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Peach-flavored cake has flip-flops and reads, “Happy Impeachment, Jane!” 

Columbus, OH — To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Jane Timken calling Anthony Gonzalez’s vote to impeach Trump “rational,” the Ohio Democratic Party is delivering a one-of-a-kind im-peach cake to Timken campaign headquarters. 

Prior to launching her U.S. Senate campaign, Timken said she “didn’t know” how she would have voted on impeachment and defended Anthony Gonzalez’s “rational reason” to vote to impeach. Then, after being greeted with attacks from Josh Mandel and other Republicans upon entering the race, Timken reversed her defense of Gonzalez — executing what Cleveland.com called a “jaw-dropping flip flop.”

The cake celebrating Timken’s one-year anniversary is decorated with flip-flops and reads, “Happy Impeachment, Jane!” You can view the cake here: 

Timken’s flip-flop on Anthony Gonzalez has haunted her in a GOP Senate primary that has become “increasingly brutal” as candidates “showcase their support and loyalty to Donald Trump.” After Anthony Gonzalez announced his retirement from Congress, Mandel mocked Timken by sarcastically impersonating her, tweeting, “Um do I need to change my pro-impeachment stance now? Or should I poll it first?” 

The issue has been such a disaster for Timken that Trump himself brought it up at a Hunger Games-style meeting of the GOP Senate candidates last year. Club for Growth started airing attack ads on the issue, saying, “…Timken claimed she didn’t know how she would have voted on Trump’s impeachment while passionately defending her RINO congressman after he voted to impeach Trump.” Just last month, Timken was asked twice if she regretted defending Gonzalez – a sitting congressman from the party she previously chaired – and failed to answer the question both times. 

“One year ago, Jane Timken revealed she thought voting for impeachment was ‘rational,’ and then when that position did not benefit her, Jane Timken ditched that position like the typical politician she is. While she can’t have her im-peach-ment cake and eat it too, Jane Timken can feast on this flip-flop cake for showing that given the choice, she will always choose the self-interested political calculation that benefits her political career–no matter how half-baked or indefensible,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.  

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For Immediate Release:

Monday, January 31, 2022

Columbus, OH — One week after Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters called on Mike DeWine to tell Ohio voters what he knew and when about the largest public corruption scandal in state history, questions about the scandal remain unanswered. Last week, the Ohio Democratic Party announced the submission and resubmission of several public records requests to get to the bottom of the scandal. Those requests remain unanswered.

If the DeWine administration continues to stall and refuses to answer questions Ohio voters deserve to know, the Ohio Democratic Party is prepared to take legal action.

“One week later, and still crickets from Mike DeWine and his administration. DeWine’s lack of response raises even more questions about what he’s trying to hide and why, questions we plan to get to the bottom of on behalf of Ohio voters,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

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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  January 31, 2022 

Good Monday afternoon, and welcome back to Mike Check, your weekly source of all the infighting, conspiracy spewing and corruption that’s making headlines in and around the Republican governor’s race and Mike DeWine’s statehouse, courtesy of the Ohio Democratic Party.

As the gubernatorial race heats up, Republicans are in disarray with Mike DeWine’s popularity dropping by the day, facing attacks both inside and outside of the Republican Party, and having to answer for the largest public corruption scandal in state history. It’s hard to keep up with all of the corruption and mess surrounding Mike DeWine and the GOP gubernatorial primary, so here are some stories you may have missed:

NO ONE WANTS TO BE LIKE MIKE. In the latest sign of trouble for Mike DeWine, a new Axios report outlines how Republican Senate candidates are not only running away from Mike DeWine on the campaign trail, they’re actively attacking him to gain support with fellow Republicans. Josh Mandel has called Mike DeWine ‘a RINO,’ Jane Timken and Bernie Moreno have tempered their praise of DeWine and J.D. Vance has gone from endorsing DeWine in ‘18 to criticizing his handling of the pandemic. This is all sad, but the saddest part? DeWine would still campaign with any single one of them. Woof.

AN “UNPRECEDENTED PHENOMENON.”  DeWine is also making national headlines as one of the GOP governors around the country who are increasingly vulnerable due to a primary challenger. Renacci continues to go after DeWine for not being ‘Trumpian’ enough, and even the failed blogger from Florida himself has raised the question of whether DeWine should get through a primary. One thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on: how much we don’t want Mike DeWine to be the governor.

A ‘PRO-TRUMP’ GOVERNOR? That’s the campaign Jim Renacci is running and it has Mike DeWine running scared. Things are so bad support-wise for DeWine that his primary challenger has a real shot at the nomination. In fact, recent internal polling discussed by Ohio media outlets shows Renacci is leading DeWine by 8 points. By the way, when asked about the state of the race, all Mike DeWine would offer was another “no comment.”

Thanks for catching up with us, that’s all the Mike Check we’ve got for this week. If you have questions my email is [email protected]. Have a great week!

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Columbus, OH —  Today, J.D. Vance will be campaigning with Marjorie Taylor Greene. One version of J.D. would be disgusted by Greene and the radical positions she’s taken, another version of J.D. would embrace it to try and gain some sort of traction in the messy GOP primary. The thing about J.D. is he’s a phony, making it impossible to know which version of J.D. you’re gonna get on any given day. 

Here’s a couple of issues that J.D. Vance before he ran for U.S. Senate and Marjorie Taylor Greene disagreed about: 

Issue	Pre-U.S. Senate Candidate J.D. Vance	U.S. Senate Candidate J.D. Vance	Marjorie Taylor Greene
Trump	Vance has called Trump an “idiot,” “reprehensible,” and “noxious.”	Vance desperately apologized for his anti-Trump past.	Greene has been called “Trump in heels.”
Wearing Masks	In a tweet unearthed by Josh Mandel, Vance tweeted, “Make everyone wear masks.”	Vance tweeted, “I don’t know why we should mask our children under any circumstance.”	Greene was fined nearly $90,000 for refusing to wear a mask on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives
Anti-Semitism	Vance liked a tweet implying Trump supporters were anti-semitic.	Vance has promoted Soros conspiracy theories, saying, the “result of his ‘philanthropy’ is death and crime across America.”	Greene compared COVID-19 mitigation measures to the Holocaust and claimed that the 2018 California wildfires were ignited by a space laser controlled by a corporate cabal, including the Rothschild banking firm.
Racism	Vance said, “A lot of people think Trump is just the first to appeal to the racism and xenophobia that were already there, but I think he’s making the problem worse.”	Vance called immigrants “dirty” at a candidate forum in 2021.	Videos unearthed during her campaign found Marjorie Taylor Greene suggesting that Muslims do not belong in government, she thinks Black people “are held slaves to the Democratic Party,” called George Soros a Nazi, and said she would feel “proud” to see a Confederate monument if she were Black because it symbolizes progress made since the Civil War.

“Silicon Valley Vance appearing with Marjorie Taylor Greene today will shine a spotlight on Vance’s anti-Trump past and how phony of a candidate he really is. Today’s rally will only serve to highlight just how desperate Vance is to further his own ambition at the expense of working Ohioans,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

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For Immediate Release:

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, while Dave Yost doesn’t have a vote on the Redistricting Commission, he couldn’t miss out on being part of the GOP gerrymander. Today, the Ohio Capital Journal reported on Yost blocking Democrats on the Redistricting Commission from seeking out their own legal representation to push back against the unconstitutional maps passed by Republicans. This move by Yost forces Democrats to be lumped in with the GOP commissioners who voted for maps that go against the wishes of Ohio voters.

By silencing Democrats’ dissent to the map, Yost is joining his fellow Republicans in their scheme to push through maps that go against redistricting reforms Ohioans overwhelmingly called for, another example of Yost putting his political interests over the needs of working Ohioans.

“It looks like the Republican Party is drafting everyone into their fight against fair maps. Dave Yost has always been a purely political actor, and this latest move is no different. If Yost believes the maps are constitutional, why is he doing everything he can to avoid defending them?” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.

Read more here:

• The ranking Democrat in the Ohio House said Attorney General Dave Yost has blocked her from legal representation as the Ohio Supreme Court reviews the latest redistricting proposal from state lawmakers.
• Democrats on the commission have previously been represented by their own counsel and submitted their own arguments — distinct from Republicans on the committee.
• House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Columbus, said in a statement Wednesday however that Yost has since blocked them from their legal representation. This comes as a deadline looms for the state officials to respond to objections to the GOP-approved map submitted for the court’s review.
• Through spokeswoman Maya Majikas, Russo said Yost is “denying” her “the ability to consult with her legal counsel,” two attorneys with the Ice Miller law firm in Columbus retained through the attorney general’s office.
• Yost seemed to confirm Russo’s central claim through spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle on Wednesday evening. “The Ohio Supreme Court ordered the Commission to draw a new map, which is why one counsel will respond to the court on behalf of the entire commission,” McCorkle said. “None of the individual members will respond separately.”
• The commission itself is represented by two lawyers. The statewide officeholders and Republicans on the commission have their own lawyers as well. Even if, as Yost said, the commission’s members don’t respond individually, it’s likely that Republicans who control it will likely shape its arguments.

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