Richard Bradley "Rich" Iott (born October 25, 1951)[1][2] is a President at Braeburn Entertainment, Ltd [3] and was the 2010 Republican nominee for United States Representative for Ohio's 9th District.
A lifelong resident of Ohio, he is a former grocery executive, and is now a film producer and an active investor in a number of small businesses.
[1] He worked in the family grocery business, which grew to be the Seaway Food Town regional chain of 75 supermarkets and drug stores.
[12] He was co-founder of Toledo's Black Swamp International Film Festival in 2009[13] and is also a member of the Producers Guild of America[14] (PGA).
Beginning in 1982, Iott served in the Ohio Military Reserve[15] (OHMR), a State Defense Force that is trained to provide logistics and resource support during disasters or threats to homeland security.
The Marcy Kaptur Campaign maintained that Iott was unfit for office because he had "run the company into the ground", "took the money and ran", and put "5,000 people out of work".
This was promoted through an intense television, radio, newspaper, and social media campaign, with the assistance of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union local.
[33] Reporters Lara Seligman, Michael Morse and Eugene Kiely of FactCheck.Org released a well researched story on September 17, 2010, which stated that the allegations were all false and misleading.
"[34] In October 1999, the Cleveland Plain Dealer described Seaway Food Town as a "well run" hometown grocery store that would be attractive to larger companies at a time when the industry was consolidating.
In the end, the ad's summary charge — that Iott "doesn't create jobs, he sells them off" — misrepresents what happened to Food Town and its employees, and who was responsible for it.
The Toledo Blade, the local newspaper, also drew the same conclusions, giving Representative Kaptur the chance to recant or revise her allegations.
[39] In response to the ensuing criticism, Iott said he never intended disrespect towards anyone through his reenactments,[40] and later said the story was a coordinated character assassination attempt by his opponent to distract from the issues.
[44] House Republican whip Eric Cantor, who is Jewish, told Fox News that he repudiated and did not support Iott's actions.
[48] U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner continued to solicit funds for Iott's campaign through his Freedom Project PAC.