Uncategorized

As SCOTUS Begins Oral Arguments on Mifepristone Case, Ohioans Should Know Moreno Is “Absolute Pro-Life, No Exceptions”

Columbus, OH – As the Supreme Court begins oral arguments today on the abortion medication mifepristone, Ohioans should know that Bernie Moreno supports a national abortion ban without exceptions and would overturn the will of the majority of Ohioans who voted to protect reproductive rights last November.

“Bernie Moreno supports a national abortion ban that would overturn the will of Ohioans who voted to protect reproductive rights last year. Moreno puts himself first, not Ohioans,” said ODP spokesperson Katie Smith. 

Reminder of Moreno’s on-the-record support for a national abortion ban: 

• Moreno supports a national abortion ban that would overturn the will of Ohioans. Moreno has said he is “100% pro-life with no exceptions” and that he is “absolute pro-life, no exceptions.”

• Moreno opposed Ohio’s November Issue 1, which enshrined reproductive rights into the state constitution and included protections for IVF. Moreno has called attacks on IVF a “manufactured issue” and opposes federal protections for IVF.

• Moreno celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which has led to attacks on women’s reproductive healthcare like access to the abortion pill mifepristone. Mifepristone is unavailable in drugstores in Ohio due to Ohio’s restrictive abortion laws, which Moreno supported through his opposition to Issue 1.

###

Columbus, OH – Today, the Ohio Democratic Party went live with its application to serve as an either an at-large delegate or Party Leader/Elected Official Delegate (PLEO) to the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Any Ohio Democrat can apply to serve as an at-large delegate, while Democratic public and elected officials can apply to serve as a PLEO delegate. The Ohio Democratic Party Executive Committee will elect a total of 27 at-large delegates and 17 PLEO delegates. 

Ohio Democrats can visit ohiodems.org/convention to learn more about the process of running for DNC delegate and fill out and submit their declaration of candidacy forms for the 2024 convention. Applications are due by Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 4 pm. 

“Ohio Democrats are excited to head to Chicago next August, mark the progress we’ve made over the last four years and look ahead to the work that remains to move our state and country forward. We’re ready to elect a broad, diverse coalition of delegates to Chicago and show off our Ohio pride at the 2024 Democratic National Convention,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters. 

Ohio Democrats will send a total of 143 delegates to the Democratic National Convention. The convention will take place in Chicago from August 19 – 22, 2024. 

###

Columbus, OH – Today, the Ohio Democratic Party submitted a public records request to the DeWine Administration seeking to clarify reports that Justice Joe Deters made a political deal to run against a sitting Democrat in order to secure his appointment to the Ohio Supreme Court. 

Deters, who never served as a judge prior to his appointment to the Court, is a close political and personal ally of the DeWine family. The public records request seeks any and all records from the Governor’s office pertaining to Deters’ appointment. 

• Read the public records request HERE 

“Joe Deters’ appointment to the Ohio Supreme Court never passed the smell test, and these latest revelations reek of dirty politics. Ohioans deserve to know if Deters is only sitting on the Supreme Court because Republicans are playing political games with the state’s highest court,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Since his appointment to the Court, Deters has ruled on a number of cases that would be helpful to DeWine. Earlier this year, Deters ruled that taxpayers don’t deserve to know how much taxpayer money DeWine spent on his trip to the Super Bowl in 2022. 

When Deters was first appointed to the Court, the Cleveland.com editorial board wrote that he was a ‘mistaken choice’ for the Ohio Supreme Court. The editorial board pointed out that Deters has ‘zero judicial experience,’ that Deters enjoys a close, personal relationship with the Republican who appointed him and that there are ‘many conflicts and questions about Deters’ qualifications and past service.’

Deters has also faced criticism for refusing to recuse himself from a case his office oversaw when he served as Hamilton County Prosecutor. Time and again, Deters has demonstrated to Ohioans that he’s putting his own political interests over theirs.

###

Bernie Moreno: Bad News For Ohio

Columbus, OH – Welcome to Bad News Bernie: your brand-new, weekly one-stop-shop for the latest news (spoiler alert: it’s usually bad) about Bernie Moreno. From refusing to pay his employees the overtime they’d earned, to his support for a national abortion ban and his record exploiting his insider connections to enrich himself, one thing is clear: Moreno is out-for-himself and Bad News for Ohio. 

NEED-TO-KNOW THIS WEEK:

• A new website – BernieTheLemon.Com – exposes Moreno, in his own words, for his record putting himself before Ohioans. 

• New reporting from the New York Times highlights Moreno’s “remarkable wealth” and lucrative assets – including a $2.3 million Aston Martin Vulcan (“one of only 24 ever made”) and properties worth up to $24.7 million altogether. 

• Moreno enters the general bruised and with significant baggage with national Republicans noting that “Bernie’s not looking too hot.”

🍋 BERNIETHELEMON.COM: A new website – BernieTheLemon.Com – uses Bernie Moreno’s own words to show Ohioans his long record of putting himself first. Check out the highlights – err, lowlights – of what you can expect from this used car salesman trying to sell Ohioans a lemon: Moreno would vote for a national abortion ban without exceptions; Moreno refused to pay his workers the overtime they earned, then destroyed the evidence to get away with it; Moreno exploited his insider political connections to boost his businesses and enrich himself. Visit BernieTheLemon.Com for more, and see what they’re saying:

Associated Press:

💰 OUT FOR HIMSELF: New reporting from the New York Times highlights Moreno’s “remarkable wealth” and lucrative assets – including a $2.3 million Aston Martin Vulcan (“one of only 24 ever made”) and properties worth up to $24.7 million altogether. Reminder: multimillionaire Moreno has already dumped $4.5 million of his personal wealth into his campaign to try to buy this race.

😬 “BERNIE’S NOT LOOKING TOO HOT:” As Moreno enters the general with significant baggage, here’s a reminder that Moreno’s so-called “allies” were hand-wringing about Moreno’s  seemingly unlimited baggage and record of looking out for himself: “Bernie’s not looking too hot,” “he won’t do what’s best for Ohioans and Americans, he’ll do what’s best for Bernie Moreno,” “this is a guy [Moreno] that does what is in his own best interest, his self-serving interest, including not treating his employees fairly and evidently being willing to destroy evidence.” 

 🗞️ WHAT OHIOANS ARE READING / WATCHING:

• New York Times: “In Ohio, Mr. Moreno’s Republican opponents…repeatedly went after him for a lawsuit filed by an employee of one of his car dealerships, who sued him in 2017 for failure to pay overtime. The judge in the case determined that Mr. Moreno “either did not retain or shredded” monthly reports on overtime hours…Mr. Moreno did lose the suit and was ordered to pay $416,160 to his employees.”

• NBC: “…characterizing Moreno as an unprincipled businessman who mistreats employees, citing past lawsuits over workplace discrimination and overtime pay against his companies.”

• Gary Peters, Morning Joe: “…​​Moreno, who refused to pay overtime to his employees, they had to sue him, and then he destroyed evidence to try to get out of it. He is all about himself…”

• NPR: “​​The Ohio Democratic Party has been pushing a narrative that whoever emerged from this brutal campaign would do so with a lot of baggage. They’ve attempted to draw attention to Moreno’s positions on immigration and on abortion.”

• AP: The Ohio Democratic Party wasted no time after Tuesday’s vote launching an anti-Moreno website that included some of Republicans’ own intraparty attacks against the nominee, including LaRose’s.”

• David Niven, CBS News Hour: “Bernie Moreno, whose career was as a car dealer and who has some, you know, legal entanglements with underpaying his staff”

• Business Insider: “The former car dealership owner has also faced several lawsuits stemming from his time in the industry, including being sanctioned by a Massachusetts judge for shredding documents that may have been relevant to a wage theft lawsuit he was facing.”

• Columbus Dispatch: “He was also dogged by legal trouble from his car dealership days, including over a dozen lawsuits in Massachusetts that accused him of not properly paying overtime to his employees.”

• Cincinnati Enquirer: “Moreno’s campaign was sidetracked down the stretch when reports surfaced that he had settled a series of wage theft lawsuits and was once caught shredding documents.”

• NBC: “Dolan and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the other GOP candidate in the race, emphasized Moreno’s reversals on several policy positions and rehashed the stories about the lawsuits he had faced and describing him as untrustworthy.”

🐤 TWEET OF THE WEEK: 

🎶 CODA: “As Ohioans begin kicking the tires on Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, it won’t be long before they find out he’s a lemon” – check out BernieTheLemon.Com for more. 🍋 

###

Columbus, OH – REMINDER: Bernie Moreno has repeatedly called for a government shutdown despite the devastating consequences it would have on Ohioans. With a government funding deadline today, Ohioans should know that Moreno is only fighting for himself – not Ohioans. 

• Bernie Moreno: “[A government shutdown] would not be something you’d take off the table…”

• Cleveland.com: Moreno is “clearly in favor of using the threat of shutting down the government…”

• The Columbus Dispatch: Moreno “went a step further and said [he’d] threaten a government shutdown if necessary.”

A government shutdown would be devastating for Ohioans:

• Ohio small businesses would lose an estimated $4,627,400 in financing per business day. 

• A shutdown would negatively impact the economy, Ohio workers, and Ohio families – an estimated 6,800 active duty troops in Ohio would not receive pay and tens of thousands of civilian employees would either be furloughed or forced to work without pay.

• Many Ohio families, including more than 93,000 Ohio children, would also lose their access to healthy food.

• Ohioans receiving Social Security could be at risk for disruptions.

###