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Columbus, OH — New reports from the Columbus Dispatch and Cleveland.com reveal Republican U.S. Senate candidates’ “eye-popping” financial disclosures from a field full of out-of-touch multi-millionaires. 

“No matter which country club elitist emerges from this nasty primary, the Ohio GOP will be stuck with an out-of-touch multi-millionaire who puts their wealthy self-interest ahead of working Ohioans. Instead of focusing on building good-paying jobs and fixing our infrastructure, all of the Ohio GOP Senate candidates have made it clear their priorities are lining their pockets and not Ohio families said Michael Beyer, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Read more below:

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Republicans running for U.S. Senate are millionaires, disclosures show

• The real estate, business assets, investment portfolios and paychecks of Republicans who want to represent Ohioans in the U.S. Senate are nothing short of eye-popping.
• Bernie Moreno has a place in the Bahamas worth between $5 million and $25 million. He also has a yacht worth between $500,000 and $1 million, condos in Washington, D.C. and New York and houses in Columbus and Florida, according to Moreno’s financial disclosure statement.
• Jane Timken and her husband own a 699-acre farm near Canton and have vast stock and bond holdings, Timken’s 65-page report shows. Jane Timken’s investments are worth between $2 million and $4.8 million while her husband’s holdings are valued between $30.3 million and $55.8 million and the couple has between $5.1 million and $10.8 million invested on behalf of their two adult children. Timken reported no liabilities.
• Former state treasurer Josh Mandel reported he made $839,571 between Jan. 1, 2020 and May 15, 2021, plus he cashed out his Ohio Public Employees Retirement System account for a $205,413 windfall. He also liquidated stock holdings and poured more than $1 million into his bank accounts. Mandel paid off his only liability – a self-issued loan for the purchase of his home – in March 2021.
• Mike Gibbons’ financial holdings are so complex that he had to hire an accounting firm to prepare the report, according to his campaign. Gibbons’ attorneys told the Senate Ethics Committee that the campaign of the Cleveland businessman expects to file the report within 30 days.

Cleveland.com: Ohio U.S. Senate candidates disclose personal net worth, and most are millionaires

• All three candidates seeking the Republican nomination who filed financial disclosure statements this week — former Ohio treasurer Josh Mandel, former Ohio Republican Party chairman Jane Timken and Cleveland luxury car dealer Bernie Moreno — are millionaires, the disclosures show.
• This week’s filings offered the first detailed look at the personal finances of Moreno and Timken, who both are wealthy first-time candidates and are capable of self-funding a campaign. Each disclosed tens of millions of dollars in household assets, as well as millions in household income during the most recent filing period. The vast majority of Timken’s assets are owned by her husband, Tim Timken, whose family founded prominent manufacturing businesses that carry the family name. Moreno’s assets, which included commercial real estate, a boat and a vacation home in the Bahamas, were partially offset by at least $13 million in business loans.
• Mandel, meanwhile, disclosed at least $2.2 million in assets, although that number was boosted by at least $775,000 in three 529 college savings accounts for his children. Mandel, who left the public sector at the end of 2018 after eight years as state treasurer, disclosed more than $1 million in income, which includes a $205,000 cash-out of state pension, with the rest coming from corporate board positions.
• Mike Gibbons, a Cleveland investment banker who is funding his campaign through a $5.7 million personal loan, still hasn’t filed a required financial disclosure form that was due in May. And, unlike other candidates in the race, he hasn’t formally requested an extension. The campaign recently paid a $200 late fine and plans to compile something within the next 30 days, David Warrington, Gibbons’ attorney, said in an Aug. 12 letter to the Senate ethics committee.
• Timken reported one source of personal income last year: the $189,615 she made running the Ohio Republican Party, a job she quit to run for the U.S. Senate earlier this year. But her financial disclosure was much more voluminous, totaling dozens of pages detailing hundreds of holdings in cash, as well as stocks, bonds and other business interests. Timken’s household assets ranged in value from about $40 million to about $72 million. Of that, $2.2 million to $5.2 million in assets were held by her personally.
• Moreno reported household assets worth $20.3 million to $93.1 million, a wide range attributable to several commercial real estate developments he owns in the Cleveland area, each worth $1 million to $5 million, as well as a home in the Bahamas worth $5 million to $25 million.
• Moreno and his wife, Bridget, also reported owning condos in Washington, D.C., New York City and Columbus. Bernie Moreno, an enthusiast of the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrency, reported from $100,000 to $250,000 of bitcoin. And, Moreno owns a boat worth $500,000 to $1 million.
• He [Mandel] reported owning assets worth $2.1 million to $7.5 million, most of which was contained in several brokerage accounts, and at least $750,000 of which was split between three college-savings accounts for his children. Mandel also reported owning an interest in LiftCamp, a Beachwood technology company where he serves as CEO, worth $100,000 to $250,000.

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Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, in Ohio Capital Journal today, Mike DeWine continued to stand by disgraced former PUCO Chair Sam Randazzo, even after Randazzo is under investigation by the FBI and all but confirmed to have taken a $4.3 million bribe from FirstEnergy. DeWine appointed Randazzo to serve as Chair of PUCO despite several warnings — even from fellow Republicans — about Randazzo’s ties to the energy industry.

“But even with the admissions from a utility that said it was coming clean and paying $230 million in fines, DeWine Press Secretary Dan Tierney wouldn’t say that the governor regretted hiring Randazzo as PUCO chairman,” writes Marty Schladen for Ohio Capital Journal. 

It’s just the latest example of DeWine standing by Randazzo and the rest of his team with ties to the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio history. Immediately following Randazzo’s resignation, DeWine said Randazzo did “very, very good work as chair” and called him “a good person.” DeWine has also refused to fire Laurel Dawson, who knew about the payment to Randazzo, and Dan McCarthy, who founded a dark-money group that FirstEnergy funneled money through as part of the scandal. 

“While Ohioans wait for answers, Mike DeWine continues to hide behind his staff and refuse to hold anyone in his orbit accountable for the largest public corruption scandal in state history. Ohioans deserve accountability and they deserve transparency. It’s far past time for Mike DeWine to tell us what he knew and when,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Read more from Ohio Capital Journal HERE and below: 

• A huge Ohio utility paid Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s pick to be the state’s top utility regulator millions and the regulator, Sam Randazzo, proceeded to do favors for the utility that were worth at least hundreds of millions, the utility and federal prosecutors have said.
• But more than a year into one of the biggest public-corruption scandals in Ohio history, the governor’s staff won’t say that DeWine regrets hiring Randazzo in the first place.
• When the scandal broke last July, then-House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford and four associates were charged in what prosecutors said was “likely the largest bribery and money-laundering scheme ever in the state of Ohio.” 
• It said that Randazzo was paid $22 million over the years under a consulting agreement with FirstEnergy — including $4.3 million just weeks before DeWine appointed him as chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Ohio. The agreement also quoted from text messages in which former FirstEnergy executives discuss the payment with Randazzo and in which Randazzo tells them, “you guys are welcome anytime and any whereI [sic] can open the door.”
• Despite the fact that Randazzo was supposed to be a neutral regulator, the deferred prosecution agreement said he helped write a provision in the bailout legislation that was worth $102 million a year for FirstEnergy and he helped delay a 2024 rate review so that the subsidy would remain in place after that.
• But even with the admissions from a utility that said it was coming clean and paying $230 million in fines, DeWine Press Secretary Dan Tierney wouldn’t say that the governor regretted hiring Randazzo as PUCO chairman.
• The governor has also been reluctant to criticize others in his orbit who figure in the bailout scandal.
• Randazzo has said Laurel Dawson helped recruit him to be a PUCO commissioner. Later, as DeWine’s chief of staff, she learned of the $4.3 million payment by FirstEnergy to Randazzo last October. But she didn’t tell DeWine for two-and-a-half weeks and only then after the FBI had raided Randazzo’s condo, according to the administration.
• The governor also has confidence in Dan McCarthy, who as a FirstEnergy lobbyist founded Partners for Progress, a dark money group that Acting U.S. Attorney Vipal J. Patel said was essential to carrying out the bailout conspiracy.

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Columbus, OH — A new report from Cleveland.com gets every Ohio Republican U.S. Senate candidate on record trashing the bipartisan infrastructure deal that the senator they’re all vying to replace — Senator Rob Portman — helped to negotiate. The continued infighting among Republicans shows how messy this primary will continue to be as each candidate tries to out-Trump each other in a race to the bottom, leaving Ohio voters and their interests behind. These candidates will go so far as to oppose the legislation, supported by a majority of Americans, that would create good-paying jobs right here in Ohio just to appease Donald Trump and advance their own political agenda. 

“Each of these Republican candidates is only concerned about one job — their own. These candidates would rather play politics than support an infrastructure deal that will create jobs for working Ohioans, invest in Ohio communities and keep our state moving forward. It’s just the latest example of why these Republican politicians can’t be trusted to look out for anyone’s interests but their own,” said Michael Beyer, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

The bipartisan infrastructure deal would grow Ohio’s businesses by investing in roads, bridges, public transit, and broadband and help us compete with countries like China.

Read more from Cleveland.com HERE and below:

• The leading candidates in Ohio’s Republican U.S. Senate primary all have issued statements trashing the bipartisan infrastructure bill that Portman spent months negotiating and which passed the Senate Tuesday in a 69-30 vote, including support from 19 Republicans. 
• They instead sided with Trump, who had been openly urging Republicans to vote against the bill, warning that Democrats would use it to their advantage at election time.
• Polling has shown the bill to be popular with the American public, with Quinnipiac University finding last week that 65% of respondents supported it, although 54% of Republicans said they opposed it.
• He [Portman] said the bill will bring Ohio $9.8 billion for federal-aid highway assistance, including $483 million of formula funds for bridge replacements, as well as funding for mass transit and broadband internet.
• Portman issued a statement Tuesday with Republican and Democratic senators who led negotiations on the bill describing the legislation in grandiose terms, calling it a “historic victory for the American people” that will “modernize and upgrade our roads, bridges, ports, and other key infrastructure assets.”

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Columbus, OH — Ohio Democratic Party Chair Liz Walters released the following statement today following landmark passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in the U.S. Senate. President Biden and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown helped negotiate the package, which will create jobs in Ohio and provide critical investments for infrastructure projects around the state:

“While every Ohio Republican running for U.S. Senate opposes this historic plan to create more jobs right here in Ohio, Senator Brown worked to deliver one of the boldest infrastructure plans in our lifetime that will invest in our roads, bridges, clean water, and high-speed internet. The plan will grow our economy and support our local communities while ensuring that no one making less than $400,000 a year will pay more taxes. Yet, Ohio Republicans oppose this plan because they only care about their wealthy corporate special interest donors instead of what is best for working families in Ohio.”

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Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Toledo Blade Editorial Board today reminded Ohio leaders of their responsibility to listen to the will of Ohio voters and use redistricting to create maps that accurately reflect the political makeup of the state, not ones that serve the political interests of the Republican Party. The Blade editorial points out that Ohio has some of the worst gerrymandered districts in the country, which ‘has very real consequences,’ as radical GOP politicians use the rigged system to push through harmful legislation on issues ranging from healthcare to education to voting rights.

“Ohio voters deserve and have demanded legislative maps that reflect the genuine political diversity in this state. The stakes are high for the new redistricting commission. The deadlines are tight and there will be much scrutiny of their work, but leaders drawing the newest political boundaries must step up and deliver better legislative maps for the state,” writes the Blade.

Ohio has consistently ranked at the top of any list of most gerrymandered states in the nation. And while the Ohio GOP would be more than happy to keep it that way, in both 2015 and 2018, Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved ballot measures to clean up the process and make the districts more reflective of the makeup of Ohio voters.

Ohio’s status as one of the worst gerrymandered states has real consequences for Ohio voters. Despite nearly matching statewide Republican vote totals in 2018, Democrats didn’t win anywhere near a proportional number of seats because of gerrymandered maps. This means that Republicans were able to push through radical legislation almost at-will, without consequences, as Democrats remained in the super minority. And we’ve seen Republicans use this to their advantage to go against the will of Ohio voters on a number of issues, from consistently chipping away at Ohioans’ voting rights to putting public health at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That’s why the results of the 2021 redistricting commission are so important and why any efforts by Ohio Republicans to move forward on a strictly partisan basis are unacceptable.

Read more from the Blade HERE and below:

• Ohioans have had enough of gerrymandering. We know that because in 2015 and 2018 voters overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments to reform the way the states draws districts both for U.S. Congressional seats as well as seats in the General Assembly.
• That commission is tasked with drawing districts that are compact — not shaped like cartoon creatures — and that do not favor one political party or another. The map, for which the commission must hold public hearings, also must avoid splitting municipalities and counties among districts and must respect minority voting rights.

• Gerrymandering has not only given Ohio nutty-shaped legislative districts, it has intensified polarization and made the state’s representative government less representative. When parties torture the boundaries of districts to make them as politically homogenous as possible, they create a system that favors the most fringe candidates from whichever party is dominant in that district.
• Ohio voters deserve and have demanded legislative maps that reflect the genuine political diversity in this state. The stakes are high for the new redistricting commission. The deadlines are tight and there will be much scrutiny of their work, but leaders drawing the newest political boundaries must step up and deliver better legislative maps for the state.

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