Iott slams Kaptur over Food Town ad, promises complaint to elections commission

9/10/2010

Republican Rich Iott Friday criticized a television advertisement aired by opponent Marcy Kaptur over his role in the closing of the Food Town chain of grocery stores as "riddled with falsehoods" and promised to complain about it to the Ohio Elections Commission.

The 30-second spot, which began running on local stations Friday, says that Mr. Iott took over the company founded by his father and "ran it into the ground," leaving 5,000 workers without jobs, health care, or retirement.

The ads claim he used the money he made from the sale to tell lies about Miss Kaptur, the incumbent who is seeking her 15th consecutive term representing the 9th Congressional District.

Mr. Iott contends that he merged Food Town with Spartan Stores, Inc., of Michigan in 2000 because Food Town by itself was too small to compete with mega-chain Wal-Mart. He blamed the business failure three years later on Spartan.

"Marcy Kaptur blatantly lied in her first television ad," Mr. Iott said in a statement released by his campaign. "Apparently, she does not believe her record in Congress is worth talking about, so she has instead resorted to slinging mud and distorting the truth."