OPEN LETTER TO LYDIA MIHALIK By Jack Windsor Lydia Mihalik runs the Ohio Department of Development. Gov. Mike DeWine appointed her. On Tuesday she posted on X about a Ramaswamy campaign ad that features Amy Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur. Her post: “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.” She also posted: “We can disagree on plenty of things without losing our sense of decency.” Read the transcript of the ad featuring Donna Arthur. Watch it. Here is every word Arthur says about her daughter’s past: “She is a liar. She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She’s lied her entire life.” The tent. That is the charge. Arthur never says the sexual abuse did not happen. The words “sexual abuse” appear once in the ad, when Arthur describes her own job. So what is the line Director Mihalik drew? Her words were “exploiting someone’s childhood trauma.” A line about childhood and trauma. A line about using a mother, a child, a relative, a victim to win. I agree there should be one. I want to know where it is — because making the truth part of the line would be refreshing. But wherever the standard is, we should be consistent in protecting it. Right? What follows is not a defense of any candidate or party. These are examples. Each one happened before Tuesday. Each one is the kind of case where a person who holds a standard, and not a talking point or a desire to use a hot topic to virtue signal, would have spoken. Did Lydia Mihalik speak out about these things? Lydia, if you did, can you show me where? The Lorain County Fair ad Vivek Ramaswamy ran a property tax ad built around a woman named Patty Edwards, filmed at the Lorain County Fair. Her husband, Vernon Edwards, appeared in background footage. On Oct. 14 The Bulwark reported that Vernon Edwards pleaded guilty in 2006 to gross sexual imposition involving a minor. The Ramaswamy campaign said it had no knowledge of his record and cut him from the ad. Amy Acton’s campaign then did this. Spokeswoman Addie Bullock: “Vivek Ramaswamy deliberately choosing to amplify a convicted pedophile is not only disgusting, it’s completely disqualifying.” On Oct. 16 the campaign published a release titled “Vivek Ramaswamy Airs Ad Featuring Convicted Child Sex Offender.” It quoted news reports that the victims were his nieces, under 13. Acton repeated the “convicted pedophile” line in interviews Tuesday. Vernon Edwards is a private citizen. His case is 20 years old. Those statements are facts — don’t try to spin them into “pedo protector” deflections. That’s grotesque. The point is: The victims are family members. The Acton campaign put that case, those victims and that family back in the news. Why? For political gain — to hit Ramaswamy. Director Mihalik, does protecting victims of sexual abuse matter only when the victim is Amy Acton? Where is your outrage post regarding Edwards? Send the link. Vivek Ramaswamy’s mother On Aug. 12, Amy Acton’s campaign issued a press release. Headline: “Billionaire Scammer Ramaswamy Used Mother to Manipulate Clinical Trials in ‘Pump and Dump’ Scheme to Make Millions.” Addie Bullock, in that release: “Vivek Ramaswamy will do anything, including shamelessly profiting off Alzheimer’s patients and getting his own mother to manipulate clinical trial data, to make a buck.” Same day, the Ohio Democrat Party. Headline: “Billionaire Scam Artist Hired His Mother to Manipulate Failed Clinical Trial Data for Alzheimer’s Drug.” Same day, the Democratic Governors Association. Headline: “Ramaswamy Hired His Mother to ‘Massage Data’ in ‘Pump-and-Dump’ Pharma Scheme That Made Him Nearly $260 Million.” All three cite the same Substack post that does not prove a “pump and dump” — which is a convictable crime — nor does it substantiate that a drug for Alzheimer’s hit the market and was bought by families who didn’t get relief from the drug. On Sept. 21, Acton put it on TV. Her ad says Ramaswamy “pushed an Alzheimer’s drug that he knew didn’t work.” The drug is intepirdine. It failed its final trial in September 2017. The FDA never approved it. No patient ever bought it. PolitiFact asked the Acton campaign for proof that Ramaswamy “knew.” The campaign pointed to a paper his mother co-authored. Geetha Ramaswamy is a geriatric psychiatrist. She is not on any ballot. For ten weeks the Acton campaign, the Ohio Democrat Party and the DGA have called her a data manipulator. That is a candidate’s mother, used by the Acton campaign to win. Where is your outrage post on this, Lydia? Send the link. Max Miller’s daughter Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) has campaigned all year under his ex-wife’s accusations that he abused her and their 2-year-old daughter. The Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services reviewed the abuse report on the child and marked it “unsubstantiated.” The child’s injuries ran in national headlines for months. That is a minor, used to win. Where is your outrage post on Miller, Lydia? Send the link. Rodney Creech Rep. Rodney Creech (R-West Alexandria) was called a pedophile and worse. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation closed its case with no charges. The full BCI file, with the full facts, has never been published by the mainstream press. There is evidence to support that he was alienated as a parent. No one wants to talk about that — including elected Republicans. That is a family matter involving a minor, used to win. Where is your rage post on that, Lydia? Send the link. Melania Trump. In August 2022 the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago. The first lady’s underwear drawer was discussed on national television for days. That is a candidate’s wife, used to win. Where is your rage post on that, Lydia? Send the link. TiffinOhio. That website publishes smear pieces on private citizens. Many of their pieces are full of insinuations and falsities meant to look legitimate. It has published unsubstantiated reports about child abuse and more. It runs smear pieces routinely on Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), Vivek Ramaswamy, Rep. Rodney Creech, Rep. Mike Carey (R-OH). The pieces are personal. They reach our spouses and kids. Amy Acton, David Pepper, Sherrod Brown and countless Democrats routinely cite the smear website as news and direct hundreds of thousands of people to the site. Where is your rage post on any of them, Lydia? Send the link. If there are no links, tell Ohio why your line did not exist until Tuesday. Director Mihalik: You are invited on The Windsor Report. I sent you the studio number. I also emailed you these questions. I will report what you reply. I’ll report if you’re silent. I’d be glad to have you on air to have a civil discussion about something you appear to be passionate about — at least when it involves Amy Acton, your former DeWine administration colleague. _ _ _ Jack Windsor is founder and editor-in-chief of The Ohio Press Network and host of The Windsor Report on 98.9 FM The Answer.