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Ohio treasurer refutes campaign ad that implies he’s a Muslim
YOUNGSTOWN
Josh Mandel, the Republican candidate for state treasurer, said he doesn’t see anything wrong with a television commercial that implies his opponent is Muslim.
But the target of the ad — Treasurer Kevin L. Boyce, a Democrat — told The Vindicator editorial board Friday that the commercial “is about as ugly as it gets” in politics.
“I never imagined that my opponent would sink to that level,” Boyce said.
The commercial aired statewide, including on Youngstown network affiliates, starting early this week. The ad was still airing Friday and expected to stop running today.
The Mandel commercial attacks Boyce on a number of fronts.
One is the hiring of a friend’s wife for a receptionist job at the treasurer’s office and that the job opening was announced only at “their mosque.”
Boyce is not a Muslim and contends his deputy treasurer, Amer Ahmad, who is a Muslim, didn’t announce the job opening at a mosque. Ahmad rarely goes to mosques in the Columbus area, Boyce said.
“It’s disappointing to be the subject of that or to be part of something like that,” Boyce said. “I’m hoping it’s a learning moment for our state and people involved in politics. You don’t have to resort to these kinds of tactics of innuendo or bigotry, and things that can sometimes play on the fears and perhaps prejudices of others.”
During a Wednesday meeting with The Vindicator editorial board, Mandel was asked about the commercial’s coming across as bigoted.
“I feel bad that’s what come out” to some people, he said. “That’s not what we meant.”
Mandel said it was an issue of “cronyism,” and it doesn’t matter where it occurred.
“I instructed my staff to get stuff directly from newspapers” for the ad, he said.
“I don’t think Ohioans care” about the mosque remark. “The message is about cronyism and corruption,” Mandel said.
Boyce said Mandel’s claims of “cronyism and corruption” in his office are false.