OH-02 Dem Steve Black: 'Nothing In Our Ad Is False' About Vic Wulsin And Medical Experiments

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Dan Herkert, the campaign manager for OH-02 Democratic congressional candidate Steve Black, has sent an e-mail and press release to The Daily Bellwether about the TV ad sharply criticizing Victoria Wulsin's work for the Heimlich Institute. Rather than summarize, here's what Herkert and the Black campaign have to say:

Bill: Below you will find a press release we emailed out today with regard to our television ad. We fully stand by this ad and I would be happy to provide you with all copies of the documents upon which it is based. Nothing in our ad is false.

We have merely exposed the fact that Dr. Wulsin is in fact under investigation by the Ohio State Medical Board and the fact that she did not report these experiments to any government body. Also, she has claimed on different occasions that she merely wrote a "literature review" for the Heimlich Institute. This so-called literature review does not cite any of the numerous articles from the New York Times, LA Times, or New England Journal of Medicine that are critical of malariotherapy. Further, her report actually lists recommendations to the Heimlich Institute for ways to continue these experiments.

We have never gone "negative" in this campaign. The public record of a candidate is indicitive of how they will perform as a Member of Congress and that record should be compared to other candidates. The truth is often harsh, but every statement that has ever come from Steve's campaign is fully based on public documents.

Below is our press release from earlier today. If you have any questions or would like copies of the documents supporting our ad, don't hesitate to call me.

Dan Herkert

For Immediate Release
Date: February 29, 2008
Contact: Dan Herkert, Campaign Manager
(513)561-7232 office

Just The Facts

Today, the Steve Black for Congress campaign began airing a television ad that exposes the fact that Dr. Victoria Wulsin is currently under the cloud of an active ethics investigation by the Ohio State Medical Board. The information contained within that ad is entirely true, factual, and based on public documents. Click here to read all relevant documents and to watch the President of the National Council Against Health Fraud explain the issues surrounding their request for this ongoing investigation.

In an effort to distract voters from her own record and the ongoing ethics investigation that currently surrounds her medical license, Victoria Wulsin's campaign has spent the past two weeks knowingly running a television ad that completely distorts the truth with regard to Steve Black's family farm. Click here to view the documents that prove Wulsin's ad to be a complete distortion of the truth.

"The public record of a candidate is indicative of how they will perform as a Member of Congress," said Dan Herkert, Campaign Manager. "Voters should be well aware of the public record of a candidate when making a choice on Election Day. Congress has been plagued in recent years by ethics investigation after ethics investigation, from Republican Bob Ney in Ohio to Democrat William Jefferson in Louisiana. As a nation, we cannot restore public trust in our government and focus on the needs of the American people if we continue to elect public officials who are surrounded by ethical questions."

"As Democrats, we cannot beat Jean Schmidt with a candidate currently under the cloud of an active ethics investigation," continued Herkert, "and we certainly can't change Congress until we change the people we send there."

"All communications that emanate from the Steve Black for Congress campaign are true and supported by public documents," said Herkert. "As a campaign, we are happy to provide any member of the press or any voter with a copy of those documents."

Slimeball Politics In Ohio: Betty Montgomery Gets Ripped

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Ohio lawyer Martin S. Pinales, who practices in Cincinnati, is the current president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and he is none too pleased about political attack ads that attack lawyers for representing unsavory clients. Pinales used his bi-monthly column HERE in the group's house organ to vent, and cited Republican Betty Montgomery's tactics against Democrat Marc Dann in the contest for Ohio Attorney General as particularly reprehensible.

Dann won, but Pinales found it "appalling" that she stooped to imply he might coddle child molesters. Although he election is past, Pinales won't let Montgomery off the hook, and got the last word. He spread the tale to perhaps 50,000 lawyers via his column in The Champion, the defense lawyer magazine. "Montgomery stated that her opponent, state Sen. Marc Dann, was not qualified for the job because he had defended child molesters. The ad showed an actor, who looked like Dann, sitting in a courtroom with his arm around a tattooed prisoner. Luckily, the people of Ohio saw through such desperate tactics and elected Dann as Ohio's new attorney general."

He mentions other similar attacks from around the country, including Cincinnati State Rep. Jim Raussen's blast at Democrat Connie Pillich, a public defender who represented indigent defendants. Pinales' really got his juices flowing on that. "It is interesting that we rarely see political attack ads that besmirch the character of a lawyer who represents high-profile, well-heeled white collar defendants."

Pinales is right up to a point. He makes a strong argument that criminal defense lawyers should be immune from attacks because of the important role they play in the justice system, and because they often have to advocate for villains.

But what about the civil side of law? What is fair game in politics? Is there a line somewhere? Does a lawyer who takes a case for clients who contend poll watchers should be allowed to question black voters in Ohio receive a pass from criticism? Should a lawyer who argues that abortion is illegal -- or legal -- be immune? Are lawyers who contend that the Ten Commandments must be posted in public buildings -- or who say they should not -- inoculated against attacks if they decide to run for office?

Sometimes, these issues are aired in U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings when lawyers are nominated for federal judicial office. The NACDL Web site is HERE.