advice from a child molester on raising children.”
Lydia Mihalik, director of the Ohio Department of Development and a top member of Gov. Mike DeWine’s cabinet, condemned the ad.
“I don’t have to agree with Amy Acton’s politics to believe that exploiting someone’s childhood trauma is wrong…I haven’t changed my political beliefs. I’m just not willing to put aside my personal values to defend a political ad. There’s a difference between fighting for your principles and abandoning them to win,” Mihalik said on social media.
Other Republicans point out that Acton’s father-in-law has never been convicted and that there is no disclaimer on the ad.
“You can accuse Ramaswamy of doing it, but to my knowledge there is no evidence that his campaign did this,” said Republican strategist Terry Casey. “That might also be wrong.”
Once we spoke to Casey about the documentation we had on court filings, he explained that this announcement and our subsequent investigation were all “TMI, too much information” and had nothing to do with who would be the best governor.
At first, Ramaswamy’s team did not explicitly take responsibility for the ad, but said “Ohioans deserve to know” that Acton’s mother does not support her.
“We don’t know what happened between Amy and her mother, who first spoke out about Amy in 2020, but we do know that Amy Acton is a serial fagot who has serious issues with the truth that the public needs to be aware of before deciding who to entrust with the governorship,” Ramaswamy spokeswoman Connie Luck said in a lengthy statement.
We tried to ask follow-up questions about the ad, including how much Acton’s mother was paid, as well as confirm who created it. We didn’t get a response.
After this story aired, Ramaswamy confirmed that it was his advertisement.
Acton has previously spoken at length about how she believes Ramaswamy degraded her for what she experienced.
“My opponent said that I, someone who had been a victim of child abuse and neglect, was a regular at child services, that I was simply complaining about something that was done to me as a child,” Acton said, quoting Ramaswamy’s previous statement.
In the afternoon, Acton posted a statement on his Facebook page, further explaining his upbringing.
“My birth mother did nothing to protect me. I always knew she was deeply sick and sick, and it’s sad to see Vivek Ramaswamy exploiting her for his own political gain,” she wrote in part.
Her experiences shaped her values, her compassion and her “belief that every person deserves to be safe, to be heard and to have a fair chance at a better life,” she continued.
“That’s why I will never stop fighting for Ohio’s most vulnerable – especially children and families who deserve the safety, dignity, opportunity and hope that every Ohioan should have. No one in Ohio will ever be invisible to me,” Acton said.
The ad had not been submitted to WEWS-TV News 5 Cleveland or WCPO-TV 9 News Cincinnati for broadcast. It’s unclear whether the film is aimed at a television audience, which is subject to more rigorous disclosure requirements about who pays for it.
Follow Statehouse and Columbus Bureau Reporter Morgan Trau on X, Instagram And Facebook. Email him at Morgan.Trau@wews.com.
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