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Columbus, OH — The Mike DeWine administration is charging Ohioans for an ongoing state scandal as corruption at DeWine’s statehouse continues to hurt Ohio families directly. After it was uncovered that the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services hid massive amounts of unemployment fraud and overpayments, the state of Ohio is currently demanding Ohioans pay back overpayments made because of mistakes made by the state.

For example, WEWS Cleveland reports this week that Ohioan Brandy Hunt is being charged $7,000 because of the scandal. “This money is life and death,” Hunt said. “It’s not fair and it’s not right.”

“Once again, Ohioans are left footing the bill for corruption scandals tied to Mike DeWine. Ohioans shouldn’t be punished for ongoing incompetence and corruption in DeWine’s administration. Mike DeWine has the power to waive these unfair penalties — he should do so now and then explain why this scandal was hidden from the public for so long,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

While Democratic lawmaker Jeffrey Crossman (D-Parma) has introduced legislation to waive these unemployment penalties, the Republican-controlled legislature has not taken action since the bill was introduced in March.

The unemployment scandal is just the latest in a long line of scandals connected to Mike DeWine that Ohioans are paying the price for. Ohio Democrats introduced legislation earlier this week to expel Larry Householder, the alleged ringleader of a $60 million bribery scheme to raise the cost of Ohioans’ energy bills. Ohioans continue to pay for both the bribery scheme and Larry Householder’s salary, while Mike DeWine looks the other way.

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Columbus, OH — Today, Senate Republicans played politics with our national security and blocked legislation that would create an independent, nonpartisan commission to investigate the January 6 attack on our nation. The effort to block the commission had wide support from Ohio Republicans. The House passed the legislation last week with only two of 11 Ohio Republicans voting in favor of the commission and the other nine voting to sweep the attack under the rug.

And as soon as the House passed the legislation establishing a bipartisan committee to investigate the attack, GOP Senate candidates Josh Mandel and Bernie Moreno took to Twitter to publicly oppose the commission.

“Despite Republicans wanting to look the other way, Ohioans deserve to know what happened on January 6th and why. Keeping Ohioans and Americans safe shouldn’t be political. Ohio Republicans opposing this commonsense, independent commission are further perpetuating the Big Lie and are also playing politics with our national security in order to please one man: Donald Trump,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

The January 6 commission was established following a bipartisan compromise between House Democrats and Republicans. The commission would be modeled after the successful 9/11 Commission and would comprise five Republicans and five Democrats.

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Columbus, OH — As President Biden visits Cleveland today to talk about his investments in working families, it’s the latest reminder that Ohio Republicans are increasingly isolated in their opposition to his popular plans to build back better from the pandemic. 

President Biden comes to Ohio today enjoying high marks for both his presidency as a whole and the American Rescue, American Jobs, and American Families Plans that have defined his early domestic agenda. Poll after poll has suggested that a remarkably steady majority of Americans approve of the Biden presidency. Nationally, sizable majorities have shown support for the Rescue Plan, Jobs Plan, and Families Plan, when asked about them together or separately. 

It’s no surprise that the Biden agenda is popular nationwide. After all: 

• The American Rescue Plan, passed in March, is putting shots in arms, delivering checks of up to $1,400 to nearly nine out of every ten adults in the state, and lifting 132,000 Ohio kids out of poverty through the expanded Child Tax Credit.
• The American Jobs Plan would help fix over 1,375 bridges in Ohio in need of repair, spend over $200 billion on housing to help the more than 680,000 Ohioans who are spending more than a third of their income on rent, and rebuild and modernize Ohio manufacturing.
• The American Families Plan would provide affordable child care for more than 253,000 Ohio children under 5 and their parents, make the child tax credit permanent, and reverse Ohio’s disastrous 30 percent decline in new teacher supply. 

Despite all of this, however, not a single Ohio Republican in Congress seems interested in either good policy or good politics, and continues to oppose the Biden agenda. Not a single Ohio Republican voted for the American Rescue Plan this spring, and every republican on record has said they would not vote for the American Jobs or Families Plans. Senator Rob Portman said he would not vote for the bill and even tried to compare it unfavorably to the 2017 GOP tax giveaway, which has been panned by non-partisan analysts. 

Ohio Republican candidates have also been outspoken in their opposition to the American Rescue Plan, which enjoys wide, bipartisan support across the state. Jane Timken publicly stated she would have voted against the measure and has said about the bill, “we have to stand up and fight against this,” while Josh Mandel attacked provisions in the bill that would protect pensions for thousands of Ohio retirees and workers.

“Ohio voters support the historic investments in our economy President Biden is advocating for today because they know that’s the road to a strong, sustainable future,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. “Yet Ohio Republicans are putting partisanship over people and digging in their heels against what Ohioans want. With the President in Cleveland today, it’s time for us all to join together and make these smart, popular bills a reality.”

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Columbus, OH — Following House passage of legislation that would create an independent, nonpartisan commission to investigate the January 6 attack on our nation, the Senate is expected to vote on the bill this week. Josh Mandel being Josh Mandel, immediately opposed the commission and Bernie Moreno quickly followed suit.

But Ohio voters deserve to know: do Jane Timken, J.D. Vance and Mike Gibbons support the commission? Or do they also want to sweep a terrorist attack under the rug and pretend it never happened?  

“While baffling that support of the Jan. 6 commission is even a question that needs asking, Ohio voters deserve to know where their Senate candidates stand on this issue of national security. Will their fealty to Trump override their desire to do what’s best for our country?” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

The January 6 commission was established following a bipartisan compromise between House Democrats and Republicans. The commission would be modeled after the successful 9/11 Commission and would comprise five Republicans and five Democrats. 

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Columbus, OH — The Ohio Democratic Party released the following statement today applauding a resolution introduced by Democratic lawmakers to expel disgraced former Speaker Larry Householder from the Ohio House of Representatives. Householder was arrested nearly a year ago as the alleged ringleader of a $60 million bribery scheme to raise the cost of Ohioans’ energy bills.

The corruption scandal has been called 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.

“Larry Householder doesn’t deserve to collect another cent from Ohio taxpayers. While Mike DeWine and Bob Cupp look the other way, today’s resolution by Democratic lawmakers to expel him from the House is the kind of leadership Ohioans are looking for. It’s past time we clean up corruption and focus on the needs of Ohio voters rather than those of special interests and wealthy donors,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

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