OH-07: Republicans Assail Neuhardt for Aiding Rwandan Genocide Survivor

[ccharles000]

http://swingstateproject.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=5CA5D2114BDB7395AB55EB2BB6602004?diaryId=3158

Hoo boy. You gotta hand it to Republicans. They always know how to "stay classy".
The latest? Republican state Sen. Steve Austria, running to replace retiring GOP Rep. Dave Hobson in an R+6 central Ohio district, is spewing out a "unique" new attack against his Democratic opponent, attorney Sharen Neuhardt. Austria is now criticizing her family's sponsorship of a Rwandan political refugee and survivor of that country's brutal genocide:


Austria's campaign manager, Brad Mascho, told Cox News that "harboring an illegal immigrant with a criminal record is a serious matter."
There are lies and then there are vile lies -- this one is the latter. As Jeff at the Ohio Daily Blog writes, Ishema Umuhoza has been living in the United States legally as he waits for federal courts to review his petition for political asylum. In the meantime, he graduated from the University of Dayton in 2005 and had some minor brushes with the law (driving without a license and walking home while intoxicated). The Neuhardt family has been aiding Umuhoza since 2002, offering him a place to stay and taking up his legal fight for political asylum in the courts. In turn, Republican Steve Austria and the slimeballs at the NRCC are attacking Neuhardt for her act of generosity.

The Sharen Neuhardt campaign calls this a "cowardly attack", and we're inclined to agree. Austria and his slime crew should be ashamed of themselves, assuming they had any moral fiber to begin with.

[madmom]

1. Yep that's Ohio politics!!

[ColbertWatcher]

2. Typical GOP: barely hiding their racism. Thank you for posting. n/t