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Soup Kitchen Photo-Op Flap Spinning 'Out of Control'
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The president of the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society sought Tuesday morning to defuse the controversy and clarify details about Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s visit Saturday to the charitable organization’s downtown soup kitchen, even as media attention continued to snowball.
Brian Antal, the society’s president, told representatives of local media outlets that he began receiving calls on Sunday about Ryan’s brief visit to the downtown soup kitchen immediately after his appearance at Youngstown State University. The callers complained that the society appeared to be endorsing the Republican presidential ticket by permitting the visit by Ryan, who is running with GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Calls continued through Monday and Tuesday as the coverage of the episode was carried by the Washington Post, MSNBC and other media outlets, and lampooned on Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" (CLICK TO WATCH VIDEO). Yesterday morning, Antal said he was scheduled to talk with Inside Edition and TMZ later that day.
“I just wanted to clear the air that we do not support any political organization or candidate in this election or any other election. That is in our bylaws,” Antal said.
“Had it been the president or the vice president, with all due respect, we would have had the same issue -- because they’re in the middle of a campaign,” he added. Other elected officials have come to volunteer for a couple hours without cameras, he said.
According to Antal, a representative for Ryan's campaign came to the soup kitchen door and asked if the candidate could come there and wash some pans, and was told that the serving would be done when the visit was planned. The Ryan representative asked “in so many words” for some pans to be kept out that he could wash. Earlier reports indicated that Ryan and his family washed already-clean pans for the photo op. While the kitchen had finished serving meals that morning, there was one patron there, Antal said, contrary to reports that the hall was empty.
“This whole thing has spun out of control,” Antal said. “Our organization is funded almost solely on private donations and private grants, and we’re very cognizant not to upset people.” Paul Ryan's visit managed to upset people at both ends of the political spectrum, he said.
Antal said he regretted using the word “ramrodded” to describe how Ryan and his group gained access, but noted that he doesn’t have “39 guys writing [him] speeches.”
“I’m here to protect the donations I get from the generous public in tough economic times to feed 100,000 people here in our soup kitchen,” he said. “At the end of the day, I’m a volunteer. I get paid absolutely nothing to run this organization. I’m not going to benefit or get hurt from this. The 100,000 people who we serve every year are the ones who are going to feel the pain of this.”
Neither of the two soup kitchen patrons who agreed to talk for this story – most asked to comment Tuesday declined – were bothered greatly by Ryan’s appearance at the soup kitchen Saturday
“I thought it was a very kind gesture,” said Mike Menzies, who lives in the International Towers building downtown. Even if the photo op was staged as had been reported, “I don’t see anything wrong with that,” he said.
“Taking time out of his daily life to come out and support a good cause, that’s a good thing,” remarked Mike Jones of Youngstown. Still, he took issue with Ryan "[trying] to do a good deed to get brownie points, to get recognized.”
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, called the incident “unfortunate,” and said that when he goes to a food pantry or manufacturing plant he spends time there, talks to people and learns from the visit. “If you’re going to run for president, if you’re going to run for office, spend some time, talk to laid-off workers, talk to a single parent that’s struggling,” he said. “Put some real effort into understanding instead of just doing photo ops.”
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio