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Heartland Signal: Bernie Moreno’s Company Used Employees, Former Associates To Pose For ‘Customer Testimonials’

Columbus, OH – New reporting from Heartland Signal today revealed that as a car salesman, Bernie Moreno promoted multiple customer testimonials that featured “current and former employees,” including a customer testimonial promoting the Chinese-made Buick Envision that was actually “a sales representative and had never actually purchased a car from the dealership.” 

Moreno has faced backlash from workers across Ohio for repeatedly lying about selling the Chinese-made Buick Envision which contributed to “Ohio jobs being shipped overseas.” 

Heartland Signal: Bernie Moreno’s company used employees, former associates to pose for ‘customer testimonials’
Zach Shaw
October 23, 2024

• Bernie Moreno, the Republican nominee for Senate in Ohio, is facing scrutiny regarding his career as a luxury car salesman. Multiple testimonials featured prominently throughout Moreno’s websites are provided by current and former employees, as discovered in a Heartland Signal review of Moreno’s businesses.

• These testimonials, both videos and written reviews that praise the customer service and convenience of Moreno’s dealerships, have raised concerns about transparency and the authenticity of those endorsements.

• In an October 2017 testimonial, real estate agent Sabah Hamed praised Infiniti of Akron… Hamed’s public LinkedIn page shows that between March 2015 and August 2016, she worked as the director of administration for Bernie Moreno Companies.

• Another customer, Garrett Blaha, praised the service at Moreno’s Mercedes-Benz of North Olmsted in a testimonial from 2018 posted on the Bernie Moreno Companies YouTube page. He introduces himself as “a customer at Mercedes-Benz for about 10 years.”

• However, Blaha was a former sales consultant at one of Moreno’s Mercedes-Benz dealerships… In a 2012 Cars.com review of the dealership, Blaha is mentioned as personally selling a car to the reviewer.

• Josh Halpern, a first-year associate at a Cleveland law firm, shared his positive experience with Moreno’s dealerships in an August 2021 testimonial for the Mercedes-Benz dealership.

• He also mentioned the personalized relationships he’s built with the dealership, adding that everyone there knows him by name. Yet, the testimonial does not mention Halpern was a former sales intern at Infiniti of Beachwood…

• An additional review from December 2016 shows an alleged customer named Marlon Redmond. He says that while he was working security for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Moreno personally sold him a Mercedes CLS. Marlon was later hired at Moreno’s North Olmsted dealership and was even featured in a Mercedes-Benz of North Olmsted video as a brand consultant.

• In another review from December 2016, one individual, whom Heartland Signal has decided to leave anonymous, praised Moreno’s Buick and GMC dealership in Beachwood for delivering a Buick Envision directly to their workplace and even programming her garage door to the vehicle.

• However, despite their glowing review, the customer later admitted that they were a sales representative and had never actually purchased a car from the dealership, according to documents provided to Heartland Signal.

• Moreno has also repeatedly denied selling the Chinese-made Buick Envision, even though multiple dealerships have sold the model for years.

• Moreno’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the questionable testimonials.

• With several of the testimonials coming from individuals with direct or indirect ties to Bernie Moreno Companies, concerns remain about the transparency of the reviews and the ethics of using such testimonials to promote his dealerships. He has faced scrutiny for the more than 50 lawsuits he faced, for refusing to pay his employees overtime and for false statements about his record selling the Chinese-made Buick Envision.

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Columbus, OH – In a recent radio interview, Bernie Moreno lied to Ohioans again about the lawsuit after lawsuit he faced for mistreating his employees. Moreno has already faced scrutiny for making multiple false claims about the “at least 50” lawsuits he’s faced – including a dozen lawsuits for refusing to pay his employees what they were owed and a case in which he deliberately destroyed evidence he was legally required to keep to get out of paying them.

Bernie Moreno Lied To Ohioans About His Record Of Mistreating Workers AGAIN:

MORENO: “And then the Massachusetts Supreme Court said [a commissioned salesperson should be entitled to overtime]… But they made the ruling retroactive.” [3:45, 10/21/24]

INTERVIEWER: “… the Massachusetts Supreme Court decided years after lawsuits were filed, you had to go back in time and pay your employees for overtime that everyone assumed in the car business, that you work on commissions. And that’s the essence of that case?” [4:30, 10/21/24]

MORENO: “Yeah, exactly.” [4:45, 10/21/24]

Read The Truth About Moreno’s Record Of Stiffing Employees And Screwing Workers:

• Business Insider: Trump-backed Ohio Senate candidate shredded documents as he faced a lawsuit accusing him of wage theft

• WKYC: No, Bernie Moreno’s claims that Massachusetts courts overturned federal law in wage theft lawsuits and made rulings retroactive are not true: VERIFY

• WKYC: How many times was Ohio US Senate candidate Bernie Moreno sued during his business career? VERIFY

• Cleveland.com: Bernie Moreno got sued by an employee who said he didn’t get paid what he was promised. Here’s what happened.

• Mother Jones: Bernie Moreno Owed a Contractor $300K—Then Ignored Legal Rulings to Promptly Pay Up

• Mother Jones: A GOP Senate Candidate Blames “Liberal” Judges for His Labor Violations. Just One Problem With That. The Judges Were Largely Appointed By Republicans.

• The Daily Beast: This GOP Senate Hopeful Bernie Moreno’s Self-Made Story Has a Darker Side

• Mahoning Matters: Mahoning, Trumbull union members discuss Bernie Moreno’s anti-worker allegations

• Spectrum News: Bernie Moreno’s business record takes center stage in Senate bid

• Spectrum News: Senate candidate Bernie Moreno sold SUVs made in China for years, but tells Ohio voters he refused to do so

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Columbus, OH – With 14 days until Election Day, Ohioans know that Bernie Moreno’s campaign has been “clouded” by a “slew of lawsuits for workers’ wages and workplace discrimination” and telling “lie after lie” to Ohio workers. 

From refusing to pay his employees what they were owed and deliberately destroying evidence to get out of it to lying about selling Chinese-made cars that Ohio workers say “shipped Ohio jobs overseas,” Bernie Moreno has shown Ohio workers he won’t fight for them.

14 Things Ohio Workers Are Saying About Moreno’s Record Of Stiffing Employees And Screwing Workers: 

1. Tim Burga, Ohio AFL-CIO president: “With working people your word is your bond… Moreno has proven he can’t be trusted.”

2. Dave Green, Former President of Local 1112 in Lordstown: “We need somebody in office that’s going to earn the support of working people… not a car salesman who continues to lie about what he’s doing and how he’s doing it.”

3. Tony Totty, UAW Local 14 President: “Bernie Moreno was sued for stealing wages from workers. How can you be pro-worker when you’re stiffing them in their paycheck?”

4. Jeff Adams, UAW Local 1219 President: “If [Moreno] was really for the people, people wouldn’t have to sue him to get their overtime pay… If he didn’t pay his employees, how is he going to care about the American people[?]”

5. Mary Ola Stemple, Former Lordstown GM Employee: “Bernie Moreno is not standing up for people like me, he is too busy putting himself and his profits first. Moreno’s business decisions hurt Mahoning Valley workers and families, and he has proved he will not fight for us.”

6. Jose Arroyo, Vice President Of The Mahoning-Trumbull AFL-CIO Labor Council: “Bernie Moreno has shown Ohio workers over and over that he does not care about anyone besides himself. He lied to us about selling cars made in China at the expense of Ohio workers and lied to us about not paying his employees the overtime wages they earned. It is clear that Bernie Moreno is not on our side and that we can’t trust him.”

7. Jim Devlin, UAW Local 1112 Vice President and Former Lordstown GM worker: “I know that Ohioans need a Senator who will fight to keep our jobs here – not one who made his fortune selling cars manufactured in China, because decisions like that led to Lordstown closing and Ohio jobs being shipped overseas.”

8. George Jeffries, UAW Lima-Troy Cap Council Chairperson: “He stole from his own workers, and he steals from people that he might see every day. What’s going to keep him representing us 14 million Ohioans, whom he never expects to meet?”

9. Tiffany McKee, United Steelworkers: “Well as a staff representative, I fight against exactly what Bernie Moreno is every single day, against people that want to take advantage of our workers.”

10. Brett McElfresh, Pipefitter: “We don’t need someone trying to steal wages from U.S. workers anymore.”

11. Frank Papini, President of USW Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees: “We don’t agree with what Bernie Moreno is doing. I think [he is] a fraud, he’s caused a lot of problems with workers…”

12. Mel Woods, UMWA Local 1304 Financial Secretary: “…Moreno is nothing but a liar.”

13. Dave Dilly, UMWA Ohio Coal Miners Political Action Coordinator: “He was a car salesman and it’s my understanding that he screwed over some of his employees.”

14. Jeff Gase, UAW Region 2B Central Ohio CAP Council Chairperson: “[Moreno’s] just a big fat cat. He wants all the profits. He wants the money. Wants it for himself.” 

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The Guardian: ‘He’s Lying’: Ohio Senate Candidate Blames Staffers And Family For Errors

Columbus, OH – New reporting today from The Guardian highlights Bernie Moreno’s pattern of refusing to take responsibility for his record of “stiffing workers” and telling “lie after lie” to Ohioans. This is the latest example of Moreno only looking out for himself – from refusing to pay his employees their overtime wages and deliberately destroying evidence to get out of paying them what they were owed, to “falsely claim[ing]” that he earned an MBA from the University of ❌ichigan, to failing to pay his taxes.

The Guardian: ‘He’s lying’: Ohio Senate candidate blames staffers and family for errors
Martin Pengelly
October 21, 2024

• Bernie Moreno, the Republican candidate for US Senate in Ohio, came to the US from Colombia at the age of four. He has said he learned English through Ronald Reagan’s speeches. That claim has been questioned…

• Throughout a tight race – in which defeat for Sherrod Brown, the incumbent Democrat, could decide control of the Senate – Moreno has displayed a distinctly un-Reaganlike tendency to dodge responsibility for questions about his own actions, choosing repeatedly to blame others instead, a review of reporting and court documents shows.

• Last month, after Moreno was shown to have falsely claimed to hold an MBA from the University of Michigan, including signing legal documents containing the claim, his campaign blamed “a staffer who made a mistake”.

• Bill DeMora, an Ohio state senator, said: “The new reports that prove he is lying about having an MBA from that school up north are disqualifying. Anyone who lies about having a made-up-business degree from Michigan has no business representing Ohioans.”

• The episode of the phantom MBA is not the only one in which Moreno has blamed others for alleged missteps.

• Also in September, as Brown faced reporting about his late payment of property taxes, Politico reported that “a trust belonging in part to the wealthy Republican Senate candidate [Moreno] was more than a year late on paying a $20,000 tax bill on a house that it owns” in Key Largo, Florida, “leading to the issuance of a lien in June 2023”.

• The debt was paid the day of the report, Politico said. A spokesperson for Moreno said the error was not his fault.

• “Bernie does not manage the finances related to the house,” Reagan McCarthy said. “One of his siblings does and it was an unfortunate oversight.”

• In January, multiple outlets reported a Massachusetts case from 2017 in which Moreno was sued for non-payment of overtime at his auto company. According to court records, a judge said Moreno “either did not retain or shredded … monthly reports” that he “knew or should have known” he was required to keep. Ultimately, a jury found Moreno liable for withholding wages and ordered him to pay $416,160 in damages.

• Primary opponents raised the issue. Moreno claimed political bias, calling the jury in the case “ridiculous” and the judge “a Harvard elitist lunatic”. The judge in question was appointed by Republicans.

• Moreno also blamed the plaintiffs, whom he called “two of my worst salespeople, the guys that never even showed up on time, who didn’t punch in or punch out, who had no proof that they worked overtime”, and blamed the overtime pay issue on a staff member who he said “actually managed payroll”. In court, the staffer testified that she had not been responsible for such matters.

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Columbus, OH – It’s been another terrible week for Bernie Moreno as he continues to face scrutiny for making multiple false claims about the “at least 50” lawsuits he’s faced, including lawsuit after lawsuit for mistreating his employees. Plus, Ohioans are learning they can’t trust Moreno to lower costs – from Moreno “invest[ing] in firms and funds” that “benefit financially as housing grows more expensive” to supporting overturning the Affordable Care Act, which would put 857,000 Ohioans at risk of facing higher health care costs.

NEED-TO-KNOW THIS WEEK:

• Bernie Moreno has faced lawsuit after lawsuit for mistreating his employees and has been scrutinized for making multiple false claims about the “at least 50” lawsuits he’s faced.

• New reporting revealed Bernie Moreno “is invested in firms and funds” that “benefit financially as housing grows more expensive” and is contributing to “raising rents” for Ohioans.

• In an unreported radio interview, Bernie Moreno blamed Republicans for failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

• Bernie Moreno is still under fire for “mocking” Ohio women and supporting a national abortion ban that will overturn the will of Ohioans who voted to protect abortion rights last year.

🚗 HOW MANY TIMES DID MORENO LIE ABOUT HIS LAWSUITS?: Bernie Moreno has made multiple false claims about his record of screwing workers and the “at least 50” lawsuits he’s faced – including a dozen lawsuits for refusing to pay his employees what they were owed and deliberately destroying evidence he was legally required to keep to get out of paying them.

🤑 MORENO BENEFITED FROM RISING HOUSING COSTS: New reporting from the Ohio Capital Journal revealed Bernie Moreno “is invested in firms and funds” that “benefit financially as housing grows more expensive” and is contributing to “raising rents” for Ohioans. Plus, Moreno continues to face scrutiny for being “heavily invested” in a family enrichment scheme with his brothers that funneled U.S. taxpayer money into banks that financed projects his family oversaw.

🏥 OHIOANS CAN NOT AFFORD MORENO: During an unreported radio interview, Bernie Moreno blamed Republicans for “block[ing]” the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. This is the latest example of Moreno “criticiz[ing]” the ACA and making it clear that he would vote to repeal it, putting 857,000 Ohioans at risk of losing their health care coverage and facing higher costs while also jeopardizing care for nearly 2 million Ohioans with a pre-existing condition.  

Bernie Moreno: “We would have replaced [the Affordable Care Act] had it not been for again, Republicans… It’s Republicans that go along with Democrats that block the conservative agenda.”

🚫 MORENO MOCKED OHIOANS:  Bernie Moreno continues to draw “ire” from Ohioans for his comments “mocking” Ohio women and calling them “a little crazy” for wanting to make their own health care decisions. Moreno supports a national abortion ban which would overturn “the reproductive rights amendment passed by a majority of [Ohio] voters.”

🗞️ WHAT OHIOANS ARE READING THIS WEEK:

• Huffington Post: “Up until a few years ago, Moreno, 57, owned an empire of two dozen luxury dealerships across several states that sold BMWs, Porches and other foreign brands… [Moreno’s business record] paint him as a slippery car salesman who, according to a 2017 wage theft suit, stiffed one of his workers on overtime and lied about never selling cars made in China.”

• Dayton Daily News: “… Moreno was sanctioned by the judge for destroying overtime records that he was ordered to keep. In 2022 the jury in that case found against Moreno and he was ordered to pay $416,160 to the employees, according to WKYC-TV in Cleveland. Moreno later settled more than a dozen similar lawsuits over the same issue.”

• Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal: “[Moreno’s] invested with a real-estate mogul who boasted that raising rents by $100 would make a 500-unit building worth $11 million more.”

• Ohio Capital Journal: “According to his personal financial disclosure, Moreno is invested in firms and funds engaged in large-scale real estate speculation… investors do benefit financially as housing grows more expensive.”

• Associated Press: “A woman featured in one TV ad wondered why, if a 50-year-old woman doesn’t have standing to feel strongly about abortion, a 57-year-old man — that’s Moreno’s age — running for Senate would.”

• Jezebel: “In the letter, the women point to Moreno’s insulting comments from September in which he characterized women as “a bit crazy” for caring about abortion rights.”

• Washington Examiner: “Abortion has a major influence in the Ohio Senate race… particularly in recent days after Moreno drew ire for a comment he made criticizing women whose votes were driven by government involvement in abortion during a town hall in September.”

🐤 TWEET OF THE WEEK:

🎶 CODA: “Hey Bernie Moreno: Ohio women over 50 care about women’s reproductive rights; and we vote.”

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