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Columbus, OH – The  “bloody,” “bruising,” “messy,” and “expensive” knock-down-drag-out Ohio Senate primary got even messier at tonight’s debate, as Bernie Moreno, Frank LaRose, and Matt Dolan made it clear they won’t fight for Ohioans.

“Ohioans saw tonight that no one in this field will fight for them,” said ODP spokesperson Katie Smith. “Whether it was Moreno facing more attacks for his history of wage theft, the field supporting a national abortion ban that would overrule Ohioans, saying Ohio workers don’t deserve a living wage, or opposing the bipartisan bill to secure the border – Moreno, LaRose, and Dolan made it clear they’re only out for themselves.”

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Bernie Moreno Called Bill Including FEND OFF Fentanyl Act “Complete Garbage,” “Total And Complete Disgrace” 

Columbus, OH –  Bernie Moreno opposes the passage of the FEND OFF Fentanyl Act, bipartisan legislation that would curb the flow of fentanyl into Ohio communities. 

• Bernie Moreno opposed the bipartisan border security bill – which was endorsed by border patrol agents – that included the FEND OFF Fentanyl Act.

• Bernie Morneo said he read “every word” of the bipartisan border security bill – which included the FEND OFF Fentanyl Act – and called the bill “357 pages of complete garbage” and “a total and complete disgrace.”

• Bernie Moreno also opposes the current bipartisan national security package that includes the FEND OFF Fentanyl Act.

• The FEND OFF Fentanyl Act is a bipartisan sanctions and anti-money laundering bill endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police aimed at combating the country’s fentanyl crisis and saving lives in Ohio by targeting the illicit fentanyl supply chain.

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Moreno opposed “the most conservative border bill in decades”

Columbus, OH – Bernie Moreno opposed the bipartisan border bill that was described as “the most conservative border bill in decades” – despite the bill being backed by border patrol agents. 

In response to Moreno’s “blanket dismissal” of the legislation, the Ironton Tribune Editorial Board told Moreno to “demonstrate a more serious approach” instead of “nonstop opposition” and “a lack of workable solutions” that would only “worsen [the] problem.” 

What they were saying about “the most conservative border bill in decades:”

• Border Patrol Agents: “[The bill would] drop illegal border crossings nationwide and will allow our agents to get back to detecting and apprehending those who want to cross our border illegally and evade apprehension… This is why the National Border Patrol Council endorses this bill and hopes for its quick passage.”

• Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens on Fox News: “There are aspects of this bill that would have added additional hundreds of border patrol agents to our rank and file. It would have given us more technology. It would have given us more equipment, infrastructure. Of course I’m going to be supportive of that.”

• U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pleased to see desperately needed border security, asylum, and immigration reforms included in the emergency supplemental funding proposal before the U.S. Senate… We look forward to working with Members of Congress to pass these common sense measures that will improve America’s security by addressing our southern border and supporting Ukraine and Israel.” 

• Wall Street Journal Editorial Board:“By any honest reckoning, this is the most restrictive migrant legislation in decades.”

• Fox News: Bipartisan border package would “overhaul” the immigration system “with tougher and quicker enforcement measures”

• CBS: “If enacted into law, the emerging deal would mark the first major bipartisan overhaul of the nation’s immigration system since the 1990s.”

• Politico: Bipartisan border package was “the most stringent immigration bill endorsed by a democratic president in recent memory”

• NBC News: Bipartisan border package would “impose tougher immigration and asylum laws”

• CNN: Bipartisan border package “would implement strict limits along the US southern border that have not been previously enshrined into law” 

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Associated Press: “Moreno sat on two government boards…each of those public entities boosted Moreno’s blockchain business while he served.”

Columbus, OH – Bernie Moreno exploited his “inside” political connections, hefty campaign contributions, and public board appointments to secure government contracts that “boosted” his blockchain businesses – leading Moreno to ultimately cash out for “at least $5 million.” 

AP: Bernie Moreno running for Senate as outsider, but public entities he served boosted his business

February 7, 2024

• But Moreno has, at times, served on the inside. Shortly before he entered politics, he sat on two government boards — one in Columbus, one in Cleveland. An Associated Press review found that each of those public entities boosted Moreno’s blockchain business while he served.”

• When he cashed out his shares in blockchain company Ownum in April 2023 […] Moreno reported they were worth at least $5 million. Some of the company’s earliest votes of confidence had come from InnovateOhio and MetroHealth.

• Moreno was appointed to the InnovateOhio Executive Board by Lt. Gov. Jon Husted in April 2019. 

• Moreno and Husted already had a history….Moreno contributed a combined $20,000 to [Husted’s] political campaigns, state campaign finance reports show. Moreno gave another $25,000 to the DeWine-Husted for Ohio gubernatorial campaign in June 2018 — shortly after Ownum was incorporated.

• At the time of Moreno’s appointment [to InnovateOhio], the company had just announced its first product: a paperless blockchain option for vehicle titling, called CHAMPtitles. Moreno already had made it known that Ownum would be pitching CHAMPtitles to Ohio, among other states.

• Husted said the office had received a “proposal” — he didn’t mention from whom — for the state to work with the private sector to modify Ohio’s vehicle titling system. CHAMPtitles tweeted the “exciting news.”

• Something like Husted’s backing — or the later support of MetroHealth’s CEO — held potential financial benefits for the company…

• …Armond Budish nominated Moreno to the MetroHealth board of trustees in September 2019. Moreno had donated $5,000 to Budish’s re-election bid in July 2018, county campaign finance records show.

• Six months later, Ownum’s second product, Vital Chain — which provided blockchain birth and death certificates — landed MetroHealth as its first client. 

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Columbus, OH – Bernie Moreno has faced ongoing scrutiny and attacks after reports showed he destroyed evidence to get out of paying his employees overtime wages they’d earned. Multiple fact checks have found Moreno’s excuses for committing wage theft “false,” but Moreno keeps lying. 

Here are the facts:

• After being sued by his employees for withholding their wages, Bernie Moreno was forced to admit in a deposition that he destroyed key evidence he was legally required to keep. 

• Moreno was sanctioned by a judge for shredding documents to avoid paying his employees the overtime they earned. 

• Moreno was found liable by a jury for wage theft and was forced to pay over $400,000 in damages – only then did he settle over a dozen wage theft lawsuits before launching his Senate bid. 

• Moreno’s excuse that he lost the jury trial because of “liberal,” “activist,” “lunatic” judges “isn’t true.”

• Moreno made “false claims” that a 2019 Massachusetts court decision “retroactively” required him to pay his employees overtime. The truth is, “nothing new and unexpected was retroactively required of employers, in either court’s verdict. Once the 2015 state regulation went into effect, employers were required to pay for overtime worked.”

READ MORE:

• Business Insider: Trump-backed Ohio Senate candidate shredded documents as he faced a lawsuit accusing him of wage theft

• WCMH: Fact check: Did Senate candidate Bernie Moreno shred documents accusing him of wage theft?

• Mother Jones: A GOP Senate Candidate Blames “Liberal” Judges for His Labor Violations. Just One Problem With That.

• WKYC: No, Bernie Moreno’s claims that Massachusetts courts overturned federal law in wage theft lawsuits and made rulings retroactive are not true: VERIFY

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