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Meltdown Comes As Gibbons Meets With Trump, Whose Allies Say Trump “Couldn’t Pick Him Out Of A Lineup”

Columbus, OH —  On the same day Mike Gibbons heads to Mar-A-Lago to grovel for Donald Trump’s support, his staff is scrambling to explain away a video of their favorite investment banker millionaire blaming Trump for losing Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats. It’s tough out here having to defend a lackluster candidate like Gibbons when he puts his foot in his mouth, but that’s not stopping them from trying! 

Here’s the Gibbons cleanup crew flailing to defend Gibbons: 

Here’s why the explanations aren’t adding up: 

1. Excuses notwithstanding, Gibbons is parroting the exact same Trump-bashing talking points as Mitch McConnell and his allies on the GOP’s twin Georgia U.S. Senate losses. See the similarities for yourself: 

• Mike Gibbons: “That’s what happened in Georgia. Somebody said, ‘Don’t vote because it’s fixed,’ and we lost two Senate seats.”
• Longtime McConnell advisor Scott Jennings: “That’s on him [Trump]. He told them their votes didn’t count, and some of them listened.” 

1. This isn’t Gibbons’ first anti-Trump fumble: he previously let loose on the MAGA movement, bashing the “cult of personality” around Trump.

“As he heads to Mar-A-Lago to beg for Trump’s support, Mike Gibbons’ team is hitting the panic button because they can’t cover up their boss doing his best Mitch McConnell impression of slamming Trump for losing Georgia’s two U.S. Senate races last year. Today’s panicked response shows just how much of a liability Mike Gibbons’ own anti-Trump words are and no amount of spin can change that,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

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For Immediate Release:

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported on the various ways Mike DeWine has used Ohioans’ safety as a political pawn over the years, as he flip-flops and breaks his promises to Ohio voters time and again in order to shore up his own political support. Yesterday, DeWine signed Senate Bill 215 into law, selling out law enforcement officers and Ohio families in order to keep the gun lobby happy and breaking his promise to voters to ‘do something’ to combat the threat of gun violence in the state.

DeWine, underwater with political support from his own party, is willing to do or say anything to get himself reelected, even if it means breaking his promises and putting Ohioans’ lives in danger in the process – from signing ‘stand your ground’ legislation into law to his recent signature of SB 215. While DeWine promised to ‘do something,’ the only thing he’s done is make Ohioans more vulnerable to gun violence.

“Perhaps the most consistent aspect of DeWine’s approach to firearms is its inconsistency,” writes Jessie Balmert for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“Mike DeWine is so scared of a primary challenge from his fellow Republicans, he’s willing to put Ohioans’ lives on the line. It’s despicable to watch DeWine sell out law enforcement officers and Ohio families all to try and hold on in a Republican primary in which most voters oppose him,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.

Read more from the Enquirer here and below:

• Gov. Mike DeWine once earned an “F” rating from the National Rifle Association.
• Over the years, Second Amendment advocates have had a love-hate relationship with DeWine.
• Perhaps the most consistent aspect of DeWine’s approach to firearms is its inconsistency. That leaves him open to attacks from both the right and the left as he faces a four-way GOP primary and, if he wins the nomination, a November election after that. 
• The law DeWine signed Monday will allow Ohioans to carry concealed weapons without training or permits. A long list of groups opposed the change, including the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio and several county sheriffs. Democrats condemned DeWine’s decision to sign Senate Bill 215, which will take effect in 90 days.
• “This just shows DeWine doesn’t really stand for anything when it comes to common-sense gun legislation and that when he promised the people of Dayton that he would do something, he wasn’t meaningful about it at all,” said former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, who is running for governor as a Democrat. Whaley was the mayor of Dayton when a gunman killed nine people in the city’s Oregon District in 2019.
• While in Congress, DeWine supported background checks at gun shows and a ban on assault weapons. That led the NRA to give him an “F” rating and the Brady campaign to endorse his bid for re-election to the U.S. Senate against Democrat Sherrod Brown in 2006. In 2002, a Columbus Dispatch article described DeWine as a “Republican who’s not afraid to stand up to the National Rifle Association.”
• In his 2010 bid for Ohio attorney general, DeWine started to remake his image into a more pro-Second Amendment, more pro-gun politician.
• Once elected, he worked on reciprocity agreements with other states so gun owners permitted to carry concealed weapons in Ohio could do so elsewhere. He backed efforts to arm teachers after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.
• Husted, who has a consistently high rating with the NRA, joined DeWine’s gubernatorial ticket in late 2017, shoring up support from Second Amendment advocates wary of DeWine’s history on guns. As part of that campaign, DeWine made promises to sign bills such as stand your ground and permitless carry. 
• But DeWine broke other promises with those bills, promises he made to a grieving crowd in Dayton after the 2019 mass shooting. They called on him to “do something” about gun violence, and in the weeks after, it appeared he might.
• DeWine, standing with Whaley and a slew of law enforcement officers, unveiled a list of reforms that he called “STRONG Ohio.” The list included background checks for most firearm purchases, harsher penalties for felons banned from having guns and a “red flag”-like proposal to remove guns from those with mental health or violence issues. 
• “If we do these things, it will matter,” DeWine said at the time. “If we do these things, it will make us safer.”
• Ultimately, he did few of those things. Ohio’s GOP-controlled Legislature was not interested in restricting gun rights. Lobbyists picked apart each proposal. DeWine’s ideas even sparked turmoil within Buckeye Firearms Association, which removed its top lobbyist at the time. 
• DeWine was under pressure – from 2018 campaign promises and from his GOP opponents – to sign the concealed carry changes into law. And he did, 50 days before the May 3rd primary.
• But will support of bills such as this hurt DeWine in a November general election? Democratic candidates Whaley and former Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley certainly hope so.
• DeWine, Cranley said, “has shredded all credibility on common-sense gun safety issues.”

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Meeting Arrives As Trump Allies Call Gibbons A “Nonentity” And Say Trump “Couldn’t Pick Him Out Of A Line-Up”

Columbus, OH — As Investment Banker Millionaire Mike Gibbons meets with Donald Trump this afternoon, the Ohio Democratic Party has some tips about what he really shouldn’t say:

1. DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE your past warning of the “cult of personality” around Trump in the GOP.

Last year, you told Jewish Insider that “I’m not into the cult of personality” around Trump and “It’s not about Donald Trump, it’s about America.”

Please DO NOT mention this.

2. DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE that you blamed Trump for losing two Georgia U.S. Senate seats.

You told the Paulding County Republican Central Committee, channeling your best Mitch McConnell, “In Georgia, where there was obviously a problem, because we watched it on television. And my wife always brings this up and I said, ‘Listen, don’t.. we all have to vote even if we think there might be some shenanigans going on, we need to vote.’ That’s what happened in Georgia. Somebody said, ‘Don’t vote because it’s fixed,’ and we lost two Senate seats.”

Please DO NOT mention this.

3. DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE your past statements that you are “pro-people” instead of “pro-choice,” and saying you were not dogmatic on social issues.

You told the Associated Press in 2017 you are “‘not a woman’ so wouldn’t choose for them” and you said you weren’t “‘pro-choice,’ though, but ‘pro-people.’”

Please DO NOT mention this.

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For Immediate Release:

Monday, March 14, 2022

Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters slammed Mike DeWine for once again caving to extremists in the legislature and special interests by signing Senate Bill 215 into law. The legislation, known as Ohio’s permitless carry bill, would allow anyone over 21 to carry a concealed weapon without a permit, ultimately avoiding a background check in the process.

The legislation has been widely opposed by groups across Ohio, including the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police, the Ohio Mayors Alliance and many others, because it would make Ohioans – especially law enforcement officers – more vulnerable to gun violence.

“By signing this bill into law, Mike DeWine has sold out Ohioans and law enforcement officers to special interest groups and extremists in the legislature. This bill will make all Ohioans less safe. Time and again, DeWine has promised to support law enforcement officers and ‘do something’ to combat gun violence in our state. Once again, he’s failed on both fronts, putting his own political interests over the safety and well-being of his constituents,” said Chair Walters.

After a tragic mass shooting in Dayton in 2019, Mike DeWine promised Ohioans that he would ‘do something’ to address the threat of gun violence. Once again, DeWine has broken that promise, one of many he’s failed to keep as governor.

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Columbus, OH — On the anniversary of the American Rescue Plan becoming law last week, Multimillionaire Matt Dolan hosted a roundtable with law enforcement to celebrate the hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for law enforcement that Democrats delivered for Ohio via the American Rescue Plan. 

Ohio Capital Journal’s Nick Evans reported that Dolan, “like many other Republicans running for office, also tries to take credit for a quarter billion dollars in new funding from the American Rescue Plan.” Dolan is also running TV ads touting the new police funding – which, again, was passed by congressional Democrats as part of the American Rescue Plan Dolan claims he would have voted against. 

“Matt Dolan is such a weak RINO that he is campaigning on one of Joe Biden and Democrats’ signature accomplishments. Instead of owning his opposition to more funding for police and support for Ohioans to get back to work, Matt Dolan has decided he’d rather be a shameless hypocrite and tout funding he would have voted against,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

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