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COLUMBUS, OH — In case you missed it, the Columbus Dispatch today featured an op-ed from Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters setting the record straight on Allison Russo’s track record of fighting for working families and lobbyist Mike Carey’s record of fighting for Big Energy and special interests.

“Allison has a record of standing up for working families and is an independent voice in the Statehouse for her constituents: taking on corruption, fighting for women and families, and pushing to lower the cost of healthcare. Allison will always fight for what’s right for Ohioans, and she will work with anyone if they have good ideas to create good jobs in Ohio,” writes Chair Walters.

The Chair continues to outline the various ways Mike Carey is connected to the largest public corruption scandal in state history and details his long career lobbying for Big Energy.

“Carey’s a career lobbyist and political insider. Lying is like breathing for him. Mike Carey lied about his involvement with Householder’s HB6 scandal and is the wrong choice for Ohio’s 15th Congressional District,” writes Chair Walters.

Read the full op-ed here and more below:

• Allison Russo was raised in a small, working-class town by a single mom. She was the first in her family to go to college and spent her career helping folks get access to healthcare. Now, Allison’s a working mom of three, wife of a combat veteran, a State Representative, and most importantly — a good person. 
• Allison has a record of standing up for working families and is an independent voice in the Statehouse for her constituents: taking on corruption, fighting for women and families, and pushing to lower the cost of healthcare.
• Allison will always fight for what’s right for Ohioans, and she will work with anyone if they have good ideas to create good jobs in Ohio.
• Here’s the truth about Mike Carey.
• Carey spent decades as the top lobbyist for the infamous Murray Energy company, which was named as “Company B” in federal court documents in Larry Householder’s House Bill 6 (HB6) scandal — the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio history. 
• Federal investigators recently found that Murray Energy and other Ohio energy companies created a dark money slush fund to pass HB6 that would give them $150 million in taxpayer dollars each year.
• And as The Dispatch uncovered, Carey’s company “stood to benefit from” the passage of Householder’s corrupt House Bill and gave $100,000 to the dark money slush fund. 
• Carey initially denied any involvement in HB6, but an investigation caught Carey on emails discussing lobbyists’ plans to influence the bill.
• Mike Carey lied about his involvement with Householder’s HB6 scandal and is the wrong choice for Ohio’s 15th Congressional District. 

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Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters released the following statement to mark National Voter Registration Day. With so much at stake in upcoming elections — from the economy to infrastructure to healthcare — Ohio Democrats are urging eligible voters to exercise their fundamental right to vote, build on the progress that’s been made for working families in our state, and assure their voice is heard.

“Today, we’re encouraging Ohioans to visit IWillVote.com and make sure they’re registered to vote. Every Ohioan deserves to have their voice heard through the ballot box in elections ranging from their local school board to their president. With their vote, Ohioans can fight for fair districts, better wages and an economy that works for all of us. Ohio Democrats know democracy is at its strongest when it includes all of us and every vote is counted,” said Chair Walters.

Ohio Democrats are working nonstop to register voters on this holiday and every day, as we work to engage voters in every community throughout the state. According to 2020 U.S. Census data, as many as one in four eligible Americans are not registered to vote. This week the Ohio Democratic Party will encourage Ohioans to:

• Check their registration state and urge their family, friends and neighbors to do the same. 
• Use #NationalVoterRegistrationDay! And #VoteReady on social media to encourage Ohioans to register to vote.  

Ohioans can visit IWillVote.com to easily check registration status and learn about the voting process in Ohio.

First observed in 2012, National Voter Registration Day aims to create awareness of voter registration opportunities in Ohio and beyond. To date, nearly 4.5 million voters have registered to vote on the holiday alone.

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Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, in an interview with Jewish Insider yesterday, millionaire Matt Dolan took a shot at the rest of the GOP Senate field, saying, “my opponents all failed the very first test — that they’re going to follow politics before they follow what’s in the best interest of Ohio.” Dolan’s comments are just the latest example of Ohio Republicans running for Senate continuing to attack each other at all costs to win this crowded primary.  

Dolan also took a direct shot at Josh Mandel, saying, “And I have been very successful…without leaving a trail of destruction of personalities behind me.” When asked to clarify if he’s attacking Mandel, he said, “Yeah. I think tone and rhetoric is not a substitute for results and good policy.” 

Republicans’ infighting could hobble the party’s chances of winning the Senate race in 2022, according to a report from The Hill. This out-of-control primary is making conservatives “deeply worried” about the prospects of Republicans losing this seat – and Dolan is only adding fuel to the fire. 

“Once Dolan entered this messy and nasty Republican Senate primary, he joined the rest of the candidates in their never-ending race to the bottom. The only thing these GOP millionaires seem to care about is launching personal attacks at one another at the expense of Ohio voters,” said Michael Beyer, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

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September 24, 2021

Happy Friday and welcome to another edition of “Buckeye Brawl,” a weekly newsletter from the Ohio Democratic Party highlighting the nasty, chaotic, and expensive Republican primary for Senate. The 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. Here’s what you may have missed:

WHAT IF… DOLAN’S ENTRANCE WAS AN ATTACK ON THE ENTIRE FIELD? This crowded primary got even more crowded with the entrance of millionaire Matt Dolan into the GOP Senate primary. In his announcement video, Matt Dolan asks questions that slam the entire field. His video asks, “what if our next Senator didn’t pander about reducing government… but already did it?” Another question Dolan’s announcement video asks is what if Ohio’s next Senator “didn’t offer empty talk about boosting skilled trade…?” Who is Dolan referring to here – J.D. Vance, Josh Mandel, Jane Timken, Mike Gibbons, or Bernie Moreno? Or is he referring to all of them?

MANDEL MOCKS TIMKEN AND VANCE AMID GONZALEZ RETIREMENT. Josh Mandel decided to remind everyone of what Timken and Vance did after Anthony Gonzalez voted to impeach Trump. Josh Mandel skewered Timken, saying she was “pro-impeachment” and “having a candlelight vigil for her bud Anthony Gonzalez.” He mocked Timken, by sarcastically impersonating her, tweeting, “Um, do I need to change my pro-impeachment stance now? Or should I poll it first?”And he lambasted J.D. Vance, claiming Vance had been “completely silent on Gonzalez’s vote to impeach Trump.”

BUT TIMKEN ALLIES SAY JOSH MANDEL IS “THE DEFINITION OF A FRAUD.” Responding to Mandel’s tweet mocking Timken, Timken ally Bernard Kerik flew to her defense, tweeting, “Josh Mandel is the definition of a fraud.” Timken Communications Director Mandi Merritt boosted Kerik’s tweet. Timken ally Kerik wasn’t finished attacking Josh Mandel though, tweeting, “You [Mandel] were anti-Trump then, and faking it today. You need to stop.” Yikes, these candidates can’t stop lambasting each other over who is the Trumpiest candidate.

VANCE SHADES TIMKEN OVER CHINA? In an interview with Spectrum News, J.D. Vance was asked what makes him different from the rest of the crowded Republican Senate field and seems to take a dig at Timken, saying, “So you know, we have for the past 30 years and this has unfortunately been a bipartisan decision, shipped a large amount of our manufacturing base off to China.” As a reminder, Timken’s family steel company grew operations in China while they cut jobs in Ohio.

A “NEVER TRUMPER” FORMER CNN EMPLOYEE. Following a report from CNN, Josh Mandel took the opportunity to go after J.D. Vance, saying “JD Vance’s former employer CNN is attacking me. CNN and J.D. Vance are Never-Trumpers of the worst kind.”

TRUMP DENIGRATES DOLAN ON DAY ONE. Not even a day into his Senate campaign, Dolan found himself on the receiving end of a scathing Trump statement. Trump scorched Dolan for his family’s baseball team changing their name and said, “In any event, I know of at least one person in the race who I won’t be endorsing. The Republican Party has too many RINOs!” Mike Gibbons joined in, slamming Dolan in a tweet, saying, “President Trump is 100% right. Go Tribe!”

MORENO STARTS MILLIONAIRE FAMILY FEUD. Following Trump’s lead, millionaire Bernie Moreno decided to add more salt to Dolan’s wound. Moreno revealed that he offered $1 billion to Matt Dolan’s family in order to prevent the name change of the family’s baseball team. Moreno echoed Trump, saying the name change was a “classic example of the kind of cancel culture woke-ism that’s affecting our nation.” Welcome to the nastiest Senate primary in the country, Matt!

WHO HAS REALLY CREATED JOBS IN THIS FIELD OF MILLIONAIRES? Bernie Moreno swiped at the entire Republican field’s record on job creation, saying, “I’m the only candidate in this race who has a successful track record of creating jobs and putting Ohioans first.” Mike Gibbons Senior Advisor Michael Biundo wasn’t having it and simply replied, “Fact: LOL.” Moreno responded, “Political consultant and Twitter troll: where are most of your client’s employees? Chicago or Cleveland? Maybe you should have asked that question.” I’ll let this terrible GIF response speak for itself.

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 — Today, the Ohio Democratic Party released the following statement on the resignation of Dan McCarthy, Mike DeWine’s Legislative Director with deep ties to FirstEnergy and connections to the largest public corruption scandal in state history. McCarthy worked as a FirstEnergy lobbyist and helped found Partners for Progress, a dark money group that FirstEnergy funneled money through to politicians they were trying to secure the support of as part of the scandal.

“The end of Dan McCarthy’s time in state government is long past due, but this is only the beginning. The connections between Mike DeWine and the largest public corruption scheme in state history continue to deepen, and he can’t hide behind staff and continue to duck accountability. He must provide a full accounting of what he knew about the $60 million bribery scheme and when, and give Ohio voters the transparency they deserve,” 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 DeWine is connected to the scandal, including top-level staff with direct ties to the scandal that DeWine continues to stand behind. DeWine has tried to avoid answering questions on his ties to the scandal and what he knew and when, but Ohio voters deserve full transparency and accountability.

DeWine’s chief of staff, Laurel Dawson, has admitted to knowing about a $4.3 million payment to Sam Randazzo and hiding this fact from DeWine for several weeks. Dawson had also pushed for Randazzo to be nominated as Chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, ignoring concerns raised about his close ties to the industry and the possibility of his corruption.

The connections between DeWine and the scandal run deeper, however, as he also took more than one hundred thousand dollars from FirstEnergy and even more from executives tied to the scandal. He also took part in a private meeting with FirstEnergy executives in both Oct. 2018 and Dec. 2018, two meetings which he has not discussed the contents of publicly. He also solicited campaign donations for his daughter’s Greene County Prosecutor’s race, and appointed individuals directly connected to the HB 6 scandal to high-level state positions, including Michael Dowling, a former FirstEnergy VP, and Matt Borges and Juan Cespedes, both of whom were charged in the case.

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