Source: yahoo.com for The New Republic 10/14/26
In September, Ohio GOP gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy posted (and quickly deleted) a video on social media featuring himself shaking hands with a registered sex offender. He again featured that same man in a television campaign ad a month later, according to reporting from The Bulwark.
In 2006, Amherst, Ohio, resident Vernon Edwards pleaded guilty to “gross sexual imposition,” which according to Ohio law involves sexual contact with a minor. He was charged in a case involving a 13-year-old girl, though he faced many similar allegations against his nieces.
While Edwards didn’t have a speaking role in Ramaswamy’s commercial, he’s included in the B-roll footage as his wife Patty speaks about how the embattled gubernatorial candidate lowered her property taxes.
The Ramaswamy campaign said it had no prior knowledge of Edwards’s criminal history.
“This ad was based on a …
So I have a theory as to why this label has been amplified and magnified by both society and the media. It’s all because of the big let down of the TrumpStein files not being released so everyone with this label now is deemed complicit with doing Epstein level shi* and the mere association with someone with this label confirms that there’s a conspiracy to “hide” or deny “transparency” from the public. I personally feel that the term: *ex *ffender has become the new “N” word.
Maybe everyone in every video should be checked before videos are posted so no videos could be posted because no one could throw a stone in a glass house and not break a pane. “You were caught cheating in college! No, you cannot be on the video! You were caught cheating on your spouse! No, you cannot be on the video! You were caught stealing! No, you cannot be on the video! You are a bad parent! No, you cannot be on the video!” Give me a bloody break.
If people hadn’t seen or known about him in the video would the message about property taxes still be the same? It has changed because he stood there with his wife who was talking with the candidate, not him.
Considering the number of people forced to register across the country, it should not be surprising to learn that a politician or candidate for office knows, or is related to, someone on the list.
What bothers me is the “guilt by association” surrounding the registry, as if people on the registry do nothing but commit sex crimes and if any association with that person implicates anyone they know in those crimes.
So, are we saying that those convicted of sexual offenses can no longer be represented by their elected officials?!
If invited, I suspect Vivek would have been more than happy to hop aboard Marine One or Air Force One last week with DJT, Randy Levine and Mike Tyson to stump for Republican candidates. And I doubt footage of him back slapping with Tyson would end up on the cutting-room floor. The distinction, apparently, isn’t the conviction. It’s whether the association comes with political access and a presidential photo op.
P.S. Respect to Iron Mike. None of us should be defined by our worst chapter.