Hoo boy. You gotta hand it to Republicans. They always know how to “stay classy”.
The latest? Republican state Sen. Steve Austria, running to replace retiring GOP Rep. Dave Hobson in an R+6 central Ohio district, is spewing out a “unique” new attack against his Democratic opponent, attorney Sharen Neuhardt. Austria is now criticizing her family’s sponsorship of a Rwandan political refugee and survivor of that country’s brutal genocide:
Austria’s campaign manager, Brad Mascho, told Cox News that “harboring an illegal immigrant with a criminal record is a serious matter.”
There are lies and then there are vile lies — this one is the latter. As Jeff at the Ohio Daily Blog writes, Ishema Umuhoza has been living in the United States legally as he waits for federal courts to review his petition for political asylum. In the meantime, he graduated from the University of Dayton in 2005 and had some minor brushes with the law (driving without a license and walking home while intoxicated). The Neuhardt family has been aiding Umuhoza since 2002, offering him a place to stay and taking up his legal fight for political asylum in the courts. In turn, Republican Steve Austria and the slimeballs at the NRCC are attacking Neuhardt for her act of generosity.
The Sharen Neuhardt campaign calls this a “cowardly attack”, and we’re inclined to agree. Austria and his slime crew should be ashamed of themselves, assuming they had any moral fiber to begin with.
UPDATE: Here’s the reaction from DCCC spokesman Ryan Rudominer:
“Steve Austria smearing Sharen’s family for helping a Rwandan refugee who escaped a mass genocide is one of the most shameful and despicable moves made in any race this cycle,” Rudominer said. “Clearly, Steve Austria spit on John McCain and Sarah Palin’s request to keep a candidate’s family off limits.”
James,
Thank you so much for picking up this story.
Sharen Neuhardt is one of our candidates in Ohio who is really giving the GOP just what they deserve- hell.
As you mentioned, this IS a GOP leaning District, but maybe, just maybe, if Sharen gets enough support…
She has run a fine campaign so far, surpassing anyone’s expectations. She deserves the ‘sphere’s wholehearted support.
Seriously, this has been frustrating me to no end all day long–thanks so much for picking it up, James. Steve Austria’s campaign has been embarrassing and shameful event after embarrassing and shameful event. First, he can’t think of anything unique to say about Labor Day so he just plagiarizes Wikipedia. Then, it’s found out that he posed with uniformed Army personnel in a campaign photo op, and then used the photo — against DoD regulations — on his website and in printed material.
And now this.
I don’t know much about the Rwandan genocide other than what I learned from Don Cheadle and Hotel Rwanda–which is plenty to know that to re-victimize the orphan of genocide by pulling his asylum story into the front pages; portraying him as an “illegal alien” with a criminal record; and attacking the few kind souls who have supported him and cared for him, all as part of a lame, desperate, political stunt by a flailing Republican congressional campaign, is morally abhorrent.
Steve Austria, his campaign staff, and the NRCC should be ashamed of themselves — and we should hold them accountable for their callousness and cheap shooting.