The only people who ever know the truth about problematic events in their lives are the people who lived through those events. That said, when there are public records or outsiders have personal knowledge of those events, it is incumbent on the primary actors involved in the events to shoot straight with us. That reality is especially the case when those people decide to run for public office, as in most cases the problematic events will come out. It would seem far better to control the release of details than be subject to the typical death by 1,000 cuts that will occur when the details start to come to light. Moreover, when someone runs for public office, they ask staff and volunteers to back them, donors to fund them, and, ultimately, voters to support them. Each group deserves to know if there are events in their lives that the average person would deem problematic and relevant to their fitness to hold office.
The point is that those who run for public office should tell people about the problematic events in their lives because (1) people deserve to know and (2) it is going to come out anyway.
That brings me to Amy Acton, Max Miller, and Vivek Ramaswamy. I cannot believe Ohio is giving America THREE examples of this problem in one campaign season—five if you count Sherrod Brown’s past domestic abuse accusation and another candidate’s domestic issue that remains private so far. These come on top of Ohio Speaker Larry Householder going to prison and other convictions of politicians over the last decade. I mean, what is wrong with Ohio politicians?
On Acton, given police were involved with whatever happened at her house in August 2019 and she worked for Governor Mike DeWine at the time, she should have known aspects of the event would come out via leaks, public records, and 911 calls. It was incredibly naive or hubristic for her to think she could run for governor without the event coming out. She should have dealt with it on day one by detailing what happened, answering all questions about it, and having family members speak about it, as well. Instead, she assumed it would stay hidden, so now is being cut 1,000 times by it. I feel sorry for her staff and volunteers, as well as running mate David Pepper, as I assume they have been blindsided by the revelations. DeWine was.
On Miller, I can’t even fathom why he thought what has happened in his personal life—from the divorce to the abuse allegations to the alleged drug use wouldn’t come out. Because he refused to realize that he might be unelectable now, he literally could be the one seat that flips control of the U.S. House from Republicans to Democrats. Talk about hubris.
On Ramaswamy, again, no one knows what really happened between he and his mom, Geetha Ramaswamy, regarding the Alzheimer’s data on interpirdine she reviewed that ultimately led to him making quite of bit of money, but something about it does stink, including that Geetha didn’t have clinical trial experience. There is a taint about it that does stick to him and makes him look like a shady businessman at a time when many on Main Street think corporate executives are getting super rich as they struggle to make ends meet. He should have held a press conference with Geetha to answer all questions about what she did, why she did it, and the transactions that led to him earning hundreds of millions of dollars. It would help to minimize suspicions of ill-gotten gains.
In the cases of all three candidates, it is hubris. Pure, unadulterated hubris. To think that you can run for public office without having to reveal and talk about events in your past that may reflect poorly on you is just hubris. It shows that you don’t think the rules apply to you and that you are so amazing that dealing with potential revelations are below you. Some politicians have gotten away with keeping their skeletons in the closet, but many don’t. Sometimes the skeletons come walking out during a campaign. Sometimes it happens after winning office. Unless your skeleton happened without anyone else knowing and without public records, you have to assume it will come out. When it does, you will be a prisoner to the news cycle, social media feeding frenzy, and “what else don’t we know” questions and suspicions. You will harm those around you, your own efforts, and your party’s credibility. All because you think you are so incredible that you can lose control one bad night, treat your ex-wife like rubbish, or polish the data to make money without those actions ever coming to light.
Get over yourself.
If Acton was smart, which she claims to be, she should hold a press conference this week with those involved and deal with the events of August 2019 once and for call by answering every question. She also should give the apology speech I suggested she should make regarding the COVID virus and her role in shutting down Ohio. There is little doubt that history will not judge Anthony Fauci or Acton positively once what we all know occurred is confirmed by the records. If she does neither, Acton will not win in November. Her polling numbers are already falling, especially her favorability rating. As Ramaswamy spends millions to inform Ohioans about her August 2019 bad night, the remaining 9% without an opinion will move against her. Hey Amy, your kid calling 911 on you is politically deadly unless she goes on the record to explain what happened. Pepper, if you read this column, you need to push hard for both actions.
Voters will take care of Miller in November, then he can disappear for good.
Ramaswamy should, but won’t, hold that press conference with Geetha to answer questions on the Alzheimer’s interpirdine data then confidently move on with his campaign. If they have nothing to hide, then do it. It also wouldn’t hurt if he provided the data to a third party to verify Geetha’s uncredentialed work. He also should give the speech on religion I suggested he should give and quickly learn to be self-deprecating as I advised him. Why? Because the latest Fox News poll showing him slightly up indicates 13% of Republicans don’t support Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jon Husted, which could turn into a strong undervote or no vote group for all Republicans. The poll has Husted down eight points to Brown. As I noted in other columns, we’ve seen this trend in which conservative Ohio voters stay home or undervote a race: Ken Blackwell in 2006; John McCain in 2008; Mitt Romney in 2012; and Mike DeWine in 2018 and 2022. And, history has shown us that some conservative voters don’t show up if Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot
I will add one more hubristic aspect about Ohio: the Ohio Republican Party (ORP) that stacks the deck for anointed candidates from early in their careers, thereby creating scores of untested, weak candidates like Husted. Husted is losing by eight points to Brown and has the worst favorability rating of anyone tested, with a majority viewing him unfavorably. As I detailed previously, Husted has never faced a tough race in his twenty-five year political career, which we can define as facing a well-funded opponent with moderate-to-high name identification.
In the only two races he would have faced such an opponent, he bailed. In 2018 when facing DeWine in the gubernatorial Republican primary and again in 2026 when he would have faced Ramaswamy. In the former, he opted to subvert himself to DeWine as his running mate to wait eight years to run as the anointed gubernatorial candidate and in the latter he pushed to replace J.D. Vance in the U.S. Senate assuming he wouldn’t face a defeated Brown in a +11 Trump state (Brown IS the Democrat bench in Ohio). Husted is THE PARAMOUNT example of a career politician who doesn’t know how to run a tough race, as he glided into one job after the next with ORP’s backing.
The ORP needs to stop endorsing candidates in primaries and let the best man or woman rise to the top. In many cases, the primary election will be the hardest races Republicans face in Ohio, so keeping the ORP at bay will allow the winners to sharpen themselves in the heat of battle, thereby allowing them to acquire the skills to win tough races in the future. Otherwise, we end up with weak-kneed Republicans like DeWine, glass jawed candidates like Husted, and timid legislators afraid to buck the Republican leaders they need to keep the grift going. Ohioans deserve better.
Going forward, I hope those seeking public office realize that in our modern age of the Internet, social media, and citizen journalism, anything they’ve done in which other people were involved or public records exist will come out, so either don’t run if the details are disqualifying or deal with them in the beginning and head on so you don’t suffer death by 1,000 cuts.
P.S. You know I love baseball. How much? Back in 1997 when I took a twenty-day road trip out West, I made sure to stop by the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa. I took the picture above of First Base with the corn outfield in the background. It looked just like it did in the movie—farm house and all. I loved it. Unfortunately, Major League Baseball decided to hold an annual event there, so the site went from a literal baseball field in the middle of corn fields to a minor league baseball field. I think the corporate revamp has killed the spirituality of the place and demolished the farm house. I’m glad I went when I did.
P.P.S. Only in the land of woke Democratic Socialists of America is it “awesome” that a congresswoman who makes $174,000/year and who has been in Congress for eight years, thereby having made $1.392 million still hasn’t paid off her $21,000 in student loan debt (she admitted how much it was at a congressional hearing in 2019) after NINETEEN YEARS. This failure despite having $66,000 in bank accounts. Again, endless hubris and gall.
