Saturday,
October 28, 2006
Ted Celeste, in
The
ANNOTICO Report
In
In an Ohio House
race however, Ted Celeste, an Italian-American Democrat
is attacked with "mob innuendo" by Republican Geoffrey
C. Smith. (Remember the bigots name!!!)
Their
controversial style has Democrats and at least one national Italian
organization calling foul. Ted Celeste, a Democrat running in the 24 th Ohio House District, said he
was offended by seeing his picture next to the marionette icon from The
Godfather movie with the text, "Higher taxes are in the family."
The flip side of
the mailer includes what looks like a casket and the text "Ted Celeste
will make you an offer you cant refuse."
"Im
proud of the fact that Im Italian," Celeste said at his campaign
headquarters, where signs on the wall state the theme of his campaign:
"All positive all the time."
"Im
surprised they took it to this level. To imply some negative fact because of
ethnicity, through innuendo, is ........."
The Order Sons of
Italy in
Dona De Sanctis, deputy executive director of the Sons of Italy,
said it is demeaning when Italians are linked to the "pop mafia."
"Since
theres no balance in the way Italian-Americans are portrayed in the
entertainment industry, you can take a public servant like Ted Celeste and
associate him with a fictitious mafia character and
were supposed to say it doesnt really
matter," she said.
"It does
matter. They wouldnt do this with any other
ethnic, racial or religious group."
Ted Celeste is a
brother of former Ohio Gov. Richard F. Celeste.
2 GOP ADS
GO TOO FAR, FOES SAY
Ethnic
innuendo injected into Ohio House races, Democrats complain
The
Jim
Siegel
Saturday,
October 28, 2006
|
In a campaign
season full of nasty ads, Democrats say two recent GOP creations stand out for
crossing racial and ethnic lines.
In one Ohio House
race, Republicans use a large picture of a black Death
Row inmate as the backdrop in a TV ad criticizing a white Democrat running in a
mostly white, rural district. In another, they lace a mailing with Italian mob
innuendo to attack an Italian-American Democrat.
Republicans say
the arguments are factually sound. But their controversial style has Democrats
and at least one national Italian organization calling foul. Ted Celeste, a Democrat
running in the 24 th Ohio
House District, which includes
The flip side of
the mailer includes what looks like a casket and the text "Ted Celeste
will make you an offer you cant refuse."
"Im
proud of the fact that Im Italian," Celeste said at his campaign
headquarters in
"Im
surprised they took it to this level. To imply some negative fact because of
ethnicity, through innuendo, is not necessary."
Celestes
opponent, Rep. Geoffrey C. Smith, R-Upper Arlington, did not return a message
seeking comment.
Instead, Dwight
Crum, director of the Ohio House Republican Campaign Committee, called to say
he did not know that Celeste is Italian. Asked if knowing that would have
changed the ad, he said, "Its certainly something we would have had a
discussion about."
"The point
is, the Celeste family does have a history of wanting higher taxes in this
state," Crum said. The mailing links Celeste to his brother, former Gov.
Richard F. Celeste, who raised the state income tax in 1983, a move that was
later approved by
The Order Sons of
Italy in
Dona De Sanctis, deputy executive director of the Sons of Italy,
said it is demeaning when Italians are linked to the "pop mafia."
"Since
theres no balance in the way Italian-Americans are portrayed in the
entertainment industry, you can take a public servant like Ted Celeste and
associate him with a fictitious mafia character and were supposed to say
it doesnt really matter," she said.
"It does
matter. They wouldnt do this with any other
ethnic, racial or religious group."
Republican
lobbyist Neil Clark made an unsolicited call to The Dispatch yesterday
afternoon to express a different view.
"As an
Italian-American, Im simply not offended by the direct-mail piece because
the book of The Godfather was fictional; politics is reality," he said.
Meanwhile, a GOP
television ad attacks Democrat Dan Dodds anti-death-penalty stance by
featuring a blown-up picture of Death Row inmate Romell
Broom, of
Dodd, who is
facing Republican William C. Hayes in the 91 st House
District, which includes parts of Licking and Pickaway counties, said it
reminded him immediately of the controversial Willie Horton ads the Republicans
used in 1988 against Democratic presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis.
He said it plays
on a stereotype, that rural residents are not
accepting of diverse people. Its an image, he said, that the region has
worked to correct.
"For someone
to produce an ad that capitalizes on those stereotypes, it really upsets
me," Dodd said.
Crum said the GOP
picked Broom because he was mentioned in a newspaper story about a study of
Death Row inmates written in 2003 by Dodd and seven other
House Minority
Leader Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus, who is black, said Republicans are trying to
use race to scare people.
"They are
saying to white people, Dont vote for this
young white guy because hes supporting black killers, " she
said.
"That is
completely and utterly false," Crum said. "This is specifically drawn
from a press account."
Hayes agreed.
"I think the ad is factual. Im sorry if people are offended by it,
but there is no intention to be racial."
jsiegel@dispatch.com
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