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As Ohio families get crushed by a 17% spike in summer electric bills, reporting exposes Merrin’s pay-to-play record on the data center giveaways draining Ohio taxpayers

COLUMBUS, OH – Reminder, while Ohio families are struggling with sky-high summer electric bills, Republican Derek Merrin is facing scrutiny for his record of voting to hand Big Tech billions in data center tax breaks — and then cashing campaign checks from the very companies raking in the profits. In 2017, Merrin voted for Ohio’s data center tax break scheme, signing on to shell out more than $2 billion to data centers while in the statehouse. Since then, Ohio families have footed the bill for the $2.5 billion in state and local tax incentives that Ohio data centers have received.

“Derek Merrin voted to hand billions in tax breaks to data centers at the expense of working Ohioans, who are now paying the price while Merrin pockets the profits,” said Ohio Democratic Party Communications Director Marisa Nahem. “This is exactly the kind of culture of corruption that has become a staple of Republican control and that Ohioans are sick of, which is one of the many reasons why come November, they’ll reject Merrin once again.”

Ohio is now home to more than 200 data centers, the sixth-highest in the nation. While Merrin rakes in campaign cash from PACs that have profited from over $17 million in data center tax breaks, utility bills across Ohio were projected to hit $800 this summer, a 17% jump over last year. Now, Merrin wouldn’t even comment when asked about his position on the subject.

Meanwhile, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur is calling out Merrin for his support for the data centers that are raising Ohioans’ costs, emphasizing in a new ad that she will “never give tax breaks to subsidize more data centers.” Rep. Kaptur also took to the floor of the House of Representatives to demand that data centers be held accountable: “How much more will our citizens be forced to pay for power and water? They have a right to know.”

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COLUMBUS, OH – While John Kulewicz is showing Ohioans the relentless commitment to taking on corruption that he’ll bring to the Attorney General’s office, Keith Faber is once again refusing to comment. Instead of following John Kulewicz’s lead, calling out potential conflicts of interest and demanding accountability for the big corporations that work to line their pockets at Ohioans’ expense, Keith Faber is making sure Ohioans know that he isn’t willing to answer questions on the matter – and he isn’t willing to stand up for Ohio families.

“Ohioans deserve an Attorney General who will take on the corruption that is raising costs for Ohio families – and Keith Faber makes clear every day that he is not that person,” said Ohio Democratic Party Communications Director Marisa Nahem. “While John Kulewicz is showing his commitment to taking on corruption and protecting Ohio families, Keith Faber is showing time and again that he can’t even be counted on to respond to basic questions, let alone be trusted to take on bad actors that are lining their pockets while Ohioans foot the bill. Ohioans know they can’t trust Faber, and they’re going to reject him and reject Republicans’ culture of corruption in November.”

This isn’t the first time that Faber has refused to comment on the issues that matter most to Ohio families – and refusing to respond to questions has become a staple of Ohio Republicans’ campaigns heading into Election Day. Faber specifically has been slammed as “tone deaf” for his “unconscionable” refusal to commit to continuing the FirstEnergy case, and his response when pushed on it: he conveniently couldn’t be reached for comment. Faber’s campaign also went into hiding after he made comments“that sounded supportive of ending at least some parts of Ohio Medicaid,” with reporting emphasizing that “Faber’s campaign did not clarify his comments.”

Read more on Faber’s latest refusal to comment – and how, in contrast, John Kulewicz isn’t just talking the talk, he’s walking the walk in working to take on the corruption that is raising costs for Ohio families:

Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio attorney general candidate calls for investigation of ties between JobsOhio and Intel

• One candidate for Ohio attorney general is calling for the state inspector general to investigate new revelations about ties between the head of the state’s quasi-public economic development agency JobsOhio, the governor’s office, and Intel, a company that has received millions.
• The other candidate hasn’t responded to questions about the matter.
• John Kulewicz, the Democratic nominee for AG, last week amended his complaint to Ohio Inspector General Randall J. Meyer with details of other possible conflicts of interest on the part of Josh Rubin, a lobbyist who chairs the board of JobsOhio, that were reported last week by the Capital Journal. 
• A spokesman for Keith Faber, Kulewicz’s Republican opponent in the attorney general’s race, didn’t respond to questions for this story.
• A spokesman for DeWine said Rubin’s multiple roles didn’t amount to a conflict. Despite being registered to lobby JobsOhio for Intel, his “activity and expense” filings show he actively lobbied the governor’s office on the Intel project, while he made no such filings regarding JobsOhio, DeWine Press Secretary Dan Tierney said.
• In emailed responses to written questions, Kulewicz disagreed, saying, “This is an apparent conflict of interest. And at a time when we urgently need to restore public confidence in government, this also creates a clear appearance of impropriety. When you take on a job like this and answer the call to public service, you do so knowing that you can only serve the People of Ohio. You can’t serve both the public and the powerful.”
• Faber’s spokesman was sent the same questions as the Kulewicz campaign. He didn’t respond.
   

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In Latest Move, Cook Political Report Shifts OH10 and OH15 Towards Democrats

COLUMBUS, OH – In another alarming sign for Ohio Republicans, Cook Political Report moved OH10 and OH15 congressional races towards Democrats at a time when “Republicans are struggling up and down the ballot in the Rust Belt state.” This follows recent analysis that emphasized that thanks to Donald Trump’s disastrous economic policies, his political problems could have “metastasized and spread to infect Republican candidates on the November ballot in swing states and districts.” In a desperate attempt to overcome the fact that Ohioans are rejecting Ohio Republicans and their devastating economic agenda, “Republicans now say they’ll spend tens of millions of dollars in Ohio races they once were heavily favored to win this fall.”

“If for some reason Ohio Republicans aren’t in full-blown panic mode, they certainly should be,” said Ohio Democratic Party Communications Director Marisa Nahem. “While Republicans like Mike Turner, Mike Carey, and Max Miller are left to own Washington Republicans’ devastating economic policies that are raising costs for Ohio families and ripping away their healthcare, Ohioans are supporting leaders like Kristina Knickerbocker, Don Leonard, and Brian Poindexter. Come November, Ohioans of all political backgrounds are going to send strong Democratic leaders to Washington to lower costs for Ohioans, take on Republicans’ corruption, and make sure Ohio’s 7th, 10th, and 15th districts finally have representatives who put working families first.”

While Ohio “has become one of the GOP’s biggest headaches for the midterms,” Kristina Knickerbocker and Don Leonard continue building momentum in their races to challenge Mike Turner and Mike Carey respectively. In addition to OH10 and OH15, the OH07 congressional race has sparked national attention with all three major nonpartisan race raters — Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball — shifting the race in Democrat Brian Poindexter’s direction to “Toss-Up” in a span of less than 24 hours. 

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