Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

Photo courtesy of here.

Jeff Coryell over at the Ohio Daily Blog recently posted an item about how the Ohio Medical Board closed the complaint against Vic Wulsin.  That prompted Tom Blumer at BizzyBlog to post a response to the news.  We decided to contact the Wulsin campaign to get a copy of the press statement, and what we found was belligerence from Kevin Franck, Wulsin campaign spokesperson.

Coryell’s item includes the following:

Here is a statement from Wulsin campaign spokesman Kevin Franck, confirming that the ethics complaint is dead in the water:

“Dr. Wulsin voluntarily met with the State Medical Board of Ohio on April 24, 2008 to discuss an anonymous ethics complaint. The Board found that there was no merit whatsoever to the complaint and declined any further action on the issue. These false allegations represented the lowest form of sleazeball politics. Fortunately for the voters of the 2nd district, the truth prevailed.”

“The real issue in this campaign is Jean Schmidt. In her first full term in Congress, Schmidt has voted against increasing benefits for American veterans, providing healthcare to poor children and reducing interest rates on student loans. Those are facts worthy of debate.”

The first thing I noticed was the phrase “anonymous ethics complaint.” Dr. Robert Baratz has been very public with the fact that he filed the complaint, even flying to Cincinnati to hold a press conference on the matter.

So I emailed Kevin Franck, asking if I could have a copy of the press statement.  His response:  “Nope.” He wrote that I should call if I had further questions, so I did.  I was surprised by what happened next.

First, I was curious why he would not send me the press statement.  He told me the Wulsin campaign would not share information with me because I would just write something negative.  I told him that the campaign had not shared information with me before, and Franck was dismissive of that point. 

I asked if the press statement had been sent to a wide variety of media, or just to Jeff Coryell.  Franck wanted to know why I thought it mattered.  I explained that there was a difference between sending a broad media statement to several sources, versus placing a story with a single blogger.  Franck told me that no matter how he answered, I would write something negative—and so he asked me to share with him what two negative stories I had in mind so he could pick his favorite.

I asked why he referred to the complaint as “anonymous,” when everyone knows Dr. Robert Baratz filed it.  He said the Board did not reveal the identity of the person who filed.  And then he kept saying things like this:  “The Board found that your complaint has no merit.”

I kept asking why he referred to the complaint as “mine,” since I am not the one who filed it.  Franck insisted on continuing to refer to the complaint as mine.  I said, “Do you understand that it is my position that I did not file the complaint?”

“I don’t speak for you and I don’t need to understand your position,” said Franck.

One must wonder why the Wulsin campaign would not want to get out in front of this press statement.  Why such convolution and belligerence when I just asked to see the statement? 

Thank you for reading (and printing from) The Cincinnati Beacon.