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For Immediate Release

Friday, February 11, 2022

Social Media Tool Will Help Hold Republicans Accountable & Engage with Ohio Voters Directly 

Columbus, OH — Today, the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP) relaunched the Truth Team Facebook group. The Truth Team consists of grassroots supporters who are ready and eager to hold Republicans accountable and galvanize their networks and their communities to push back against GOP scandals, lies, corruption and misdeeds.

“The ODP Truth Team will help us hold Republicans accountable for all of the ways they’re betraying Ohioans, and that list seems to grow larger by the day. From $60 million bribery schemes to breaking the law and passing gerrymandered maps, we’re excited to have our grassroots team sharing their stories with their local communities and showing their friends and neighbors that while Ohio Democrats are on their side, Ohio Republicans are only interested in looking out for themselves and special interests,” says Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes

In the past, the Truth Team has helped ODP organize events, pen letters to the editor, canvass their local communities, lift up social media and push back against Republican lies and misdeeds. The goal for the revived team is to grow and uplift voices from all over the state, using their already created platforms for a unified messaging front.

The Truth Team is a private Facebook group, but Ohioans are welcome and encouraged to join. If interested in joining, Ohioans can submit their membership requests HERE.

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For Immediate Release:

Friday, February 11, 2022

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP), along with attorney general candidate Representative Jeff Crossman held a news conference Thursday outlining how much money the House Bill 6 corruption scandal is costing hardworking Ohioans every single day thanks to a lack of leadership and transparency from Mike DeWine.

On the call, Rep. Crossman outlined how Ohioans remain on the hook for nearly $180 million in coal plant subsidies alone, including money going to a plant that isn’t even in Ohio. Breaking that down, Rep. Crossman showed us that hardworking families are losing over $230,000 a day or $9,500 an hour, $159 a minute because of the largest public corruption scandal in state history.

 See what Ohioans are reading today: 

The Toledo Blade: Nuclear scandal continues to cost Ohioans, says AG candidate

Jim Provance

“Democrats have a rolling dollar ticker — similar to one used by Republicans to track the national debt — that show how much the coal subsidies are costing Ohioans. That ticker was at about $180 million as of Thursday.

‘“These scandals keep getting bigger and bigger and cost Ohioans more and more money each time,’ Mr. Crossman said, citing the past Coingate, payday lending, and Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow charter school scandals.

‘“If we’re not going to fight to get to the bottom of this and hold the folks responsible for this to account, then this will continue to happen,’ he said. ‘Ohio will go from being once an opportunity state to continuing to be No. 1 in corruption as we’re currently ranked. It’s shameful.’

“Mr. Householder faces trial as soon as this fall on federal racketeering charges for his alleged leadership in what FirstEnergy has admitted was a scheme to bribe its way to getting nuclear bailout bill across the finish line.

“Also awaiting trial on a similar charge is lobbyist Matt Borges, a former Ohio Republican Party chairman. Two others — consultant and close Householder ally Jeff Longstreth and lobbyist Juan Cespedes — have pleaded guilty and have cooperated with the ongoing federal investigation. A fourth defendant, powerful lobbyist Neil Clark, committed suicide.

“A utility consortium — of which American Electric Power is the biggest partner — piggybacked onto the nuclear bailout bill to expand statewide what had been regional subsidies paid by electricity customers to support their two 1950s-era coal plants that were originally built to serve a now defunct federal uranium enrichment plant in southern Ohio.

“The state representative again called on Mr. Yost to launch a separate state investigation — in addition to the ongoing federal investigation — in advance of bringing criminal charges under state law. He called the civil lawsuit brought by Mr. Yost against FirstEnergy and to go after the assets of the scheme’s players ‘low-hanging fruit.”’ 

Springfield News Sun: Calls for more changes to scandal-tainted HB 6

Jim Gaines

“The Democratic candidate for Ohio attorney general on Thursday denounced continuing coal-plant subsidies paid to Akron-based FirstEnergy under scandal-tainted House Bill 6, and called for expanded criminal investigation and more openness from Republican state officials.

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“State Rep. Jeff Crossman, D-Parma, said during a virtual news conference hosted by the Ohio Democratic Party that Ohioans are paying $230,000 a day to subsidize coal plants, including one in Indiana.

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“A federal criminal investigation is ongoing. Lawmakers repealed the bill’s nuclear-plant bailout, but the bill’s subsidies for coal plants and other projects remain. ‘There’s still a lot of questions about who knew what and when, about this nuclear bribery scandal,’ Crossman said.

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“Public-records requests to Gov. Mike DeWine’s and Yost’s offices have not been fully answered, but what has been released shows the scandal is “bigger and broader” than previously known, he said.

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‘Larry Householder didn’t work alone,’ he said.

“Crossman alleged DeWine’s office worked with Sam Randazzo, then chair of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission, to pass HB 6. ‘We know that the governor’s office was involved,’ Crossman said.”

Cleveland.com Capitol Letter: A Charged Issue 

Andrew Tobias

“State Rep. Jeff Crossman, a Parma Democrat, running for attorney general, held a news conference on Thursday morning to call attention to what he said were unanswered questions about the House Bill 6 scandal. He said if he were attorney general, he would use the power of his office to investigate the issue further. Crossman also said the scandal continues to cost Ohioans hundreds of thousands of dollars each day, in the form of HB6′s subsidies to OVEC coal plants and the ongoing federal investigation. Crossman is challenging Republican Attorney General Dave Yost in the November election.” 

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MEMORANDUM

To: Interested Parties

From: Michael Beyer, Communications Advisor at The Ohio Democratic Party

Re: One Year Since He Announced, Josh Mandel Has Forced The Other GOP Senate Candidates To Race To The Extreme 

One year ago today, Josh Mandel announced he was running for U.S. Senate on the Big Lie, saying the 2020 presidential election was stolen. It’s indicative of how this entire GOP Senate primary has gone so far: Josh Mandel stakes out an extreme position and the rest of the out-of-touch millionaires follow suit days or months later. The “frenzy to land Trump’s endorsement” has spurred the GOP Senate candidates to sprint to the right. As a result, the Ohio GOP Senate primary has “descended into meanness and pettiness and just plain craziness unlike anything ever seen in Ohio Republican politics.” On several issues from impeaching Biden and the Big Lie to opposing Mike DeWine and impeachment, all of the leading candidates have blindly followed wherever Josh Mandel leads them. 

The problem for the GOP Senate candidates is that they are all trying to do their best knock-off Josh Mandel impression to compete for Trump’s endorsement, but the path to victory for statewide Ohio has been through “reasonable” and “respectable” Republicans. Several conservatives, including Ben Shapiro and Erick Erickson, have sounded the alarm with just how bad the Republican Senate primary is going for them, with Shapiro openly worrying that it could lead to the seat winding up in Democratic hands. Erickson said he was “rather embarrassed to see the insanity in Ohio.” University of Cincinnati professor David Niven points out the challenge for Ohio Republicans, saying, “One of these Republicans is going to have to run statewide and that is an entirely different matter than running in a Republican primary, especially in a primary where loyalty to Trump is all the candidates talk about. It will be a tough race.” 

With three months left, there’s no telling just how far these out-of-touch candidates will go to catch up to Josh Mandel. As they have played musical chairs to be in second or third place in their own internal polls, the GOP Senate candidates will only become more desperate the closer they come to Election Day, making this race even more chaotic, nasty, and expensive. The race to the extreme will only hobble the future Republican nominee and show Ohioans that these out-of-touch candidates are only focused on themselves, instead of showing how they will improve the lives of working Ohioans. 

Below are several issues where Mandel has forced the GOP Senate field to stake out an extreme position. The question for GOP Senate candidates who want Trump’s endorsement that has defined this primary: “Josh Mandel has asked me to jump, but how high?”

IMPEACHING BIDEN

• On August 23, 2021, Josh Mandel tweeted, “Impeach Biden NOW!” 
• On August 25, 2021, Jane Timken followed Josh Mandel, tweeting her support for impeaching Biden. 
• Several months later, on January 31, 2022, J.D. Vance said, “I’m absolutely for articles of impeachment. The question is what for? There’s so much…”

THE BIG LIE

• One year ago, Josh Mandel launched his campaign with a lie saying the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from Donald Trump. 
• Last month, J.D. Vance finally caught up to Mandel, saying the election was “stolen” from Donald Trump. 

OHIO’S 2020 ELECTION

• In August, Josh Mandel said Trump won Ohio by more than 8 points. 
• When he was asked about Mandel’s claim that Trump won Ohio by more than 8 points, Vance told The Vindicator in October 2021: “I think it’s probably true that Trump won by a larger margin in Ohio, but I think as things go, we had as (U.S. Rep.) Jim Jordan said, our elections were pretty gold standard.”

MIKE DEWINE

• On February 10, 2021, the day he launched his campaign, Mandel said, “I completely disagree with Gov. DeWine’s handling of the shutdowns of all these businesses and schools.” 
• In reporting from March 2021, after she became a Senate candidate, Timken was quoted implicitly praising Mike DeWine’s COVID leadership, saying, “Ohio has led the way and done better than many other states in tackling the pandemic.” After a few months in the Republican Senate primary, Timken took a markedly less supportive tone, saying DeWine had done an “okay” job but that she has disagreements with how DeWine has handled the pandemic.

JANUARY 6

• Josh Mandel has touted meetings with January 6 rallygoers on his Twitter account and in September 2021 called those charged with crimes on January 6 “political prisoners.” 
• On the anniversary of January 6, J.D. Vance called those charged with crimes “political prisoners.” 
• On January 6, 2021, Jane Timken tweeted, “As Americans we have the constitutional right to redress our grievances but not with violence. What’s happening in the Capitol is wrong and not the way forward.” After entering the Senate race, Timken changed her tune and said in June 2021 that January 6 has been “blown out of proportion” and that there were “good, patriotic Americans who went to the Capitol.” 

BONUS: NPR

• At 9:10 pm last night, Josh Mandel tweeted that he wanted to defund NPR. 
• J.D. Vance followed along at 9:36 pm, calling on NPR to be defunded. 

For Immediate Release

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Columbus, OH — Today, the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP) issued the following statement in response to Mike DeWine’s reappointment of Daniel Conway to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). Conway has deep ties to the energy industry he would be charged with overseeing, similar to Sam Randazzo, who DeWine appointed even over the objection of his fellow Republicans due to his close ties to the industry. Randazzo then used his role on PUCO to help push forward HB 6, the scandal-ridden energy bribery bill that continues to cost Ohioans hundreds of thousands of dollars a day.

“Once again, Mike DeWine has put the fox in charge of the hen house, refusing to learn his lesson after appointing Sam Randazzo to the commission and seeing the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio history unfold under his watch. Now more than ever, Ohio needs a strong watchdog at PUCO, but Mike DeWine will always put his special interest pals and his own political interests over the needs of hardworking Ohioans he is supposed to serve,” says Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes

The reappointment comes as ODP continues to demand accountability from DeWine and others in his orbit. This morning, the party outlined the true costs associated with HB 6 corruption Ohioans are still paying today under DeWine’s leadership.

ODP has been working since October to show who knew what and when about the HB 6 bribery scandal, but has been stonewalled at every turn by the DeWine administration, leaving public records requests unanswered for over one hundred days.

Public records requests recently submitted by the party include:

• Any communications among Mike DeWine, Jon Husted, their staffs and special interest groups tied to the HB 6 scandal.
• Any communications between those individuals and individuals who are implicated in the scandal.
• Any communications involving Sam Randazzo’s appointment to the Public Utilities Commission.
• Any communications between DeWine/Husted and statewide officeholders regarding HB 6.
• The demotion of Laurel Dawson & the resignation of Dan McCarthy.

The party also resubmitted previous public records requests that include: a visitor’s log from the governor’s office and the governor’s mansion; any vetting of Sam Randazzo; and communications between Mike DeWine’s staff and FirstEnergy.

The party will provide updates to the media and Ohio voters as the process plays out and as we continue to demand accountability from people in power.

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For Immediate Release:

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Columbus, OH — Today, the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP) along with Rep. Jeff Crossman, candidate for attorney general, held a statewide virtual press conference explaining to hardworking Ohioans how much money the House Bill 6 corruption scandal is costing them every single day.

The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, a consumer advocacy agency, shows Ohioans have already paid nearly $180 million in coal plant subsidies alone, including propping up a plant that isn’t even in Ohio, and that’s not all:

“Ohio taxpayers are footing the bill for a federal investigation, multiple federal court cases and all of the costs associated with holding Ohio Republicans accountable for the largest public corruption scheme in state history. While working Ohioans are worried about putting food on the table or covering the costs of prescription drugs, Ohio Republicans are forcing those working families to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars each day for a corrupt bribery scheme,” said Rep. Crossman

“While Ohioans continue paying more than $230,000 every day, $9,500 every hour and $159 every minute for this corruption scandal, Ohio Republicans like Mike DeWine and Dave Yost can’t even be bothered to answer questions about what exactly happened and why we’re still paying for it,” said Crossman.

You can watch the full news conference HERE:

In addition to the coal plant subsidies Ohioans continue to pay, taxpayers are also footing the bill for:

• $460 million that FirstEnergy customers paid in bill riders without any evidence that money was used for its stated purpose, raising questions about if that money was ultimately funneled to pay for the $60 million bribe. 
• Four years of FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice investigations into the largest public corruption scandal in state history. While the full cost of the investigation is unknown, it’s safe to say the wide scope and long length of the investigation is costing taxpayers a significant amount of money.
• Separate federal court cases that are set to take place later this year. 

Since October, the party has been working on getting answers to who knew what and when about the HB 6 bribery scandal, but has been stonewalled at every turn by the DeWine administration, leaving public records requests unanswered for over one hundred days.

Public records requests recently submitted by the party include:

• Any communications among Mike DeWine, Jon Husted, their staffs and special interest groups tied to the HB 6 scandal.
• Any communications between those individuals and individuals who are implicated in the scandal.
• Any communications involving Sam Randazzo’s appointment to the Public Utilities Commission.
• Any communications between DeWine/Husted and statewide officeholders regarding HB 6.
• The demotion of Laurel Dawson & the resignation of Dan McCarthy.

The party also resubmitted previous public records requests that include: a visitor’s log from the governor’s office and the governor’s mansion; any vetting of Sam Randazzo; and communications between Mike DeWine’s staff and FirstEnergy.

The party will provide updates to the media and Ohio voters as the process plays out and as we continue to demand accountability from people in power.

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