The campaign of Dr. Victoria Wulsin is criticizing U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) for going up with a TV attack ad, one week after inviting opponents to sign a clean campaign pledge at a debate last week.

The Schmidt ad hits Wulsin for ties to Cincinnati's Heimlich Institute and controversial HIV/AIDS treatments in China and Africa, which sought to cure the disease by injecting patients with the malaria bacteria. The ad mirrors criticism of Wulsin that Schmidt made in a fundraising letter this summer.

During a debate last week, Schmidt invited opponents Wulsin and businessman David Krikorian (I-Madeira) to sign a clean campaign pledge.

The Wulsin campaign is calling the ad "reckless," and point to the decision of the State Medical Board of Ohio to not pursue the matter when a complaint was filed against Wulsin.

"While our nation is facing the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, Jean Schmidt is desperate to distract attention from her voting record in Congress and the real issues facing families in Southern Ohio," said Wulsin spokesperson Kevin Franck.

During a televised debate on Oct. 22, Schmidt said, "this time, I've decided my campaign commercials on TV are going to be positive and they're going to focus on the issues affecting our nation, our economy, and our children."

"Just a week after she announced her ‘clean campaign pledge,' Schmidt knows her ship is sinking and she's resorted to slinging mud," Franck said "These false attacks are just the latest embarrassing example of Jean Schmidt's reckless disregard for the truth."

Schmidt spokesperson Bruce Pfaff said that Schmidt's pledge was contingent on her opponents agreeing to a clean campaign as well.

"We're not going to unilaterally disarm," Pfaff said.

The Wulsin campaign said that though the ad attacks Wulsin's record as a physician, she is supported by the Ohio State Medical Association and the American Medical Association as well as 10 other medical and health groups.

The Wulsin camp also said that over 350 individual physicians have supported her campaign.

Franck said the Wulsin campaign is already airing an ad responding to false attacks from Jean Schmidt.

"Only one candidate in this race has been reprimanded by the Ohio Elections Commission for a 'reckless disregard for the truth and that candidate is Jean Schmidt," Franck said.