NILES - In the first debate since attack ads against her opponent started airing, state Rep. Ann Womer Benjamin, R-Aurora, said Friday morning she had nothing to do with the ads and knew nothing about them until they hit the air.

``Those ads, I had no control over and no knowledge of,'' she told the audience at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber event.

A ripple of snickers and hisses rolled through the crowd.

The so-called ``issue'' ads were paid for with Republican National Committee money. They hammer state Sen. Tim Ryan's misdemeanor criminal record from the mid-1990s and his vote against a bill that would have allowed labeling sexual predators as young as 14 years old.

``If my opponent knew federal election law, he would know that I can't have anything to do with coordinated money,'' which the RNC ad amounts to, Womer Benjamin said, trying to distance herself from the ads.

Other television ads for Womer Benjamin discuss support from various Democratic groups in the district that includes parts of Summit, Portage, Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Those were paid for using money donated by the Republican National Congressional Committee.

Ryan wasted no time in blasting the attack ads.

``Every election I've been in, my opponents have talked about the past,'' he said. ``All I talk about is the future.''

Womer Benjamin spent some time telling the chamber her background: endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; a 100 percent voting record with the National Federation of Independent Business; that she passed 18 of her own laws during six years in the Ohio House.

Meanwhile, Ryan, in his hometown, shared a story.

He said he went up to his mother's attic recently and found a dusty box filled with campaign literature from his first race, which was in 1999-2000.

``It said on there that I wanted to use Kent State Trumbull campus and (Youngstown State) to bring business and government together,'' he said. ``I've been talking about this for three years.''

The 29-year-old senator and the 49-year-old representative also asked each other questions.

Womer Benjamin to Ryan: ``You have made many promises, yet you have not passed a law or brought anything back to the district. Why does this qualify you to be a congressman?''

Ryan's answered that he played ``a decent role'' in keeping the GM Lordstown Plant operating and has planted seeds for growth throughout the area.

Ryan to Womer Benjamin: ``Why haven't you signed the pledge'' not to do negative ads, as prescribed by Ohio Citizen Action?

Womer Benjamin answered that she was concerned that Ryan would be the only arbiter of what is a negative ad, and she intends to sign the pledge once that's worked out.

Besides, ``Ohio Citizen Action gave me an `A' on my campaign finance reports. They gave my opponent an `F,' '' she said.

The two also discussed Iraq.

Ryan seemed to lean against giving President Bush the power to go into Iraq. He didn't say how he would have voted on the resolution that passed early Friday morning.

Womer Benjamin would have voted for it, she said. A month ago, she said she wasn't sold on the idea of attacking Iraq.

``We have a duty to protect this country,'' she said.

The two agreed that education was the key to revitalizing the Mahoning Valley.

They also seemed to agree that federal inmate James A. Traficant Jr., who was the 17th's representative until he was kicked out by Congress this summer, may not have represented the area very well. He's running as an independent from a Pennsylvania prison.

``We need to change the valley's image,'' Ryan said. ``Negative ads don't get us prescriptions for seniors. It just makes things worse.''

Womer Benjamin agreed, though she hinted at Ryan's connection with Traficant.

Ryan worked in Traficant's office for a few years, tried to use that experience to have his record -- disorderly conduct while attending Bowling Green State University -- expunged and has been called Traficant's ``protege.''

``We need an honest, accessible representative,'' Womer Benjamin said. Electing her ``would enhance the credibility of our district overnight. Now is the time to seize the opportunity for a truly fresh start.''