A campaign ad including House Speaker John Boehner in a parody Cialis commercial has cost his Republican primary opponent a teaching job at a Christian college in Ohio.
J.D. Winteregg, the tea party candidate challenging Boehner in the 8th District north of Cincinnati, has been an adjunct professor of French at Cedarville University for three years. He taught one online class each semester but is not scheduled to teach any future classes, said Mark Weinstein, a spokesman for Cedarville.
Weinstein said Winteregg’s views were not in line with the school.
“Cedarville University does not engage in partisan politics and holds a high regard for displaying Christian values in the community. When faculty or staff members participate in political conversations, advertisements or endorsements—with the exception of faculty who provide expert media analysis as part of their professional roles—they are doing so as individual citizens,” Weinstein said in a statement.
“Mr. Winteregg, in his recent political campaign video, did not represent the views or values of Cedarville University.”
The ad, “When the Moment is Right,” spoofs commercials for the erectile dysfunction drug Cialis by asking whether the Ohio Republican (using an alternate pronunciation of Boehner’s last name) has “electile dysfunction.”
Winteregg told The Washington Post he is hopeful he can beat Boehner.
Cedarville has undergone other turmoil in the past year with leadership turnover in what has been characterized as a conservative Southern Baptist takeover. The school recently shut down an independent student newspaper and has also restricted Bible and theology classes taught by female faculty to female students only.
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