OH-02 Dem Vic Wulsin: Steve Black's New TV Ad A 'Dying Gasp' Lie

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A new OH-02 attack ad by Steve Black has drawn a sharp rebuttal from Vic Wulsin's campaign, which describes it as deceptive and a "dying gasp" falsehood. With the the March 4 Democratic primary less than a week away, Black has gone nuclear. He appears in the ad claiming she took part in unethical medical experiments led by Dr. Henry Heimlich, the inventor of the Heimlich maneuver. Wulsin, a medical doctor, said Black gave her a $1,000 campaign contribution in 2006. Black sent the money to help Wulsin finance her campaign that year against Republican U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt -- which seems to take some wind out of his 2008 argument that Wulsin is an unethical physician. The campaign also notes she has received donations from doctors and medical organizations:

"With over 270 physicians donating to her campaign and support from the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Psychiatric Association, and the American Medical Association, Wulsin's reputation and character should not be in question."

The complete text of the Wulsin campaign's press release responding to the Black TV ad about "dangerous experiments" follows:

For Immediate Release Contact: Ann Herzner
February, 29, 2008 Phone: (513) 233-4180
Black Lies to Voters
Continues His Negative Campaign Of Smear And “Innuendo”
With one last dying gasp, Steve Black’s campaign, in a desperate effort to mislead the voters, is accusing Vic Wulsin of covering up experiments described in press accounts a full 10 years before her work occurred.
Steve Black’s inability to connect with voters on the issues that matter to the people of Ohio led him to run this baseless and negative ad.

The Cincinnati Enquirer described Black’s attacks as “based more on innuendo than fact,” and the Dayton Daily News said the attacks “don’t wash.” Both papers took Black to task for running a negative campaign against Wulsin. In his commercial, Steve Black supports his misleading claims with an LA Times article from October 30, 1994. Medical experiments: "Dangerous" "Scientifically unsound" Source: Los Angeles Times, 10/30/94

What Steve Black doesn’t tell voters is that Vic Wulsin’s work for the Heimlich Institute was in 2004, a decade after the article was written. How could Dr. Wulsin be responsible for “covering up” experiments described in a newspaper article ten years earlier? The answer, of course, is that she didn’t cover up anything. Dr. Wulsin, as she has maintained all along, did nothing wrong. She was hired by The Heimlich Institute to perform a literature review and was fired when the Institute realized her report opposed further research without proof of effectiveness and significantly upgraded standards of review.

In fact, Steve Black supported Vic Wulsin in her 2006 run against Jean Schmidt, and the families have known each other for decades. His $1000 donation to her campaign was the largest he's ever given to a Democrat.

With over 270 physicians donating to her campaign and support from the political arms of the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Psychiatric Association, and the American Medical Association, Wulsin’s reputation and character should not be in question.