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Columbus, OH — Frank LaRose’s partisan political hypocrisy is once more on display for all to see. LaRose continues to try to claim credit for a successful 2020 election while also supporting a bill that would attack the voting methods that made the election a success, including dropboxes, early voting and absentee voting. The bill — HB 294 — is a wink and a nod to the Big Lie, part of a nationwide effort to appease the failed blogger from Florida in a direct attack on Ohioans’ right to vote.

And LaRose will always put his political ambitions above the needs of Ohio voters. He is pushing this bill to shore up his political support, especially now that he has a primary challenger. It was never about election integrity at all, and Ohio media is starting to call him out on it.

As LaRose tried to brag yesterday once again about the success of the 2020 election, Darrel Rowland from the Columbus Dispatch tweeted: “Guess that means we should rip it up and add a bunch of new restrictions, huh?”

LaRose cannot continue to try to spin both the 2020 election and the harmful GOP anti-voter bill in his favor, he must be forced to answer how future elections will be made more secure by directly attacking Ohioans’ right to vote. And he must be held accountable for continuing to talk about election integrity while sharing a stage with Jim Jordan, one of the leading proponents of the Big Lie, and sitting by silently as his fellow Republicans like Josh Mandel and Jane Timken call the results of the 2020 election into question and promote false claims.

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Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, Ohio Capital Journal wrote today about more shady dealings involving Mike DeWine, even as he finds himself embroiled in the biggest public corruption scandal in state history.

Marty Schalden writes about DeWine’s recent move to restart a major contract with Centene — a company responsible for defrauding Ohio taxpayers out of millions of dollars — after the company hired one of DeWine’s buddies to lobby for them. Earlier this year, Centene paid a more than $80 million settlement over claims the company defrauded the state’s Medicaid program out of tens of millions of dollars. But once the company hired DeWine’s longtime friend, the company once again secured a lucrative state contract.

“So you might think — especially heading into a tough election year — that DeWine would want to avoid any appearance of impropriety or special dealing. But it turns out that Centene hired an old friend of the governor to lobby on its behalf just as Yost’s lawsuit was about to be filed,” writes Schalden.

And, as is par for the course for DeWine and his Administration, they’re not answering any questions about the shady dealings, thinking that if they just continue to ignore these scandals, they’ll go away on their own. But Ohio voters deserve answers and Ohio Democrats are going to continue to push for them.

“It’s hard to keep up with all of the corruption scandals Mike DeWine finds himself at the center of. DeWine’s statehouse is mired in bribery schemes, shady dealings involving multi-million dollar contracts for friends of the governor and the biggest public corruption scandal in state history. Ohioans deserve answers, and while DeWine seems to believe he’s above the rules, Ohio Democrats won’t stop pushing for them until DeWine is held accountable,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Read more from Ohio Capital Journal HERE and below:

• The administration of Gov. Mike DeWine had just restarted a massive contract with Centene Corp. Only six months earlier, Attorney General Dave Yost agreed to accept $88.3 million from the company to settle claims that it had defrauded the state’s Medicaid program of tens of millions of dollars. 
• DeWine was already embroiled in a historic energy scandal in which his appointee to the state’s utility regulator took what Yost called a $4.3 million bribe and did favors worth hundreds of millions to FirstEnergy, the company that paid it, the company and federal prosecutors said in a deferred prosecution agreement. It was part of a broader conspiracy to pass a $1.3 billion bailout law that DeWine signed.
• So you might think — especially heading into a tough election year — that DeWine would want to avoid any appearance of impropriety or special dealing.
• But it turns out that Centene hired an old friend of the governor to lobby on its behalf just as Yost’s lawsuit was about to be filed.
• Kiggin and DeWine’s spokesman didn’t respond to questions for this story — including whether it’s proper for an old, close friend of DeWine to hire himself out to big corporations to lobby the governor on their behalf. But it’s clear that Kiggin  and DeWine go back.
• As with Kiggin and DeWine, Centene won’t say what DeWine’s friend did on the corporate dime. But Kiggin was on the Centene payroll during the critical period in March when, just after Yost accused the company of massive fraud, the state Medicaid department suspended a contract it was negotiating with Centene’s subsidiary for 2022.
• In addition to Kiggin, Neidorff and Centene have paid some others connected to DeWine.

• They include Dan McCarthy, who is now DeWine’s legislative affairs director. In 2018, while he was still president of the lobbying firm the Success Group, McCarthy was registered to represent Centene.
• Now two of McCarthy’s former Success Group colleagues — Mike Toman and Anthony Aquillo — continue to lobby the DeWine administration on Centene’s behalf. 

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Columbus, OH — New reports from the Columbus Dispatch and Cleveland.com reveal Republican U.S. Senate candidates’ “eye-popping” financial disclosures from a field full of out-of-touch multi-millionaires. 

“No matter which country club elitist emerges from this nasty primary, the Ohio GOP will be stuck with an out-of-touch multi-millionaire who puts their wealthy self-interest ahead of working Ohioans. Instead of focusing on building good-paying jobs and fixing our infrastructure, all of the Ohio GOP Senate candidates have made it clear their priorities are lining their pockets and not Ohio families said Michael Beyer, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Read more below:

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Republicans running for U.S. Senate are millionaires, disclosures show

• The real estate, business assets, investment portfolios and paychecks of Republicans who want to represent Ohioans in the U.S. Senate are nothing short of eye-popping.
• Bernie Moreno has a place in the Bahamas worth between $5 million and $25 million. He also has a yacht worth between $500,000 and $1 million, condos in Washington, D.C. and New York and houses in Columbus and Florida, according to Moreno’s financial disclosure statement.
• Jane Timken and her husband own a 699-acre farm near Canton and have vast stock and bond holdings, Timken’s 65-page report shows. Jane Timken’s investments are worth between $2 million and $4.8 million while her husband’s holdings are valued between $30.3 million and $55.8 million and the couple has between $5.1 million and $10.8 million invested on behalf of their two adult children. Timken reported no liabilities.
• Former state treasurer Josh Mandel reported he made $839,571 between Jan. 1, 2020 and May 15, 2021, plus he cashed out his Ohio Public Employees Retirement System account for a $205,413 windfall. He also liquidated stock holdings and poured more than $1 million into his bank accounts. Mandel paid off his only liability – a self-issued loan for the purchase of his home – in March 2021.
• Mike Gibbons’ financial holdings are so complex that he had to hire an accounting firm to prepare the report, according to his campaign. Gibbons’ attorneys told the Senate Ethics Committee that the campaign of the Cleveland businessman expects to file the report within 30 days.

Cleveland.com: Ohio U.S. Senate candidates disclose personal net worth, and most are millionaires

• All three candidates seeking the Republican nomination who filed financial disclosure statements this week — former Ohio treasurer Josh Mandel, former Ohio Republican Party chairman Jane Timken and Cleveland luxury car dealer Bernie Moreno — are millionaires, the disclosures show.
• This week’s filings offered the first detailed look at the personal finances of Moreno and Timken, who both are wealthy first-time candidates and are capable of self-funding a campaign. Each disclosed tens of millions of dollars in household assets, as well as millions in household income during the most recent filing period. The vast majority of Timken’s assets are owned by her husband, Tim Timken, whose family founded prominent manufacturing businesses that carry the family name. Moreno’s assets, which included commercial real estate, a boat and a vacation home in the Bahamas, were partially offset by at least $13 million in business loans.
• Mandel, meanwhile, disclosed at least $2.2 million in assets, although that number was boosted by at least $775,000 in three 529 college savings accounts for his children. Mandel, who left the public sector at the end of 2018 after eight years as state treasurer, disclosed more than $1 million in income, which includes a $205,000 cash-out of state pension, with the rest coming from corporate board positions.
• Mike Gibbons, a Cleveland investment banker who is funding his campaign through a $5.7 million personal loan, still hasn’t filed a required financial disclosure form that was due in May. And, unlike other candidates in the race, he hasn’t formally requested an extension. The campaign recently paid a $200 late fine and plans to compile something within the next 30 days, David Warrington, Gibbons’ attorney, said in an Aug. 12 letter to the Senate ethics committee.
• Timken reported one source of personal income last year: the $189,615 she made running the Ohio Republican Party, a job she quit to run for the U.S. Senate earlier this year. But her financial disclosure was much more voluminous, totaling dozens of pages detailing hundreds of holdings in cash, as well as stocks, bonds and other business interests. Timken’s household assets ranged in value from about $40 million to about $72 million. Of that, $2.2 million to $5.2 million in assets were held by her personally.
• Moreno reported household assets worth $20.3 million to $93.1 million, a wide range attributable to several commercial real estate developments he owns in the Cleveland area, each worth $1 million to $5 million, as well as a home in the Bahamas worth $5 million to $25 million.
• Moreno and his wife, Bridget, also reported owning condos in Washington, D.C., New York City and Columbus. Bernie Moreno, an enthusiast of the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrency, reported from $100,000 to $250,000 of bitcoin. And, Moreno owns a boat worth $500,000 to $1 million.
• He [Mandel] reported owning assets worth $2.1 million to $7.5 million, most of which was contained in several brokerage accounts, and at least $750,000 of which was split between three college-savings accounts for his children. Mandel also reported owning an interest in LiftCamp, a Beachwood technology company where he serves as CEO, worth $100,000 to $250,000.

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Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, in Ohio Capital Journal today, Mike DeWine continued to stand by disgraced former PUCO Chair Sam Randazzo, even after Randazzo is under investigation by the FBI and all but confirmed to have taken a $4.3 million bribe from FirstEnergy. DeWine appointed Randazzo to serve as Chair of PUCO despite several warnings — even from fellow Republicans — about Randazzo’s ties to the energy industry.

“But even with the admissions from a utility that said it was coming clean and paying $230 million in fines, DeWine Press Secretary Dan Tierney wouldn’t say that the governor regretted hiring Randazzo as PUCO chairman,” writes Marty Schladen for Ohio Capital Journal. 

It’s just the latest example of DeWine standing by Randazzo and the rest of his team with ties to the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio history. Immediately following Randazzo’s resignation, DeWine said Randazzo did “very, very good work as chair” and called him “a good person.” DeWine has also refused to fire Laurel Dawson, who knew about the payment to Randazzo, and Dan McCarthy, who founded a dark-money group that FirstEnergy funneled money through as part of the scandal. 

“While Ohioans wait for answers, Mike DeWine continues to hide behind his staff and refuse to hold anyone in his orbit accountable for the largest public corruption scandal in state history. Ohioans deserve accountability and they deserve transparency. It’s far past time for Mike DeWine to tell us what he knew and when,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Read more from Ohio Capital Journal HERE and below: 

• A huge Ohio utility paid Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s pick to be the state’s top utility regulator millions and the regulator, Sam Randazzo, proceeded to do favors for the utility that were worth at least hundreds of millions, the utility and federal prosecutors have said.
• But more than a year into one of the biggest public-corruption scandals in Ohio history, the governor’s staff won’t say that DeWine regrets hiring Randazzo in the first place.
• When the scandal broke last July, then-House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford and four associates were charged in what prosecutors said was “likely the largest bribery and money-laundering scheme ever in the state of Ohio.” 
• It said that Randazzo was paid $22 million over the years under a consulting agreement with FirstEnergy — including $4.3 million just weeks before DeWine appointed him as chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Ohio. The agreement also quoted from text messages in which former FirstEnergy executives discuss the payment with Randazzo and in which Randazzo tells them, “you guys are welcome anytime and any whereI [sic] can open the door.”
• Despite the fact that Randazzo was supposed to be a neutral regulator, the deferred prosecution agreement said he helped write a provision in the bailout legislation that was worth $102 million a year for FirstEnergy and he helped delay a 2024 rate review so that the subsidy would remain in place after that.
• But even with the admissions from a utility that said it was coming clean and paying $230 million in fines, DeWine Press Secretary Dan Tierney wouldn’t say that the governor regretted hiring Randazzo as PUCO chairman.
• The governor has also been reluctant to criticize others in his orbit who figure in the bailout scandal.
• Randazzo has said Laurel Dawson helped recruit him to be a PUCO commissioner. Later, as DeWine’s chief of staff, she learned of the $4.3 million payment by FirstEnergy to Randazzo last October. But she didn’t tell DeWine for two-and-a-half weeks and only then after the FBI had raided Randazzo’s condo, according to the administration.
• The governor also has confidence in Dan McCarthy, who as a FirstEnergy lobbyist founded Partners for Progress, a dark money group that Acting U.S. Attorney Vipal J. Patel said was essential to carrying out the bailout conspiracy.

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Columbus, OH — A new report from Cleveland.com gets every Ohio Republican U.S. Senate candidate on record trashing the bipartisan infrastructure deal that the senator they’re all vying to replace — Senator Rob Portman — helped to negotiate. The continued infighting among Republicans shows how messy this primary will continue to be as each candidate tries to out-Trump each other in a race to the bottom, leaving Ohio voters and their interests behind. These candidates will go so far as to oppose the legislation, supported by a majority of Americans, that would create good-paying jobs right here in Ohio just to appease Donald Trump and advance their own political agenda. 

“Each of these Republican candidates is only concerned about one job — their own. These candidates would rather play politics than support an infrastructure deal that will create jobs for working Ohioans, invest in Ohio communities and keep our state moving forward. It’s just the latest example of why these Republican politicians can’t be trusted to look out for anyone’s interests but their own,” said Michael Beyer, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

The bipartisan infrastructure deal would grow Ohio’s businesses by investing in roads, bridges, public transit, and broadband and help us compete with countries like China.

Read more from Cleveland.com HERE and below:

• The leading candidates in Ohio’s Republican U.S. Senate primary all have issued statements trashing the bipartisan infrastructure bill that Portman spent months negotiating and which passed the Senate Tuesday in a 69-30 vote, including support from 19 Republicans. 
• They instead sided with Trump, who had been openly urging Republicans to vote against the bill, warning that Democrats would use it to their advantage at election time.
• Polling has shown the bill to be popular with the American public, with Quinnipiac University finding last week that 65% of respondents supported it, although 54% of Republicans said they opposed it.
• He [Portman] said the bill will bring Ohio $9.8 billion for federal-aid highway assistance, including $483 million of formula funds for bridge replacements, as well as funding for mass transit and broadband internet.
• Portman issued a statement Tuesday with Republican and Democratic senators who led negotiations on the bill describing the legislation in grandiose terms, calling it a “historic victory for the American people” that will “modernize and upgrade our roads, bridges, ports, and other key infrastructure assets.”

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