Uncategorized

For Immediate Release:
Friday, May 27, 2022

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Ohio Capital Journal says Mike DeWine has problems with Republican voters after he barely escaped weak primary challengers earlier this month. DeWine barely crossed 48% of support in the May 3 primary, and more Republicans voted against DeWine than for him.

“It’s not a great sign when you’re an incumbent governor and you can’t even get a majority of the vote in your own primary, and it’s likely good news for Democratic nominee Nan Whaley,” writes Ohio Capital Journal’s Marty Schladen.

“It’s clear Mike DeWine is in real trouble come November. Republicans and Democrats both agree: Mike DeWine is the wrong choice for Ohio. We look forward to continuing to show voters that DeWine’s corruption and incompetence has cost them too much and has gone on long enough. It’s time for a new direction under Nan Whaley’s leadership,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.

Read more from Ohio Capital Journal on the study here and below:

• A pre-primary poll designed by six political scientists and the actual results of the election seem to show that former President Donald Trump’s endorsement was a decisive factor in the Ohio Republican Primary for U.S. Senate. The analysis also seems to show that GOP Gov. Mike DeWine has some work to do if he wants the full support of his party in the November General Election.
• [Ohio State political science Professor Emeritus Paul] Beck said the point of the exercise wasn’t to predict the outcome of the primary. Rather, he and colleagues Ned Foley, Chris Gelpi, Tom Nelson and Gillian Thompson, also of Ohio State — as well as Charles Stewart III of MIT — had varying research interests they pursued.
• In the GOP primary for Ohio governor, the thermometer readings tell a difficult story for incumbent Gov. Mike DeWine. At 53 degrees, his thermometer rating lagged Trump’s by 22 and was lower than all four front-runners for the Senate seat. And when correlated with Republicans’ feelings for Trump, DeWine did far worse than even Dolan, suggesting that the Republicans who pulled the lever for DeWine were even more opposed to the former president.
• In the end, DeWine won, but with just 48% of the vote, while his two main challengers got a combined 50%.
• It’s not a great sign when you’re an incumbent governor and you can’t even get a majority of the vote in your own primary, and it’s likely good news for Democratic nominee Nan Whaley.

###

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Columbus, OH — Earlier this week, it was uncovered by Andrew Tobias at Cleveland.com that Jon Husted had accepted a paid corporate board job while remaining in office as lieutenant governor – another example of the DeWine administration using their taxpayer-funded jobs to line their own pockets. It’s a move that’s raising eyebrows and ethics questions about whether Husted’s move is legal and how Husted can avoid the myriad of conflicts raised by his decision.

Here are eight questions Jon Husted must answer:

1. Did Mike DeWine know about Husted’s decision to take a corporate job while remaining in office and did he sign off on the decision?
2. Did Husted consult the Ohio Ethics Commission about the unprecedented move?
3. How much money will Husted make for his paid, corporate gig?
4. Will Husted be willing to accept a decision by an ethics commission that directs him to choose between his corporate job or his lieutenant governorship?
5. Will he commit to donating his taxpayer salary given the fact that he’s now receiving outside compensation?
6. What guardrails did the administration put in place to deal with conflicts of interest?
7. Were any promises or commitments made to the bank in exchange for Husted’s paid appointment?
8. Has Husted pursued any other paid corporate jobs on top of his full-time elected role?

“Too many Ohio families are struggling to make ends meet under the DeWine administration. Yet, DeWine’s own lieutenant governor is using his political position to line his own pockets, as if his six-figure taxpayer salary wasn’t enough. Taxpayers have been fleeced by this administration enough already. Jon Husted must be held accountable for this unprecedented move and answer key questions about the conflict of interest and legal concerns his decision creates,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.

Cleveland.com: Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted takes paid corporate board job with community bank

Andrew Tobias

May 23, 2022 

• Husted will be compensated for the board job, according to Hayley Carducci, a spokeswoman, but won’t say how much until he’s required to disclose it next year in a mandatory state financial disclosure. Husted got elected to the bank’s board after he and his wife, Tina, bought shares of the company earlier this year, Carducci said.
• Heartland Bank has several points of overlap with the state government. Among them:
  • As a state-chartered bank, it is regulated by the state Department of Commerce, organized under Gov. Mike DeWine’s office. The commerce department’s duties include mediating consumer complaints and conducting on-site inspections, according to its annual report. It also proposes rules for banks and other financial lenders; the rule-making process includes getting approval from an agency overseen by Husted’s office: the Common Sense Initiative, which analyzes proposed government rules for their potential impact on private businesses.
  • Heartland is certified as a public depository, meaning it’s eligible to hold cash and other investments owned by the state government, thanks to votes from the state board of deposit, made up of state Treasurer Robert Sprague, state Auditor Keith Faber and state Attorney General Dave Yost.
  • Through a title company subsidiary called Transcounty Title Agency, Heartland participates in an electronic lien and titling program administered through the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, which falls under the governor’s office. Transcounty Title Agency also received $813,100 in state grants, administered through the state Public Works Commission, from 2013 through 2015, according to OhioCheckbook.com, the state’s fiscal transparency website.
  • Heartland Bank received a $22,500 grant from the state government in 2017 through a small-business program administered by the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority, a panel whose members are appointed by the governor, according to OhioCheckbook.com. It also has received about $11,100 from the state commerce department since 2017, although that was for unclaimed funds abandoned by former account holders, and most of it occurred before DeWine was elected. In addition, the state attorney general’s office has paid Heartland a minimal amount — just under $1,400 — since 2016 for investigative services, most recently a $34 payment in March.
• Heartland Bank’s CEO, Scott McComb, has political ties to state Republicans, giving at least $17,100 to GOP candidates since 2016, according to state campaign-finance records. That includes just under $10,000 to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and $5,000 to the DeWine/Husted campaign, including $2,500 in March, around the time Husted was named to the company’s board. McComb’s mother served as a central committeewoman for the Ohio Republican Party, according to a 2018 profile in Independent Banker, a trade group.

Statehouse News Bureau: Ohio’s lieutenant governor defends decision to add on private sector job

Karen Kasler

May 24, 2022

• Ohio’s Republican lieutenant governor is taking some heat for accepting an outside paid job on top of the work he’s already doing as the state’s second-in-command to Gov. Mike DeWine.
• Husted, who is also DeWine’s running mate for re-election in November, said he’d thought about investing in a community bank and joining its board “for many years”.
• Husted said being on the board will help him understand how interest rates, inflation and government regulations affect small businesses and the economy.
• The CEO of Heartland Bank has donated more than $19,000 to Republican candidates since 2016.

###

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Columbus, OH — In the wake of the unthinkable tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, which comes just 10 days after the unthinkable tragedy in Buffalo, New York, one thing remains clear: Mike DeWine will not take action to prevent similar violence in Ohio. In 2019, after a mass shooting in Dayton, DeWine promised to “do something.” Instead, DeWine has proven time and time again that when given the choice between keeping Ohioans safe by standing up to the gun lobby or caving to special interests or extremists in the legislature, he’ll cave every time.

Since the mass shooting in Dayton, Mike DeWine has signed “Stand Your Ground” legislation after once threatening to veto it. He then ignored pleas from law enforcement and Ohioans when he signed permitless carry into law, legislation that will make Ohio families and police officers less safe. There will rightly be calls following the horrific killing of 19 kids in Texas for meaningful action to curb gun violence. But sadly, we already know that Mike DeWine won’t do anything.

“After the terrible tragedy in Dayton, Mike DeWine promised Ohioans he’d ‘do something’ to curb gun violence. The only ‘something’ we’ve seen from DeWine is his signing of laws that put Ohioans at greater risk for gun violence. If Mike DeWine is too weak to stand up to the gun lobby and his fellow Republicans and take meaningful action to keep Ohioans safe from gun violence, he doesn’t deserve the job,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.

###

For Immediate Release:
Monday, May 23, 2022

Cleveland, OH — Today, Mike DeWine is coming to Cleveland to tout grants for Northeast Ohio law enforcement. The problem? Mike DeWine opposed the legislation passed by Democrats that made this funding possible. The funding grant for Cleveland’s critical Real Time Crime Center comes from the American Rescue Plan, legislation that was passed by Ohio Democrats and that Mike DeWine said he would have voted against in March 2021. It’s another example of DeWine’s desperation and hypocrisy, using Democratic accomplishments to try to stay relevant politically and, for the second time in less than a month, using Ohio law enforcement as a political pawn in the process.

“If it were up to Mike DeWine, Cleveland Police would not be seeing one cent of this critical grant funding to keep streets safer. DeWine opposed the legislation that makes this funding possible, and his efforts to claim credit for the work of Ohio Democrats to secure critical resources for Ohio law enforcement is shameful,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.

###

For Immediate Release:
May 20, 2022

Columbus, OH — Before he decided to run for U.S. Senate, J.D. Vance lambasted Trump’s approach to inciting a deadly rally in Charlottesville in 2017.

As a paid CNN contributor in 2017, Vance said, “If I was President Trump in this situation, I’d spike the football. This is one of the things that really unites the entire country. Racism is bad. Nazism is bad. We fought a war to defeat Nazism. And the president should not just be — there’s a sense in which he’s ambivalent or too cautious about coming out and criticizing this stuff.”

Now, in the wake of the Buffalo terrorist attack that left 10 dead, J.D. Vance said, “Can’t we just condemn whenever anybody commits an act of violence and leave the politics out of it for a little bit?” Quite the departure from his forceful condemnation of racist violence just five years ago.

This isn’t the only time Vance has changed his tune on race since launching his U.S. Senate campaign. Vance has called immigrants “dirty” on the campaign trail after condemning Trump for using xenophobic appeals in 2016. Vance also previously acknowledged that there are “obviously still advantages to being white” but now condemns the concept of white privilege on the campaign trail. And Vance has promoted antisemitic Soros conspiracy theories, saying, the “result of his ‘philanthropy’ is death and crime across America” despite previously liking a tweet implying Trump supporters were antisemitic.

This week, Vance gained attention for rhetoric on the campaign trail that echoed the deadly white supremacist rhetoric identified in forums across the internet, according to experts on hate speech. It’s rhetoric he likely would have condemned years ago.

“J.D. Vance is a fraud and a phony who will say anything to further his own political career – even if it makes Ohioans less safe. With his positions changing by the day, how can Ohioans trust anything California Vance says?” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson from the Ohio Democratic Party.

###