Ryan's camp says new ad by GOP is gutter politics

The TV spot looks at Ryan's Senate voting record and a 9-year-old charge for having a fake ID when he was a college student.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A spokesman for state Sen. Timothy J. Ryan says a TV ad run by Ryan's opponent in the race for the 17th Congressional District seat is gutter politics.
"Everything the ad talks about is true," said David All, campaign manager for Ann Womer Benjamin, the Republican who's running against Ryan.
All said the ad was run by the National Republican Congressional Committee, not by Benjamin herself.
Ryan spokesman Pat Lowry said the TV commercial gives a distorted view of Ryan's voting record while in the state Senate.
It also exploits Ryan's 1993 disorderly conduct conviction for having a fake ID while he was a 19-year-old student at Bowling Green State University and a judge's June 1999 denial of Ryan's request to have that record sealed.
"This is gutter politics," Lowry said. "If we're going to move this area forward, then we have to raise the level of conversation, and they're not on board."
He called the ads a waste of campaign money.
All said the ads are accurate and indicate how Ryan's liberal voting record is "out of touch with the district."
Reaffirmed pledge
In a written release, Ryan reaffirmed a pledge he made last month to campaign only on issues, not negativity.
"Voters are fed up with dirty politics," Ryan said. "I have never engaged in negative campaigning and I don't intend to start now."
The ad that began airing Tuesday features Bowling Green police reports from 1993, 1994 and 1995 that show Ryan being charged for disorderly conduct.
The ad also shows a Bowling Green Municipal Court opinion that says the files should not be sealed because the judge was "not convinced of the defendant's rehabilitation."
The ad also urges voters to call Ryan and "tell him to grow up."
Ryan, a state senator from Niles, received his bachelor's degree from Bowling Green State University.
The ad accuses Ryan of voting against tougher laws for juvenile sex offenders and stronger mandatory sentencing laws.
The ad gives voters factual information about Ryan, he said.
Kim Rubey, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Campaign Congressional Committee, said that by going negative in its first ad for Womer Benjamin, Republicans "are showing that they are resorting to desperate campaign tactics."
The Democratic committee has not sponsored an ad for Ryan, and Rubey declined to say whether it would.
The Republican's 30-second ad was produced by Landover, Md.-based Russo Marsh Copsey and Scott, a leading Republican media firm.
bjackson@vindy.com
XThe Associated Press contributed to this report.