COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Democrat Dr. Amy Acton's estranged mother appeared in a new attack ad, calling her gubernatorial candidate daughter a liar. Court documents show Acton's stepfather was arrested for raping her as a child, and her biological mom lost custody.
Watch the full video below:
This new ad features Donna Arthur, formerly Stearns.
"I worked at Children and Family Service Association, building one of the first two sexual abuse programs in America... Amy has a serious problem." Arthur states in the ad. "She is a liar. She lies about her past."
It's an ad that's circulating on the internet but doesn't say who paid for it. It was first published by Columbus-based political blogger The Rooster.
Acton is lying about her background, Arthur claims in the ad.
"She says she grew up living in a tent," she said. "None of that is true."
Acton shouldn't be elected governor, Arthur states.
Court documents tell a different story
Acton hasn’t had contact with her mother since leaving the courthouse once her stepfather was charged with raping her, the candidate said.
Mahoning County Court records we obtained show that Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged with sexually abusing Acton, then 12 years old. The abuse went from ages 10-12, she said.
Acton’s younger brother Phil Stearns said their mother lost custody, as she “stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died.”
Last week, Stearns spoke out about their upbringing.
"I received a lot of abuse, but Amy always got the worst of it," Stearns said. "She continued to receive that abuse because she knew she had to protect me."
Police did find the stepfather living in a tent when Acton was a child, court records show.
After pleading not guilty, he posted bond and fled, becoming a fugitive of the state until his death in 2004. Police tried to find him for numerous years, documents state. He and Acton's mother moved to Pennsylvania, according to public records.
Backlash
The ad has created mass backlash, including from sexual assault survivors who are blaming Acton's opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy.
"I was taken aback, and I feel that it is quite atrocious and vile, given the circumstances, and wondering myself, as a survivor of such heinous crimes, how someone who is running to be the governor of our state [could air this]" Jessica Miranda, a former Democratic lawmaker and current Hamilton County Auditor, said.
It is "heinous and outrageous" to think that anyone would vote for him after this, Miranda continued.
Even Republicans like Mark Pukita say it goes too far, adding that the constant attack ads over the past few months, as well as campaigning like this, lost his vote.
"I don't know a good mother who would ever do that to her child, so she's clearly an unfit mother," Pukita said. "Why would I take advice from an unfit mother? That would be like taking child-rearing advice from a child abuser."
Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik, one of Gov. Mike DeWine's top cabinet members, 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 simply unwilling to set aside my personal values to defend a political ad. There is a difference between fighting for your principles and abandoning them to win," Mihalik said on social media.
Other Republicans point out that Acton's stepfather was never convicted, and there is no disclaimer on the ad.
"You can accuse Ramaswamy of doing it, but there's no evidence that I know of of his campaign doing that," Republican strategist Terry Casey said. "That might be false too."
Once we told Casey about the documentation we had of the court documents, he brought up how this ad and our subsequent investigation are all "TMI, too much information" and irrelevant to who would be the best governor.
At first, the Ramaswamy team did not take explicit responsibility for the ad, but did say that "Ohioans deserve to know" that Acton's mother doesn't support her.
“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," Ramaswamy's spokesperson 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 hear back.
After this story aired, Ramaswamy confirmed it was his ad.
Acton has previously talked extensively about how she feels Ramaswamy has degraded her for what she has gone through.
"My opponent has said that I, someone who experienced child abuse and neglect, was a frequent flyer in children's services, that I'm just 'complaining about something done to me' in my childhood," Acton said, quoting Ramaswamy's previous statement.
In the afternoon, Acton released a statement on her Facebook page, explaining more about her upbringing.
"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," she wrote, in part.
Her experiences shaped her values, 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.
"They are why I will never stop fighting for Ohio's most vulnerable — especially the 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 stated.
The ad had not been submitted to WEWS-TV News 5 Cleveland or WCPO-TV 9 News Cincinnati for airing. It is unclear if it is intended for a TV audience, which has more rigorous requirements for disclosure of who is paying for it.
Follow Statehouse and Columbus bureau reporter Morgan Trau on X, Instagram and Facebook. Email her at Morgan.Trau@wews.com.
