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Husted Named by Former FirstEnergy Executive in Legal Documents as Someone Who Would Have Information about HB 6 Scandal

Columbus, OH — Today, the Ohio Democratic Party called on Jon Husted to tell Ohio voters what he knew and when about the largest public corruption scandal in state history after a former FirstEnergy executive named him as someone who would have “knowledge of the underlying factual allegations” surrounding the HB 6 scandal.

“Today, Michael Dowling confirmed what so many of us already knew: Jon Husted likely has intimate knowledge of the HB 6 scandal and is hiding that information from Ohio voters. As the scandal inches closer and closer to Mike DeWine and Jon Husted, Ohioans deserve answers about what they both knew and when, and any role they may have played in the biggest public corruption scandal in state history,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Earlier this year, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio outlined various ways that the DeWine-Husted administration is connected to the scandal, including top-level staff with direct ties to the scandal that DeWine continues to stand behind. DeWine and Husted have tried to avoid answering questions on their ties to the scandal and what they knew and when, but Ohio voters deserve full transparency and accountability.

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“What the hell happened here? Ohio Republicans just decided to disregard the state constitution and the voters.” 

Columbus, OH — Plain and simple, Ohio voters were betrayed Saturday by Mike DeWine’s political games. Yet again, instead of doing what’s right for Ohio, Mike DeWine looked out for his own interests and caved to extreme Republicans in the legislature by signing a gerrymandered map into law. This comes despite the fact that Ohioans overwhelmingly twice voted for fair maps and a fair redistricting process, something DeWine promised to abide by in 2018. 

But the political reality for DeWine is that he’s hemorrhaging support within his own party and too scared to stand up to his own party. So rather than do the right thing by Ohio voters, he’s backing down to extreme Republicans and looking out only for himself. 

“Mike DeWine has spent his decades in politics only looking out for his own interests, and the redistricting process has put a giant spotlight on his inability to look out for anyone but himself. DeWine and the Ohio GOP are doing everything and anything they can to prevent voters from holding them accountable at the ballot box while they continue to betray Ohioans at every turn,” said Ohio Democratic Party Spokesperson Matt Keyes. 

Read more about what they’re saying about DeWine’s betrayal below: 

The Columbus Dispatch: Redistricting: Eric Holder-backed lawsuit challenges Ohio congressional map

Jessie Balmert 

“‘That Ohio’s new congressional map, signed by Gov. DeWine on Saturday, is a partisan gerrymander in violation of the state constitution is quite clear,’ said Marina Jenkins, NRAF’s director of litigation and policy. The group filed its lawsuit Monday at the Ohio Supreme Court on behalf of 12 Ohioans.

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“Ohio voters approved changes to the state constitution in 2018, making a new process for drawing the maps. According to the complaint, Ohio lawmakers and DeWine went against Ohio voters’ wishes when they adopted the congressional map.

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“‘In enacting the 2021 Congressional Plan, the General Assembly – and Governor DeWine – seek to turn the clock back to before 2018, when it had free rein to gerrymander maps as it wished. However, the legal regime has changed, and the court should not countenance the General Assembly’s and the governor’s attempt to flout the wishes of Ohio voters,’  according to the complaint.”

CNN: Buckeye Blackeye: Ohio GOP Maps are an Insult to Democracy 

John Avalon 

“The Great State of Ohio just showed us how professional partisan cynical disregard for the will of the people undermines representative democracy. 

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“Ohio Republicans have disregarded the will of voters in the state and have passed a redistricting map which could violate the state’s constitution and possibly the US Voting Rights Act.

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“These maps are an insult to democracy. They are designed to disenfranchise voters. 

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“What the hell happened here? Ohio Republicans just decided to disregard the state constitution and the voters. 

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“Republicans only care about controlling congress in the upcoming midterms and they won’t be constrained by pesky things like laws and state constitutions in their pursuit of power.”

Cleveland.com: Gov. Mike DeWine approves Ohio congressional map bill that likely strengthens GOP share

Andrew Tobias  

“In signing the congressional redistricting bill on Saturday, DeWine rejected calls to veto the map from voting-rights groups, Democrats and left-leaning advocacy groups. 

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“‘The rules are pretty clear — the voters said that the redistricting process should be done in a bipartisan way and when I am governor there will be an expectation that the new district maps honor the voters’ wishes,’  DeWine told the Cincinnati Enquirer in 2018 while he was running for governor.

“But in a statement he issued Saturday while announcing he had signed off on the map, DeWine, like Republican lawmakers, touted the greater number of competitive districts in the new plan, compared to the current, heavily gerrymandered, noncompetitive map, which saw no seats change hands during the decade it was in effect.”

Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio Gov. DeWine signs Republican congressional map with huge GOP advantage

David DeWitt

“Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has signed Statehouse Republicans’ congressional map for Ohio giving the GOP a substantial advantage, claiming that of all the maps presented it ‘makes the most progress to produce a fair, compact and competitive map.’

“With DeWine’s signature, legal challenges are expected to be forthcoming. 

“DeWine’s son, Justice Pat DeWine, has refused to recuse himself from the case, making Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor the potential swing vote on the constitutionality of the Republican plans that continue Republican supermajorities in the Ohio House and Senate and now an 11-2 advantage in congressional maps with two potential toss-up districts.

“ ‘Once again, Gov. DeWine has failed to stand up to the extremists in his party. He could have rejected gerrymandered maps, but chose weakness instead,’ said Desiree Tims, president and CEO of Innovation Ohio. ‘These rigged districts will lead to more extreme politicians who pass dangerous laws that devastate Ohio communities.’ ”

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November 22, 2021

Happy Monday, and welcome to “Buckeye Brawl,” a weekly newsletter from the Ohio Democratic Party highlighting the nasty, chaotic and expensive Republican primary for Senate. This out-of-control primary is making conservatives “deeply worried” about the prospects of Republicans losing this seat.

As the Republican Senate primary continues to sink lower and lower, these GOP candidates are injecting even more nasty personal attacks, more chaos and more money into this race. We’re here to help you keep track of all of it.

This week, we are going to focus on Thursday’s forum since that’s where most of the nasty attacks happened. And a quick programming note: This Buckeye Brawl will have to hold you over for Thanksgiving. Enjoy your holiday and remember: There’s no way your family’s Thanksgiving could possibly be messier than this primary.

Here’s what you may have missed:

ASPIRING CABLE TV STAR WITH EMPTY RHETORIC. Dolan tweeted that Ohio didn’t need a “bomb thrower or aspiring cable TV star with empty rhetoric.” That must hurt for Mandel and Vance. Dolan tweeted this on the same day as the GOP Senate forum in Strongsville, which Vance had to leave early from for a Fox News cable news hit. The writers couldn’t make this up!

RINOS CATER TO GAZILLIONAIRES. Responding to a question about why he kept the money from his 2018 campaign and why he didn’t help Renacci more, Mandel took a shot at the field, saying that RINOs (which he has called Timken and Vance) cater to gazillionaires. The gazillionaires attack from Mandel is one he said at his election lie rally earlier this month when Mandel said he’s running against “a bunch of millionaires and gazillionaires.” In her next question, Timken fired back at Mandel, saying, “Josh, I went to you and said, ‘Josh, I know you needed to drop out. But you need to help the rest of us…’ You know what Josh said to me? He didn’t hesitate, ‘No.’ When you need someone to stand up for you I did, Josh didn’t.” Folks, we still have six months to go and this is deeply personal and nasty.

BEEN IN POLITICS TOO LONG. When Vance was asked about his campaign benefiting from a large donation from Big Tech billionaire Peter Thiel and if he’s detached, Vance used his answer to attack Timken and Mandel. He said Mandel has “been running for office for a long time“ and Timken has “been in politics for a long time.” We think this is Vance’s response to Timken calling him a “Johnny-come-lately” to the Trump agenda, but hey they all are. And to be clear, Vance has been a political insider on the Republican think tank circuit for years so he isn’t excused from this either. This continues to be a theme in this crowded Republican Senate primary: phonies attacking each other for being phonies.

OUTRAGEOUS ATTENTION SEEKERS. In an interview with CNN’s Eva McKend, Timken sideswiped Mandel and Vance, saying, “You can’t win a race in Ohio on Twitter…Saying outrageous things to garner attention is not how I’m going to run this race and not how I’m going to win this race.” She had a similar line of attack in an interview on The Bruce Hooley Show, where Jane Timken said, “I think they like the idea of being a senator. I think they like to talk a lot, but I don’t think they’re doers. Look, I’ve been fighting for the conservative cause, I’ve been in the trenches. I don’t know where they were.” It’s a similar line to what Timken said last week attacking Vance and Mandel, when she said, “We’ve got a lot of showboaters and show horses in this race. I’m a workhorse…” Well, both Mandel and Vance have based their campaigns around retweets, soundbites, outrage, and very little actual substance.

Thanks for reading along – that’s all for the Buckeye Brawl this week. If you have questions, my email is [email protected]. Have a great holiday!

Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters slammed Mike DeWine for reversing himself on previous statements and signing an unconstitutional map into law that betrays Ohioans and flies in the face of reforms voters overwhelmingly called for.

“There’s only one thing you can count on Mike DeWine for: naked, partisan self-interest. By signing these despicable maps into law, DeWine is leaving no doubt he will always put his own political interests over the interests of Ohioans he is supposed to serve. DeWine and the Ohio GOP are doing everything and anything they can to prevent voters from holding them accountable at the ballot box while they continue to betray Ohioans at every turn,” said Chair Walters.

Columbus, OH — According to a new Axios report, three of the leading GOP Senate candidates now have a super PAC supporting them, which is sure to make this primary even longer, nastier and more expensive. This week, Ohio Leads, a super PAC backing Jane Timken, reported spending $220,000 on pro-Timken digital ads.  

Two pro-Mandel super PACs have already launched a cumulative nearly $1 million ad buy attacking J.D. Vance. The ads highlight Vance’s own words calling Trump an “idiot,” “reprehensible,” and “noxious.” One of the ads lambasts Vance for calling himself a “flip-flop flipper” to describe how he changed his position on Trump. 

“With six months until the GOP Senate primary, the out-of-touch millionaires and their deep-pocketed allies are doing everything they can to make this primary longer, nastier and more expensive. Instead of talking about lowering costs for Ohio’s working families, the GOP millionaires are too busy escalating their petty feuds and turning off Ohio voters in the process,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Read more below: 

Axios: Ohio GOP candidates push super PAC bounds

By Lachlan Markay

November 18, 2021

• What’s happening: The latest ostensibly independent group to enter the fray, a super PAC called Ohio Leads, is backing former state GOP chair Jane Timken.
• It was officially formed in September, and this week reported spending more than $220,000 on pro-Timken digital ads.
• The big picture: Timken and Mandel are both competing against a candidate, “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance, whose super PAC is backed by $10 million from billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel.
• The race is expected to be one of the most expensive in the country, during a midterm cycle that will likely break election spending records.

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