Arielle

Last week, my local paper ran a story and an editorial on Lisa Swenski, a bad-ass woman who is running for Domestic Relations Judge of Lorain County (the primary election is on March 6th). The article was titled “Mental health issues complicate judicial campaign.” The paper does not actually say how Ms. Swenski’s past mental health “issues”–PTSD following a sexual assault by a roommate in law school–in any way impacts her campaign or ability to be Domestic Relations Judge. What it does do is imply that she is delusional, since she was involuntarily committed to the Cleveland Psychiatric Institute after doctors didn’t believe her rape claims. The Chronicle-Telegram seemed doubtful, too.

Never mind that she was given a rape kit, that the sexual assault was confirmed, that two other women were similarly assaulted by the same rapist, and that he was eventually kicked out of school as a result. Never mind that this is in NO WAY RELEVANT to her campaign or ability to be a good Domestic Relations Judge, and that calling the existence of Ms. Swenski’s sexual assault into question given overwhelming evidence to the contrary is an obvious and disgusting tactic to smear her in the campaign.

But it doesn’t stop there. Last Friday, the paper ran an editorial endorsing Ms. Swenski’s opponent (who, incidentally, is facing allegations of sexual harassment) saying that she “has been compromised by years-old trauma,” and that “the experience [of sexual assault] has set her up ...