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Opportunist? Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, and his wife Janna, are seen scrubbing already-clean pots
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Brian J Antal, the president of the Mahoning County St Vincent De Paul Society, says the Republican vice presidential candidate showed up uninvited, scrubbed pots and pans that were already clean and posed for pictures with his family on Saturday.
Mr Antal says he was never informed that Ryan was coming -- and wouldn't have granted him permission to make a campaign stop there if he had.
Uninvited: The director of the Ohio soup kitchen says he never granted permission for Rep Ryan and his family to use his charity for publicity
He told the Washington Post that he's worried that some of his private donors will be polarized by the visit and stop donating money.
He claims he would have the same qualms over a visit from the Obama campaign.
'Had they asked for permission, it wouldn’t have been granted. But I certainly wouldn’t have let him wash clean pans, and then take a picture,' he told the newspaper.
A source in the campaign told the Post that a staffer had scouted ahead and that whoever was in charge of the soup kitchen at the time gave permission for Ryan and his family to stop there.
For about 15 minutes, Ryan, his wife and his three young children talked to volunteers at the soup kitchen.
Then, they put on aprons and rubber gloves and started washing dishes that appeared to be already clean -- all in front of photographers and TV cameras.
The trip to the St Vincent De Paul soup kitchen came after a town hall meeting at Youngstown State University. It was a last-minute stop before the Wisconsin Congressman left town.
Both Romney and Obama are fiercely battling for the key swing state of Ohio, where polls give the president the lead.
The Romney campaign says Ryan went to the charity to highlight to work of volunteers there and the importance of helping the needy.
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