A mailing in support of the Rady Mom campaign has a pair of his former opponents crying foul.

Rithy Uong and Jim Leary, who ran against Mom for State Representative in the 2018 Democratic primary, were featured in a photo with the five term State Rep that was mailed to residents in the 18th Middlesex District this week.

The photograph in question was apparently taken during a candidates forum during that election season and features the three candidates standing side by side. The original was taken by Jen Myers, who now works for the Lowell Public Schools and contributes education related articles on this site. It includes the fourth candidate in the race that year, Sam Meas, and is published at the end of this article.

Uong, who contacted InsideLowell, passed along images of the campaign literature, which is addressed as “paid for and authorized by; MA Realtors IE PAC.”

“My image was used without my permission, and it gives the false impression that I support Rady Mom,” Uong said in reaching out. “I in no way support his candidacy and stand firmly behind Tara Hong in the primary election.”

When contacted, Leary also told InsideLowell he “was not happy my picture was used in campaign literature.” He made it clear he would never support a Mom election effort.

The Mom campaign responded with a statement of their own from Treasurer, Steve Shorrock, denying any involvement.

“The mailer in question was paid for and authorized by the Massachusetts Realtors Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee and not the Committee to Elect Rady Mom. Our campaign has no say whatsoever in the views expressed by this IEPAC, what materials it may use, or how it may choose to present these images.” 

Massachusetts campaign law does not allow coordination between a campaign and an Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee (IE PAC), which MA Realtors is listed as.

The history making Cambodian politicians have a contentious history apart from that 2018 primary, clashing on both local and international issues. In 2022, Uong referred to Mom as a “loser” during a rally at Lowell City Hall in support of City Councilor Vesna Nuon’s efforts to become Mayor.

Uong made history in 1999, becoming the first Cambodian-American to win a City Council seat anywhere in America. In 2014, Mom became the first Cambodian-American ever elected to a Legislature in the country.

Photo by Jen Myers