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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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Columbus, OH — Today, the Ohio Republican Party voted to censure fellow Republican Anthony Gonzalez for his vote to impeach former President Donald Trump, just the latest example of deepening divisions within the Republican Party.

This year already, we’ve seen an onslaught of attacks in the U.S. Senate Republican primary, a rejection by statehouse Republicans of Mike DeWine’s policy priorities and even threats of violence from Josh Mandel against ‘RINOs’ in his own party.

“Today was only a small glimpse of the dysfunction and division we’re set to see within the Republican party within the months and years ahead. While GOP politicians are busy attacking one another to score cheap political points, Ohio Democrats are focused on listening to voters and fighting for their priorities. The contrast couldn’t be clearer — Ohio Democrats are looking out for voters, Ohio Republicans are looking out for themselves,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

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CBS News on Ohio Bill: “Seems Like Fixing a Problem That Doesn’t Exist, Doesn’t it?”

Watch HERE

Columbus, OH — This week, Ohio Republicans introduced radical anti-voter legislation that attacks Ohioans’ right to vote and goes even further than the widely-panned Georgia and Florida bills in rolling back voter rights.

GOP politicians in Columbus like to claim their bill is about protecting the integrity of Ohio’s elections, but if that were true, why would they stand idly by as their fellow Republicans make false statements that directly attack our election process? The answer: because this bill has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with election integrity.

If Republicans want to instill confidence in Ohio’s election system, they can start by condemning the elected officials and candidates in their own party making false claims about the 2020 election. Then, they can throw their bill in the trash and start all over, working with Democrats and voting rights activists on legislation that will increase voting access, protect voting rights and move our state forward.

Below is just a sampling of all of the false claims from Republican politicians in Ohio about the 2020 election that show just how unconcerned they are with election integrity:

“I think when we look back on this election, we’ll see in large part that it was stolen from President Trump,” said U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel.

“There’s no question and it’s been widely reported that there was widespread fraud and voter irregularities across this country. We need to fight for election integrity. If we don’t have faith in our election system, we don’t have a democracy,” said U.S. Senate candidate Jane Timken in an interview.

“I don’t know how you can ever convince me that President Trump didn’t actually win this thing based on all the things you see,” said Rep. Jim Jordan.

“In the 2020 election, several states intentionally dismantled election safeguards, while others hastily enacted new mail-in voting systems with lax protections. These laws and actions undermined Americans trust that their vote counted,” wrote Rep. Warren Davidson before voting against certifying the election results.

“Where do I stand on this? I do believe that there was fraud and irregularities in a number of states,” wrote Rep. Steve Chabot in a blog post before voting against certifying the election results.

“I believe fraudulent actions and illegal voting in one state dilutes the power and voice of voters in all states. I do not believe the allegations of fraud and improprieties have gotten their day in court, as many cases were dismissed on procedural grounds, often times citing lack of standing,” said U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs.

“The Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media hide behind bullying, spin, and carefully crafted talking points to distract from this fact. But most of the people I represent know the truth – that between the news media acting as the public relations department of the Democrat party, Big Tech’s big thumb on the social media and search results scales, and credible allegations of election fraud in some states, many believe the 2020 election wasn’t fair,” said U.S. Rep. Bill Johson.

“We have seen irregularities in the vote count, unexplained statistical anomalies, as well as grave allegations of irregularities and misconduct in the swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania … as legislators answerable to our constituents, we are concerned that Ohio voters are being disenfranchised as well,” wrote 40 Ohio House Republicans in a letter to Attorney General Yost calling on him to join a legal effort to overturn the results of the election.

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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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