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Columbus, OH — Today, the Ohio and U.S. unemployment rates continue to drop as the American Rescue Plan is working, putting our state back on the road to recovery and helping Ohioans build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic. As Fox 8 Cleveland reports: “More Americans are looking for work and more employers are hiring them.”

As the American Rescue Plan helps Ohioans and gains more popularity, Republican politicians are scrambling to figure out how they can play politics with COVID relief. Rob Portman pulled a Rob Portman yesterday and tried to claim credit for the highly-popular American Rescue Plan he opposed. As sad as that is, it’s even sadder to know that the Republicans running to replace him are doubling down in their criticism of the plan that has helped millions of Ohioans get vaccinated, put more money in the pockets of working Ohioans and is helping Ohio small businesses reopen and hire workers.

“Democrats across Ohio are working overtime to get critical COVID relief to Ohioans who need it, while Republican politicians are busy only looking out for themselves. Ohio voters deserve answers. Why are these candidates opposed to the successful rescue plan and why are they playing politics with Ohio’s recovery?” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Ohio Republican candidates have 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.

Meanwhile, these political attacks stand in stark contrast to the financial reality of the American Rescue Plan for Ohioans, as Fox 8 reports: “Economic growth has accelerated, sales of vehicles and newly built homes have soared, manufacturing output has risen and Americans on average have increased their savings and wealth.”

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Columbus, OH — Today, statehouse Republicans formally introduced their regressive, anti-voter legislation that goes even further than the widely-panned voter suppression measures in Georgia and Florida. Despite numerous concerns from Ohio voting rights activists, Republicans in Columbus are moving ahead with measures that attack Ohioans’ right to vote and confuse voters at the polls.

While bills in Georgia and Florida are rightly criticized for their extreme anti-voter provisions, Ohio’s version of the bill is the most extreme yet. Many of the provisions included in Georgia’s election law are already law here in Ohio, while Florida’s new law still allows the use of dropboxes throughout the early voting period and allows for multiple locations. The new Ohio bill would codify Frank LaRose’s nonsensical limit of one dropbox location per county and limit the time during which voters can use dropboxes to 10 days before an election.

“When it comes to anti-voter legislation, Ohio Republicans have set a new standard. Instead of working to improve the process, GOP politicians in Columbus are ignoring concerns from voting rights experts and plowing ahead with the most regressive measures we’ve seen yet. This bill has nothing to do with modernization, it only serves to take Ohio further back in the fight for voting rights in our state,” said Liz Walters, Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party.

The regressive GOP legislation would make it harder for Ohioans to vote by:

• Eliminating a day of early voting on the Monday before Election Day,
• Cutting off Ohioans’ ability to request an absentee ballot 10 days out from an election, removing a week that Ohioans were previously able to request an absentee ballot,
• Requiring two forms of ID for online absentee ballot requests,
• Prohibiting anyone but the Secretary of State from providing prepaid postage for absentee ballot request returns and providing no funding for the Secretary to be able to do so,
• Codifying Frank LaRose’s nonsensical limit of one dropbox location per county that can only be used in cases of emergency, but making a confusing exception to the rule 10 days out from an election, and
• Forcing Ohioans to opt-in to ‘automated’ voter registration through the BMV, meaning voter registration isn’t automated at all.

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Columbus, OH — As Ohioans are focused on putting food on the table and making ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohio Republicans are laser focused on one issue above all else — censuring fellow Republican Anthony Gonzalez. If that’s the issue Republicans are running with, then Ohioans at least deserve to know: where does Mike DeWine stand on censure?

As the top Republican elected official in the state, DeWine has a responsibility to let the voters know where he stands on the issue that’s dominating his party right now.

“As Mike DeWine finds himself in the middle of a Republican meltdown, Ohio has watched DeWine continually cave to the extreme members of his own party in order to maintain his tenuous grip on power. Facing his biggest test yet, DeWine must decide which side he’s choosing in the ongoing split among the Ohio GOP,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

While DeWine previously stood with Gonzalez, now he’s facing attacks from within his own party and the prospect of a messy primary challenge. Will DeWine risk a deeper divide between himself and the rest of his party by standing with Gonzalez? Or will he pull a Jane Timken and throw Gonzalez under the bus to save his own skin?

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Millionaire Jane Timken’s fiscal priorities apparently don’t align with Ohio workers, as she calls President Biden’s popular infrastructure proposal ‘radical spending’ and ‘the absolute wrong policy,’ criticism that flies in the face of a majority of voters who support the plan. The reason the plan is so popular is because it actually addresses the needs of Ohioans by repairing Ohio’s roads and bridges, expanding broadband and creating jobs for Ohio workers. And President Biden is paying for it by holding companies who ship jobs overseas accountable and finally making them pay their fair share, companies whose CEOs Timken is likely palling around with at RNC fundraisers for big-dollar donors.

While Jane Timken invests millions of dollars of personal wealth into her campaign to advance her own political interests, she considers any investment in Ohio workers ‘radical spending,’ showing just how out of touch Timken really is with the needs of working Ohioans.

“For years, Ohio has watched its roads crumble and jobs leave the state under Republican rule, and apparently that’s the campaign platform Jane Timken is choosing to run on. While Democrats are working to fix the state’s infrastructure and put Ohioans back to work, millionaire Jane Timken is standing strong against any plan that invests in working families and forces her wealthy CEO friends to pay their fair share,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Timken’s criticism of the American Jobs Plan follows her equally confusing criticism of the American Rescue Plan, which has helped millions of Ohioans get vaccinated, put money in the pockets of Ohio workers and help small businesses around the state reopen. Timken went so far as to tell extremist Steve Bannon, ‘we must stand up and fight against’ the American Rescue Plan. Meanwhile, the Rescue Plan continues to enjoy wide bipartisan support across the state.

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In Case You Missed It, today Laura Bischoff with the Columbus Dispatch reported that Mike DeWine’s hand-picked utility regulator Sam Randazzo, who had long ties to FirstEnergy and who has been implicated in the HB 6 scandal, is now scrambling to sell off real estate properties for hundreds of thousands of dollars as he’s being investigated by the FBI, moves that don’t exactly scream ‘I’m innocent.’ DeWine rushed through Randazzo’s appointment in 2019 to lead the state’s Public Utilities Commission in Ohio despite his ties to the industry and warnings even within his own party that Rendazzo’s ties FirstEnergy were problematic.

DeWine’s team recruited Randazzo for the job, ignored a dossier sent by fellow Republicans that raised serious concerns with his ties to FirstEnergy and rushed him through the screening process. Randazzo was then implicated in the HB 6 scandal after FirstEnergy revealed it made a $4 million payment to the head of a consulting firm that matched Randazzo’s description. The FBI raided Randazzo’s home in November and Randazzo is now selling off multiple properties for millions of dollars, including a Florida home near HB 6 ringleader Larry Householder and former FirstEnergy Executive Chuck Jones.

Despite Randazzo’s apparent ties to the HB 6 scandal, DeWine remains defiant about his selection of Randazzo, saying that “I think he’s (Randazzo) a good person” and “he has done very, very good work as chair.” As a reminder to Ohio voters who are still paying for the HB 6 bailout, DeWine also said after Randazzo resigned as chair, that “The buck stops with me. I’m the one who ultimately makes those decisions.”

“Mike DeWine ignored warnings even within his own party, rushed the process and appallingly appointed Sam Randazzo — a man with long ties to FirstEnergy — to serve as the energy regulator for the state of Ohio. Now, as it becomes clearer that Randazzo likely played a major role in the HB 6 scandal — which Ohio voters continue to pay for — DeWine’s only response is that Randazzo is ‘a good person.’ While Mike DeWine would love to pretend the HB 6 scandal is behind him, more comes out every day about how deep this crisis goes within his circle of friends and advisors,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Read more from Laura Bischoff HERE and below:

• After FBI agents searched his German Village condo in November, attorney Samuel Randazzo began off loading real estate holdings worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• In February, he transferred ownership of a house in the Columbus suburb of Grandview that he bought in 2013 for $346,000 to Samuel Brewster Randazzo for no money. In March, he sold a house in nearby Marble Cliff for $615,950, less than five months after buying it for $600,000.
• Randazzo is in contract to sell his 2,836-square-foot waterfront condo in Naples for an estimated $3.9 million, according to Redfin. 
• Randazzo resigned as chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in November, following the FBI raid and a disclosure by FirstEnergy Corp. that it paid $4.3 million in January 2019 to an unnamed individual who subsequently was appointed as a state utility regulator.
• Randazzo’s condo in Naples is a mile from ocean-front condos owned by the now former chief executive of Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp, public records show.
• Chuck and Kimberly Jones purchased a condo for $6.35 million in September – just a month before FirstEnergy fired Chuck Jones and two senior vice presidents. The company said the three failed to tell the board of directors about the $4.3 million payment. The Joneses also own another condo in the same complex that they bought in 2008, Collier County property records show.
• Lobbyist Neil Clark owned a condo five miles north of Jones’ properties. Clark sold his place for $750,000 on July 15, just a week before his arrest on federal racketeering charges in the House Bill 6 case. The IRS had placed a lien against the property for unpaid taxes and fees. Clark died by suicide in Florida on March 15.
• Clark was among five Republicans charged in U.S. District Court in what prosecutors call the biggest public corruption case in Ohio history. FirstEnergy lobbyist Juan Cespedes and political operator Jeff Longstreth pleaded guilty in October. State Rep. Larry Householder, the former House speaker, and former Ohio GOP chairman Matt Borges have pleaded not guilty.
• Householder owns a Naples condo, which records show he purchased in 2009. His place is less than 10 miles from the Randazzo and Jones properties.
• FirstEnergy disclosed last week that it is in early talks with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio to get a deferred prosecution agreement. In such deals, a party agrees to pay fines, change behaviors and cooperate with prosecutors. In exchange, the government agrees not to pursue a criminal conviction.

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