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Columbus, OH – In case you missed it, the Columbus Dispatch last week reported that out-of-state billionaire Richard Uihlein is bankrolling the Super PAC working to effectively end citizen-led ballot initiatives in Ohio. 

Here’s what you should know about Uihlein:

• Uihlein is an Illinois-based billionaire and “one of the GOP’s biggest mega donors” who has funneled millions to out-of-touch political causes and candidates.
• Uihlein has repeatedly used his fortune to try to buy elections. In 2016 alone, Uihlein and his wife Elizabeth spent nearly $24 million on candidates, PACs and parties across the country. 

“It’s despicable that an out-of-state billionaire is bankrolling Republicans’ plan to strip power away from Ohioans and let special interests call the shots. Our elected leaders should be accountable to Ohio voters, not an out-of-state billionaire,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Read more about Richard Uihlein in the Columbus Dispatch HERE and below:

• A conservative megadonor is funneling more than $1 million into Ohio to persuade House Republicans to vote on a measure that would make it harder to amend the state constitution.
  
  
• Richard Uihlein gave roughly $1.1 million this month to the newly formed Save Our Constitution PAC, which is urging lawmakers to set an August election for Ohio voters to decide on the proposed amendment. The measure, if approved, would require 60% of the vote to enact new constitutional amendments, instead of a simple majority.
  
  
• Save Our Constitution PAC has already been running radio ads against Stephens and Rep. Jay Edwards, R-Nelsonville, in southern Ohio. But the group is ramping up its efforts with texting, digital and television ads targeted at Stephens and other key House Republicans.
  
  
• Uihlein is the PAC’s sole benefactor. The Illinois billionaire and his wife, Elizabeth, are major Republican donors and spent roughly $54 million during the 2022 election cycle. Richard Uihlein donated to several Ohio GOP congressional candidates and gave millions to the anti-tax group Club for Growth, which backed Josh Mandel’s 2022 U.S. Senate campaign.
  
  
• Proponents of the resolution are pushing for an August election to get ahead of a November ballot question that would enshrine abortion access in Ohio. The proposed amendment would also require petitioners to gather signatures of support from all 88 counties, instead of 44, and eliminate a 10-day period for them to replace invalid signatures.
  
  
• Critics say the plan would take power away from citizens and make the process so onerous that only well-funded outside groups could get something on the ballot. Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters’ of Ohio, said it’s hypocritical for the resolution’s backers to use out-of-state funders to fight their cause.
  
  
• “Ohio’s constitution is not for sale to out-of-state billionaires,” Miller said. “The Ohio General Assembly must reject this undemocratic and unfair attack on citizens’ abilities to amend the constitution. There’s nothing good government about this.”
  

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Columbus, OH – Ohioans from across the political spectrum are speaking out against Republicans’ plan to effectively end citizen-led ballot initiatives in Ohio and force taxpayers to foot the bill for a $20 million special election in August.

“Republicans and Democrats in Ohio agree: the legislature should reject this clear power grab and attempt to end citizen-led ballot initiatives in Ohio. Ohioans are united in opposition against these political efforts to rip fundamental rights away from voters and create unnecessary, taxpayer-funded special elections in the process – now it’s time for their elected leaders to listen,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Here’s what leaders of both parties are saying about efforts to effectively end citizen-led ballot initiatives in Ohio and create a special election in August to sneak through the measure: 

Ohio Election Officials: 

Stephanie Penrose, Director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections: “It’s almost a slap in the face to have the same legislature that just outlawed August elections, except for extreme circumstances, now just less than a year later putting an election on in August.”

Sherri Chagnon, Sandusky County Board of Elections Director: “We feel like we’re being ignored. And I think the taxpayers are being ignored.”

Laura Burns, Board of Elections Director in Miami County: “It makes me question the use of all that money when we know we’re not going to have turnout.”

Frankie DiCarlantonio, a Trustee of the Ohio Association of Elections Officials and a Board of Elections Member in Jefferson County: “This $20 million is definitely a burden to taxpayers. The taxpayers of Ohio just paid for a second primary election in 2022 that was state-funded as well…at the end of the day, we want to make this known that this may not be a good use of taxpayer dollars.”

Former Ohio Governors: 

Republican Bob Taft: “I believe it would be a mistake to raise the voter approval threshold for amendments to the Ohio Constitution to 60 percent. If that threshold had been in effect during my time as Governor, two signature initiatives, the Clean Ohio Fund and the Third Frontier Project, would not have been approved.”

Democrat Ted Strickland: “I think it’s just a shameful arrogant action. And I think it is for one purpose, and that is to deprive Ohio women to have the right to an abortion. They think that by increasing the percentage required to pass a constitutional amendment to 60%, it will make it more difficult. I think it’s blatantly hypocrisy. A few months ago, this legislature passed legislation prohibiting in nearly all cases, an August referendum.”

Republican John Kasich: “Ohio is stronger when we can all lend our voices and we all have an equal chance to participate in the work of our state’s democracy. I’ve experienced that firsthand having policies backed by myself and a majority of the legislature’s members overturned at the ballot box and it never occurred to me to try to limit Ohioans’ right to do that. It wouldn’t have been right then, and it isn’t right now.”

Democrat Dick Celeste: “If they honestly thought that 60% of the vote was what should be required for a constitutional amendment, then they should write down language into their constitutional amendment and say, ‘This will only become effective if 60% of Ohioans vote for it.’”

Former Ohio Attorneys General: 

Former Attorneys General Betty Montgomery, Jim Petro, Nancy Rogers, Lee Fisher and Richard Cordray: “Constitutions are designed to endure, and major changes in fundamental constitutional arrangements should not be made unless the changes are supported by a careful understanding of the policies being changed and the consequences of the proposed changes. Such changes should not be made without the opportunity for participation of those most intimately affected by the constitution—the people. Clearly, that has not happened in this rush to revise our constitution.”

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New reporting from the Sandusky Register reveals that Matt Dolan owns up to $50,000 in Norfolk Southern stock – the railway company responsible for the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio earlier this year and other derailments across the state, including in Sandusky. 
 
Since the derailment, Dolan has refused to endorse the bipartisan Railway Safety Act introduced by Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance. The bipartisan legislation would enhance safety procedures to protect workers and Ohio communities while enforcing greater penalties on corporations like Norfolk Southern for wrongdoing.
 
“Matt Dolan is prioritizing his profits at the expense of Ohio workers and families,” said ODP spokesperson Reeves Oyster. “Ohioans deserve representatives who will fight for them – Matt Dolan is proving he will always side with powerful corporations and special interests to pad his own wallet.”

Columbus, OH –It’s a brand new week, but this primary is getting more chaotic by the day as Republicans “duke it out” in what has already been called one of the “messiest, “most expensive” and “bruising” primary battles in the country. Here are the three things you need to know this week:
 
Bernie Moreno announced fundraising numbers – slamming Matt Dolan in the same breath – but doesn’t say where donations came from.  Moreno, during his launch event, said he would not self-fund – saying it is “fundamentally bad for democracy — for wealthy people, they’ve got their checkbook, to buy a Senate seat. That’s not right. I won’t do that.”
 
Frank LaRose was on the warpath last week, hitting his opponents for trying to buy the election, boasting he would be the “strongest candidate” in the race, and jabbing back at Moreno’s criticism that LaRose should do his job. As this primary continues heating up, it’s clear LaRose’s “shadow campaign” is not going to sit quietly on the sidelines.
 
Matt Dolan still can’t catch a break, feels the heat from Ohio’s conservative base.
 

In case you missed it, the Republican Senate primary got even messier this week as Frank LaRose went on the attack, hitting his potential opponents in what has already been called “one of the messiest,” “most expensive,” and “bruising” Senate primaries in the country. 
 
From attacking his opponents for trying to buy the election, boasting he would be the “strongest candidate” in the race, and jabbing back at Moreno’s criticism that LaRose should do his job, it’s clear LaRose’s “shadow campaign” is not going to sit quietly on the sidelines. As this primary continues to heat up, it’s only going to get messier, nastier, and more chaotic from here.

Read more:
 
The Vindicator: Money is key to LaRose’s Senate bid
David Skolnick
April 28, 2023

• “The one thing I lack is what those two candidates have in abundance and that is personal wealth,” LaRose said. “I don’t have that, and I also don’t think that only wealthy people should be able to run for the U.S. Senate.”
• “…if I run I would be the strongest candidate.”
• “What I have are things that can’t be bought. They have to be earned, such as deep relationships with people all over the state, such as a good conservative voting record.”
• During a podcast last week, Moreno took a swipe at LaRose, saying: “When you have others that enter the race, especially those who just won a very consequential role and have a four-year term ahead of them to do some important work, those people jumping in the race make the race very messy and very expensive.”
• In response, LaRose told me: “I think it’s a hollow excuse. He’s looking at the same polling numbers and he realizes that if I run, I’d be the strongest candidate for this office. So he’s going to come up with any reason” to criticize me.