YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is learning a tough lesson about the perils of mixing politics and charity. When it comes to photo ops, no good deed goes unpunished.

After a campaign event Saturday at Youngstown State University, Romney's running mate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, stopped at a Youngstown soup kitchen. It was an unannounced visit, the kind designed to capture local headlines and TV news time.

Ryan showed up with his family, washed a few dishes, and that was that.

Mission accomplished. Or was it?

On Monday, The Washington Post got in touch with the president of the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society, which runs the kitchen. And

.

Brillo Gate was born.

Brian J. Antal told the newspaper that the Republican campaign did not contact him beforehand; apparently, a volunteer gave the go-ahead Saturday morning.

"We're a faith-based organization; we are apolitical because the majority of our funding is from private donations," Antal told The Post. "They showed up there, and they did not have permission. They got one of the volunteers to open up the doors."

Antal went a step further with his local newspaper, The Vindicator.

Well, yeah.

Both presidential campaigns use the drop-in for exactly this reason: publicity. Ryan did it in August when he stopped for lunch

in nearby Warren after a campaign rally in North Canton. President Barack Obama did it this month when he showed up at Cleveland's West Side Market after an event at Cleveland State University.

Obama encountered a grumpy poultry merchant during the market visit, leading to

and

press about their exchange when the president asked how business was.

While unannounced to the general public and the reporters covering the candidates, these stops typically are carefully coordinated by the campaign staffs and the Secret Service.

A Romney aide who spoke to The Post and to The Plain Dealer said that a staffer went to St. Vincent De Paul ahead of time Saturday and talked with a woman in charge at the kitchen. The woman, Juanita Sherba, gave Ryan the green light, the aide said.

The Ryans missed the breakfast rush, according to a pool report. But Ryan mingled with several volunteers, and he and his family scrubbed pots and pans, assembly line-style. As Ryan was leaving, Sherba "expressed her gratitude" for his visit, the campaign aide said.

But Sherba, reached by The Vindicator on Monday, said she was wrong to allow the visit.

"It was the phoniest piece of baloney I've ever been associated with," she told the newspaper. "In hindsight, I would have never let him in the door."

There also are questions about whether the dishes the Ryans washed were already clean. According to The Post, the pots and pans did not appear to be dirty. Reports from the

and

suggest otherwise.

Romney's Ohio spokesman, Chris Maloney, said via email: "Our campaign and Congressman Ryan were pleased to bring attention to the meaningful charitable contributions St. Vincent De Paul Society makes to people in need."

Good as the intentions may be, the reality is simple. When a politician leads cameras to a soup kitchen, there's no way the event doesn't come off as staged.

Here's a tip from a Youngstown native: Stick with one of the Mahoning Valley's many pizza joints. And when in doubt, you can't go wrong with the Hot Dog Shoppe.