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October 22, 2021

Happy Friday, 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. 

A reminder that the Senate field is set to take the debate stage Sunday in Westerville, where they’re sure to continue their deeply personal attacks on one another to try and grab the Failed Blogger from Florida’s attention, as the Apprentice: Ohio Senate Edition continues. You can attend the forum in person by signing up HERE or watch online on Facebook Live Sunday at 7:00 p.m. 

Here’s what you may have missed:

NO ACTUALLY, I SUPPORT THE BIG LIE MORE. On the trail, Mandel frequently lies about the results of the 2020 election and says he’s the only candidate who has called for a 50 state audit of the 2020 election. Well, that’s news to J.D. Vance who this week said that he was actually the first candidate in the GOP Senate primary to call for a 50 state audit of the 2020 election. At a forum earlier this month, Josh Mandel said he was the only candidate who believes the 2020 presidential election was stolen (it wasn’t) and the only candidate calling for a 50 state audit (a dangerous political stunt) in contrast to the rest of the GOP Senate field. Mandel repeated the Buckeye Big Lie, a new lie Mandel has made up that Trump won Ohio by more than 8 points. Don’t trip over each other when you’re racing to kiss Trump’s ring, J.D. and Josh! 

RED FLAG. Bernie Moreno ran the red flag meme on Twitter into the ground last week, attacking all the leading GOP Senate candidates with a different version of the Twitter trend. He attacked Timken, tweeting, “You claim to care about your home State of Ohio, but put rye [sic] vast majority of your employees in another State.” He attacked Dolan, tweeting, “You vote against the heart beat bill, for more gun regulation, don’t stand up to the woke mob, want trillions more in spending, and run as a conservative.” He attacked Gibbons (?), tweeting, “You claim to support Israel, but have never visited the country, despite having the resources to do so.” He attacked Mandel, tweeting, “You protest at school board meetings last week, but stayed silent when schools were ordered shut down last year.” He attacked Vance (?), tweeting, “You rant against ‘woke’ corporations, but take their PAC money.” Can one of Bernie Moreno’s staffers check on him? Is he ok? 

PHONIES, NEVER TRUMPERS, AND QUITTERS. In an invite to tailgate outside of Sunday’s forum, Timken’s campaign decided to slam the other candidates. Their campaign said, “It is up to us to make sure the United States Senate seat is not stolen by any phony, never Trump candidates, or anyone who has quit on our state before.” This follows Timken ally Kristi Noem going after Mandel last month, saying she doesn’t “want a quitter in the United States Senate” and that “we need leaders that don’t want the job so bad that they don’t do the job.” Sure seems like Timken is getting ready to fire up the attacks at the forum Sunday! Don’t forget to grab your popcorn. 

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 weekend! 

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, more proof surfaced Wednesday that former PUCO chair Sam Randazzo is in fact crooked. A new Cleveland.com/Plain Dealer report shares newly released text messages showing Mike DeWine’s good buddy overruled others on the utility commission to secure policies that benefited FirstEnergy. Yes, the same FirstEnergy that admitted to bribing Randazzo $4.3 million for friendly administrative rulings. 

The new documents from the Ohio Consumers’ Council also show Randazzo successfully “burned” a final PUCO audit into a FirstEnergy customer charge that was so outrageous, it cost Ohioans more than $150 million per year from 2017-2019, until the Ohio Supreme Court ruled it should never have been approved by Randazzo and PUCO in the first place.  

“The new details add context to an excerpt of [Chuck] Jones’ text included in FirstEnergy’s deferred prosecution agreement with federal authorities stating that there’s “a lot of talk going on in the halls of PUCO about does (Randazzo) work there or for us,” writes Cleveland.com’s Jeremy Pelzer. 

“Does Mike DeWine still think that Sam Randazzo did ‘a great job?’” asked Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

You can read more from Cleveland.com here and below:  

• Ex-Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chair Sam Randazzo, whom FirstEnergy Corp. admitted to bribing, overruled other commissioners and staff to secure policies that benefited the Akron-based utility, according to a text message from former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones, obtained by a watchdog group.

• The OCC is now questioning whether that report contained information about whether FirstEnergy was improperly using money collected from customers to help pay a $60 million bribe to secure the passage of House Bill 6, a $1 billion-plus ratepayer bailout of two Ohio nuclear power plants operated at the time by a FirstEnergy subsidiary.

• The new details add context to an excerpt of Jones’ text included in FirstEnergy’s deferred prosecution agreement with federal authorities stating that there’s “a lot of talk going on in the halls of PUCO about does (Randazzo) work there or for us?” 

• As part of that agreement, FirstEnergy agreed to pay a $230 million fine and admitted to bribing Randazzo and ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, both of whom deny any wrongdoing.

• In the full text, Jones wrote that Randazzo had been “overruling” staff and other commissioners “on decoupling, getting rid of SEET and burning the DMR final report.” Jones also said he stopped by Randazzo’s house during a walk.

• Jones’ text message doesn’t provide more detail about exactly what actions Randazzo took regarding decoupling and the SEET, both of which were significant policy priorities of FirstEnergy.

• Last March, after Randazzo resigned from the PUCO, the commission ordered a new audit into whether money from the distribution modernization rider was misused for HB6-related activities. That audit is still ongoing.

• FirstEnergy Corp. spokeswoman Jennifer Young declined to comment when asked about Jones’ text and Randazzo’s role in decoupling and the SEET test, as well as “burning” the final audit.

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Columbus, OH — Frank LaRose’s unending quest to make voting more difficult in Ohio has once more revealed itself to be about more than just greasing the skids for his reelection campaign to the Secretary of State’s office. Yesterday, LaRose proved yet again that he’s got his eyes on the U.S. Senate when he attacked U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown for doing the job that LaRose should be doing and protecting Ohioans’ voting rights. But instead of doing the job he collects a taxpayer salary for, LaRose is busy pushing a strictly partisan anti-voter bill and further attempting to rig the game in his favor to bolster his own political ambitions.

“Frank LaRose was elected to protect the voting interests of the people of Ohio, but the only political interests he’s pushing are his own. As LaRose continues transparently campaigning for Senate, he’s even using his office to push anti-voter legislation he surely believes will benefit his short and long-term goals by putting up roadblocks that will keep Ohio voters from holding him accountable. LaRose clearly doesn’t want to do the job he has now, and Ohio Democrats are more than happy to make sure he doesn’t keep it much longer,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

LaRose has been repeatedly called out in recent weeks for playing political games to further his own personal ambitions and for failing to call out his fellow Republicans when they question the integrity of Ohio elections, because that might lose him support within his own party. LaRose is a purely political animal, and anything he says or does should be treated that way.

Read more here:

• ICYMI: Frank LaRose Once Again Plays Politics with Election Integrity, Refuses to Stand up to His Own Party as They Continue to Lie about Ohio Elections
• Twice in One Week: Frank LaRose Gets Called Out AGAIN for Playing Politics with Ohioans’ Right to Vote
• Frank LaRose Gets Called Out for His Election Hypocrisy
• It’s a Day that Ends in Y, So Frank LaRose is Playing Politics with Voting Rights

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Columbus, OH — Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine’s politically charged decision not to recuse himself from the redistricting Supreme Court cases surrounding his father Mike DeWine is putting the DeWine family in hot water for putting their political interests over the needs of Ohio voters.

Amid such a blatant conflict of interest, several media outlets in Ohio are asking the same question: Why hasn’t Justice DeWine recused himself from the cases involving dear old Dad’s unconstitutional vote? 

“If you look up ‘conflict of interest’ in the dictionary, there’s now a family picture of the DeWines. Pat DeWine’s refusal to recuse himself from a case involving his own father is as clear cut as you can get when it comes to conflicts of interest, and it’s far past time for him to put politics aside, do the right thing for Ohioans and recuse himself from the case,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Read more coverage of what many are calling an “unprecedented move” by DeWine below:  

Statehouse News Bureau: Justice DeWine Won’t Recuse Himself in Case Involving His Father

Andy Chow

“Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine is refusing to recuse himself from three court cases involving state House and Senate maps approved last month by the Ohio Redistricting Commission on which his father, Gov. Mike DeWine, sits.

“Cleveland State University’s Marshall College of Law Professor Doron Kalir says it would have been proper for Justice DeWine to recuse himself from hearing the cases for two reasons. One, because the case went straight to the state’s high court and his father, Gov. DeWine, is directly involved as a defendant.

… 

“Secondly, Kalir says Justice DeWine should’ve stepped down on the redistricting cases because Gov. DeWine sits on the commission that made the maps being challenged.

“Kalir cites precedent that shows the mere appearance of bias is a reason enough to step down from hearing a case. And he notes the U.S. Supreme Court might be slightly more interested in picking up one of the Ohio redistricting cases if they are asked because it could be used as a vehicle since it could be used to overturn that earlier precedent.”

Cleveland.com: Has Any Ohio Judge Ever had the Conflict of Interest Justice Pat DeWine has?

Laura Johnston

“Justice Pat DeWine’s refusal to recuse himself from a trio of redistricting lawsuits, in which his father — Gov. Mike DeWine — is a defendant who will testify as a witness seems unprecedented. We can’t find any similar cases.”

Cincinnati Enquirer: Justice Pat DeWine won’t Recuse Himself from Lawsuits over Maps Approved by Father Gov. Mike DeWine

Jessie Balmert 

“The Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct requires a judge to disqualify himself from “any proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” That includes when a judge has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party to the case.

…

“The DeWine family can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to bending the rules to fit their own political interests,” Ohio Democratic Party spokesman Matt Keyes said. “Even though Justice DeWine has recused himself before on cases involving his father, they’re deciding to play by a different set of rules now that the political future of our state is at stake.

…

“Pat DeWine recused himself from a case on whether to delay the state’s 2020 primary amid COVID-19, a decision made by Mike DeWine’s state health department.

…

“DeWine also recused himself from weighing in on whether Mike DeWine had the power to stop $300 in weekly federal unemployment benefits early.

…

“Pat DeWine said he stepped away from those cases out of an abundance of caution because Mike DeWine was the primary or exclusive decisionmaker.”

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Columbus, OH — According to a new NBC News report, two-time Senate loser Josh Mandel is putting Trump’s bogus Big Lie claims at the front-and-center of his campaign. 

Mandel has used his extreme position to attack the other GOP Senate candidates and is dragging them down the election fraud conspiracy rabbit hole. The Big Lie is the defining issue in Republican primary races around the country – and Mandel is doing his part to keep this conspiracy theory in the news in Ohio.  

“There is no bottom for Mandel, and his need to elevate this Trumpian lie puts pressure on every GOP Senate candidate to follow his extreme lead. Mandel will do or say anything to earn Trump’s endorsement and does not care about the consequences of lying about the results of an election in order to further his own political career, ” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Key points below: 

NBC News: Trump’s stolen election lie is on the ballot in 2022, thanks to these candidates

Jane C. Timm and Henry Gomez

October 16, 2021 

• “The single biggest issue — the issue that gets the most pull, the most respect, the biggest cheers — is talking about the election fraud of 2020’s presidential election,” Trump said last week at a rally in Iowa, again pushing the lie that a second term was stolen from him and that Joe Biden is not the legitimate president.
• “I’m the only candidate in this race who’s willing to stand up all over Ohio, and all over America, and say that I believe the election was stolen from Donald J. Trump,” Josh Mandel, a Republican Senate candidate in Ohio who has made the stolen election lie central to his campaign, told NBC News.
• “It’s the right thing to do for our country,” Mandel added, when asked if he worried his position might hurt him in a general election. “And I don’t care how it impacts me politically.”
• The dynamics could make GOP primaries particularly relevant next year. Steve Bannon, the former Trump adviser who hosts a podcast with a large right-wing audience, has described a candidate’s position on the 2020 election results as a “litmus test” for 2022.
• Mandel, a former state treasurer, also has called for 2020 election reviews in all 50 states, including Republican-controlled Ohio, which Trump won by 8 points. He downplayed the suggestion that, by questioning the validity of election results everywhere, he risks discouraging Republicans from voting.
• Trump himself has fed this uncertainty, raising doubts without evidence about whether future elections will be conducted fairly and sending mixed messages about whether Republicans should bother casting ballots.“If we don’t solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020, Republicans will not be voting in ʼ22 or ʼ24,” Trump said in an emailed statement Wednesday. “It is the single most important thing for Republicans to do.”

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