COLUMBUS, Ohio -The congressional election is 16 months away, but Democrats already have an eye on Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who has come under fire for his association with an Indian tribe lobbyist.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took out ads in two newspapers in Ney's eastern Ohio district yesterday. The full-page ads ran in editions of The Times-Reporter of Dover-New Philadelphia and the Times Recorder of Zanesville, said Sarah Feinberg, committee spokeswoman. The ads cost $4,000 and are part of a nationwide campaign targeting Ney, Majority Leader Tom DeLay and four others, she said.
Democrats have been critical of Ney for his association with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who lobbied on behalf of six Indian tribes and their casino.
Ney took a golf trip to Scotland in 2002 that Abramoff sponsored. Ney said in March that he had been misled by Abramoff, who at the time was a board member for the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank based in Washington. House members are allowed to accept trips from outside groups but not from lobbyists. Ney has denied any wrongdoing.
Bob Ney's work in Congress is generating headlines ... on his ties to lobbyists
his foreign trips and his fight for Indian casinos the ads say.
It's important for Ohio voters and families to know Congressman Ney does not represent their values in Washington Feinberg said.
When asked to comment, Ney's office released a statement from Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia, vice chairman of the Republican Conference.
The DCCC has said all along that without having any positive visions or ideas of their own -no plans for Social Security
no plans for improving education
no plans for improving health care -they would make ethics and personal negative attacks their top issues
Kingston said.
Ney was first elected in 1994 and has been re-elected five times. No Democrat has come forward to oppose him next year.
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