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In Case You Missed It, the Toledo Blade reported today that thanks to the American Rescue Plan, more jobs are coming to northwest Ohio. Forty jobs are coming to Bryan, Ohio as Spangler Candy Company moves production of Bit-O-Honey to the Buckeye state. Spangler President Bill Martin directly attributed the new jobs to the American Rescue Plan and the multiemployer pension fix that was included in the package, a provision that was led by Ohio Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Yet, GOP Senate candidates in Ohio continue to oppose the measure. Josh Mandel has attacked the pension provision of the American Rescue Plan specifically, while Jane Timken has publicly stated she would have voted against the measure and has said about the bill, “we have to stand up and fight against this.”

“Today’s news out of Bryan is just another example of how out of touch candidates like Josh Mandel and Jane Timken are with the needs of Ohio workers. As they attack the American Rescue Plan to score political points, the package continues creating jobs for our state and putting more money in the pockets of Ohioans,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Read more HERE and below:

• Spangler Candy Co., which acquired classic candy Bit-O-Honey last November from Pearson’s Candy Co. of St. Paul, said it will move production of the roasted almond and honey treat to its facility in Bryan in the first half of 2022, creating 40 jobs.
• “With the many challenges we have all faced in the past year, we are excited for this opportunity to add more jobs to Bryan and provide a boost to our local economy,” he added.
• Meanwhile, the company said that unionized production, maintenance, warehouse, and sanitation workers at Spangler have ratified a new contract that runs through February, 2025, and includes the West Campus facility. Workers at Spangler have been represented by Teamsters Local 20 since 1959.
• Mr. Martin said the ability to move Bit-O-Honey production to Bryan was aided by a solution to the multiemployer pension plan crisis. The government’s American Rescue Plan Act, approved by Congress in March, resolved the problem.
• “The multi-employer pension crisis has been a roadblock to any expansion at Spangler for several years,” Mr. Martin said. “The Bit-O-Honey move will help our employees, our company, and our community in a big way.”

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Columbus, OH — Last week, statehouse Republicans formally introduced regressive, anti-voter legislation that would take Ohio backward in the fight for voting rights in our state. The legislation builds on bills passed in Georgia and Florida that place more burdens on voters and includes confusing language that could discourage Ohioans from voting.

All of this represents a solution in search of a problem, as even Republicans Jon Husted and Frank LaRose have admitted that voter fraud is ‘exceedingly rare,’ making it clear that the introduction of this legislation is purely political.

Read more about this harmful bill below:

Ohio Capital Journal: Commentary: Voting Is Already Safe And Secure. Ohio’s New Bill Makes Voting More Difficult.

“GOP lawmakers, who acknowledge that Ohio has had ‘good clean elections without controversy,’ insist election bills are routine affairs to make the voting process more secure. Bull. This is not about building on past successes. This is about pulling back, eliminating early, in-person voting the Monday before Election Day, removing a week that Ohioans used to apply for a mail ballot, requiring two forms of ID, instead of one, for online absentee ballot requests. These are hoops to jump through that discourage voting, not encourage it. That’s how you suppress voter engagement.

“2020 was a testament to the endurance of free and fair elections run by the book. We don’t need to restore confidence in the voting process. We need to vigorously protect it from politicians consumed with keeping power who are willing to disenfranchise Ohio voters, based on a lie, to that end.”

Cincinnati.com: Ohio GOP lawmakers propose election changes, limiting drop boxes and allowing online ballot requests

“The proposal would also limit drop boxes for mail-in ballots to 10 days before Election Day instead of the entire early voting period. Each county board of elections could have three receptacles on their premises.

“Boards could have one drop box for the entire early voting period during a pandemic or emergency.

“Some Ohio counties, including Hamilton and Cuyahoga, have used drop boxes for years. Ohio lawmakers approved the use of drop boxes during the COVID-19 pandemic when Ohio’s primary shifted to mail ballots rather than in-person voting. Several judges ruled that Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose was allowed to set rules on how drop boxes were used, but he deferred to lawmakers.”

Dayton Daily News: Ohio Republicans to introduce debated 12-point voting legislation: What it would do

“The measure would also tighten voter ID requirements, limit drop boxes to election board premises and erase early voting the day before an election, steps which some Democrats oppose. State Rep. Willis Blackshear Jr., D-Dayton, said he opposes doing away with early in-person voting on the Monday before elections following a weekend in which campaigns typically make a final blitz.

‘“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” said Blackshear, who worked at the Montgomery County Board of Elections before voters sent him to the Statehouse.

“While any day before an election can be chaotic, Blackshear said early voting wrapped up at 2 p.m.

‘“I felt like we were able to manage it,” he said. “I don’t see why we need to take that out all of a sudden. It’s worked very well for us these last years.”’

Huffington Post: Ohio Becomes The Latest State To Introduce A Major Voter Suppression Bill

“The Ohio House bill would limit the number of drop boxes to just one location per county, and that location can have up to three drop boxes. It would also allow drop boxes to be used only in the 10 days leading up to Election Day, a huge decrease from last year when Ohio voters had 30 days to return their ballot via drop box. 

“Those boxes would also only be allowed outside of the county Board of Elections offices, hindering voters who don’t live near the offices and don’t have easy access to transportation. Such voters would have to find other ways to return their ballots.

“In addition to the drop box changes, the bill would impose new restrictions on voter registrations and absentee voting, including limiting what kind of mail-in ballots can be “cured” ― the process of fixing small mistakes made by voters on their ballots so that the votes can count. HB 294 would also move the absentee ballot request deadline up seven days and eliminate in-person absentee voting on the Monday before Election Day.”

American Independent: Ohio is the latest state to try to restrict early voting

“Like many of the pieces of legislation that have either passed state legislatures or are moving toward passage, H.B. 294 targets absentee ballots as well as early in-person voting, two voting methods Trump railed against and has demanded Republicans limit in future elections. The Ohio House bill would slash the number of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state to just one per county and cut the number of days voters have to drop ballots off from 30 down to just 10. The bill would also eliminate the Monday before Election Day as an early in-person voting day.”  

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Columbus, OH — When Mike DeWine was asked last week about two votes by Ohio Republicans to censure Republican Congressman Anthony Gonzalez and to call for his resignation, DeWine responded only: “I have no comment about it. I’ve already expressed what I thought. I’m not going to say it anymore.”

Earlier this year, DeWine offered a full defense of Gonzalez, saying: “He was voting his conscience. He made that call. That was his decision. I think he’s been a good member of Congress. He should not resign.”

DeWine’s shift is a move of political desperation as he faces internal attacks and the prospect of a messy primary. DeWine, lacking the courage and the power to stand up to members of his own party, now finds himself in a weak position and scrambling to find a base of supporters.

“Ohioans expect their leaders to have the moral courage to stand up for what’s right, even when it’s the tough thing to do. Instead, Mike DeWine is on the retreat, putting his own political interests above all else. To Ohio voters looking for strong leadership, DeWine’s ‘no comment’ speaks volumes,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Expect to see a more dramatic shift from DeWine over the coming weeks and months, as Republicans continue to reject his agenda and speak out publicly against him. And his rightward shift will make him no friends with Democrats and Independents, leaving DeWine in a tenuous position as he looks ahead to the 2022 election.

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In Case You Missed It, today the Columbus Dispatch reported that the HB 6 bribery scandal led by Ohio Republicans is the ‘biggest open investigation in any Statehouse in America.’ The ongoing case has connections to high-level Ohio Republicans and continues to harm Ohioans, as taxpayers remain on the hook for bailouts linked to the bribery scheme. Meanwhile, the ringleader of the HB 6 scandal remains in office, collecting a taxpayer salary while Ohio Republicans look the other way.

“The House Bill 6 case may be charting new ground in public corruption prosecutions by alleging that dark money – undisclosed political money that is common in campaigns and advocacy – was used as bribe money,” writes Laura Bischoff.

As FBI Special Agent Matthew DeBlauw agent remarked: “This case is in a league of its own.”

And the bribery scandal is just the latest in a long list of corruption by Ohio Republicans that includes the ECOT scandal, which left Ohio taxpayers out millions of dollars because of the fraud perpetrated by the failed charter school with strong ties to Republican politicians, and the FBI investigation of former Speaker Cliff Rosenberger.

Read Bischoff’s article HERE and more below:

• Ohio’s public corruption case involving $61 million in bribes in exchange for a $1.3 billion bailout is the biggest open investigation in any Statehouse in America — surpassing a similar scandal in Illinois and two closed-out cases in New York.
• The Ohio case involves big money, a Fortune 500 company, top political leaders, 4.5 million electricity customers across the state and the suicide death of a defendant.
• “Historically, I haven’t seen anything like it,” said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Matthew DeBlauw, who leads the public corruption squad in Columbus. “This case is in a league of its own.”
• Public corruption watchdogs told the USA Today Network Ohio that the House Bill 6 case, an open investigation against another previous House speaker and several city-level cases, catapults Ohio ahead of the pack.
• “The whole thing is amazing in scope. It’s incredible,” said Todd Wickerham, former FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Cincinnati office.
• In July 2020, the undercover case went public with the arrests of Ohio House speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matt Borges, lobbyists Neil Clark and Juan Cespedes and political strategist Jeff Longstreth. Householder and Borges have pleaded not guilty; Cespedes and Longstreth pleaded guilty in October; Clark died by suicide in March.
• The House Bill 6 case may be charting new ground in public corruption prosecutions by alleging that dark money – undisclosed political money that is common in campaigns and advocacy – was used as bribe money.
• “The old bread and butter corruption for the bureau was a cash in the pocket kind of thing,” DeBlauw said. “This is a much more advanced potential form of bribery. It’s an avenue for bribery.”
• Hoffman said a common denominator in corruption cases is greed. Householder allegedly used about $422,000 of the $60 million to pay off credit card debts, pay a legal settlement and fix a Florida condo, according to the FBI criminal complaint.
• “He definitely personally benefited but what I think is fascinating about some of these big, complex cases is some of the guys don’t need the money as much as they want the power,” Hoffman said. “In order to have that power base, elections cost money, having friends elected into positions of power, all that costs money.”

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In Case You Missed It, today Cincinnati.com columnist Jason Williams took the Ohio Republican Party to task for its division, dysfunction and hypocrisy as the party voted yesterday to censure Anthony Gonzalez and called for his resignation. This is just the latest episode of GOP party infighting that stoops lower and lower to appease one Florida resident while doing nothing to help the voters of Ohio.

“It’s a screwed up world where Northeast Ohio Congressman Anthony Gonzalez is the bad guy for voting his conscience. And nutjobs like Jim Jordan, blowhards like Matt Gaetz, lunatics like Marjorie Taylor Greene and phony Trump sellouts like Josh Mandel get a pass from within their own party. In fact, these losers are celebrated by today’s Republican Party,” writes Williams.

Williams’ column follows a day of GOP Twitter sniping between two candidates vying to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate over which one had more cred with said Florida resident, and a refusal from Mike DeWine, the top elected Republican in the state, to even comment on the situation. All of this while Larry Householder remains a member of the Ohio House of Representatives.

The entire column is worth a read, but this line from Williams sums it up well: “There’s more Ohio GOP embarrassment and hypocrisy to be exposed, so please bear with me a bit longer.”

Read the column HERE and more snippets below:

• It’s a screwed up world where Northeast Ohio Congressman Anthony Gonzalez is the bad guy for voting his conscience. And nutjobs like Jim Jordan, blowhards like Matt Gaetz, lunatics like Marjorie Taylor Greene and phony Trump sellouts like Josh Mandel get a pass from within their own party. In fact, these losers are celebrated by today’s Republican Party.
• You may not have thought it possible, but the Ohio Republican Party sunk deeper into the dark valley of Trumpism when its leaders on Friday called on Gonzalez to resign and voted to censure one of Congress’ more virtuous members.
• It’s an incredibly harsh punishment for the 36-year-old Gonzalez, who’s in his second term. Gosh, what awful thing did he do? Did Gonzalez orchestrate a $60 million bribery scheme or something serious like that? No, no, no. The Ohio GOP only gives wrist slaps for that kind of stuff. 
• Instead, the party that constantly whines about “cancel culture” would rather banish Anthony Gonzalez – and anyone else who dares not to fall in lockstep with the washed-up ex-president. So much for being the party of promoting independent thought, I guess.
• Gov. Mike DeWine, who I greatly respect, declined comment Friday when asked about what party leaders did to Gonzalez. DeWine thinks saying nothing will make it go away.
• All Republicans – the good ones, the bad ones, the silent ones – will regret all this someday. Their actions are driving good people out of Washington.

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