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Columbus, Ohio– Following the Supreme Court ruling in FDA vs Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, in which the court unanimously rejected attacks on access to safe, long-standing reproductive care, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters released the following statement:

“Today, we can breathe a little easier knowing that Mifepristone will remain widely available. But make no mistake, abortion is still on the ballot in Ohio and the stakes couldn’t be higher. This November, it’s up to all of us to elect candidates who will defend the right to an abortion and push back against attacks on all forms of reproductive care.  Our work is far from over, and we’re ready to ensure that every Republican who attacks our rights hears loud and clear: we won’t go back.”

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Columbus, Ohio- Following the special election in Ohio’s 6th congressional district, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters released the following statement.

“We’re grateful to Michael Kripchak for running a campaign rooted in the belief that the people of Ohio’s 6th district deserve a representative who works for them, not just the wealthy and well connected. Michael ran a strong campaign that focused on the issues that matter most, showing up in communities across OH 6 that have been long overlooked. All while facing heaps of corporate cash and running in an illegally gerrymandered district. As he enters the general election, we know he’ll keep up the fight so voters in OH 6 get the representation they deserve. 

While we shouldn’t draw too many lessons from a single election, this race makes it clear that it’s a mistake to completely write off Ohio.”

UAW Local 14 President Tony Totty: “We have enough liars in D.C. We don’t need to add another one like Bernie Moreno.”

Columbus, OH – Today in Toledo, Ohioans noted Moreno is “someone who just does not tell the truth” following the string of “inaccurate” and “dishonest” claims he has made on the campaign trail.

Moreno’s calculated attempt to reinvent himself to appeal to voters – from his false claims of bringing 5G access to Cleveland and his phony “rags-to-riches” story, to lying about refusing to sell Chinese-made cars, shutting down Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute, and his business origin story – shows Ohioans that he is only out for himself.  

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Toledo Blade: Local leaders show their support for Sen. Sherrod Brown’s re-election campaign
Alice Momany
June 12, 2024

• Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz believes honesty is the basis of what voters should look for in a political candidate, which is why he is putting his support behind U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D., Ohio) re-election campaign.

• “I think it’s true that you never have a second chance to make a first impression, and the first impression that voters in Ohio have of Bernie Moreno is that he is someone who just does not tell the truth,” Mr. Kapszukiewicz said.

• The mayor was joined by Tony Totty, the president of UAW Local 14, on Wednesday at One Government Center to call out Mr. Brown’s Republican opponent, Mr. Moreno, for telling what they believe to be untruths.

• “We have enough liars in D.C.,” Mr. Totty said. “We don’t need to add another one like Bernie Moreno.”

• Mr. Kapszukiewicz expressed his concerns about claims Mr. Moreno has shared on the campaign trail that have proven to be inaccurate. He pointed to Mr. Moreno’s assertions that he did not sell the China-made Buick Envision when he owned a Buick-GMC dealership, but he did.

• “Moreno spent years screwing [auto workers] over, selling Chinese-made cars to make himself richer,” Mr. Totty said.

• The mayor also expressed concerns about Mr. Moreno’s [lies about his] upbringing. In March 2023, during meet and greet event in the Cincinnati area, Mr. Moreno talked about his family’s immigration from Colombia to the U.S., where they came “with absolutely nothing.” However, Mr. Kapszukiewicz pointed out that Mr. Moreno came from a wealthy and well-connected political family in Colombia.

• “I know it sounds better. Pretend that you are from humble roots and you’ve made yourself into a winner,” Mr. Kapszukiewicz said. “That’s a great line, but it doesn’t happen to be true.

• He also called out Mr. Moreno’s claim of shutting down Cleveland State University’s Confucius Institute while he was on the university’s board of trustees, but Mr. Moreno’s term on the board ended three years before the institute was banned from campus. Mr. Moreno also said that he introduced the idea of 5G internet access to his now hometown of Cleveland in December, 2018, but six months prior, AT&T announced expansion of 5G services to 500 cities, including Cleveland.

Heartland Signal: Bernie Moreno drops in polls after series of dishonest statements on campaign trail
Richard Eberwein
June 12, 2024

• The poll comes after many media reports refuting statements Moreno has made both on and off the campaign trail since launching his Senate bid in April 2023. Moreno claimed that his family was in poverty when they immigrated to the United States from Colombia.

• “We came here with absolutely nothing — we came here legally — but we came here, nine of us in a two-bedroom apartment,” Moreno claimed in 2023.

• A New York Times article last month shined light on the fact that Moreno actually grew up in a very wealthy and connected family. Moreno’s step-grandfather also reportedly lent the family money to move into a four-bedroom home in Pompano Beach after they came to the United States.

• In addition to embellishing his upbringing, Moreno also potentially lied about escaping socialism in Colombia, building his car dealership empire without handouts and bringing 5G to the city of Cleveland.

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Ohio Capital Journal: “Bernie Moreno Claims Blockland Conference Convinced AT&T To Bring 5G To Cleveland… The Record, However, Tells A Different Story”

Columbus, OH –  Bernie Moreno is facing more scrutiny after being caught “erroneously claim[ing]” credit for bringing 5G access to the City of Cleveland through the 2018 Blockland conference, with reports revealing “the record… tells a different story.”

Read More:

Axios Cleveland: The Terminal: Monstrous headlines
Sam Allard and Troy Smith
June 10, 2024

• Senate candidate Bernie Moreno has erroneously claimed that the 2018 Blockland Solutions conference convinced AT&T to bring 5G to Cleveland.

Cleveland.com: Dialing in
Laura Hancock
June 10, 2024

SEE ALSO: Moreno Caught Lying Again – This Time Falsely Claiming Credit For Bringing 5G Access To Cleveland

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Columbus, OH – Temperatures are rising and Bernie Moreno’s “string of inconsistencies” keeps growing, with new reporting today detailing yet another lie from Moreno: this time about bringing 5G to the City of Cleveland while “the record… tells a different story.” And Moreno took his pledge to overrule Ohioans and rip away freedoms even further by saying he “doesn’t support” protections for contraception access.

NEED-TO-KNOW THIS WEEK:

• New reporting found that despite Bernie Moreno’s claims taking the credit for bringing 5G wireless infrastructure to the City of Cleveland through the 2018 Blockland conference, “the record, however, tells a different story.” In reality, 5G’s rollout in Cleveland was due to years of “infrastructure investments [AT&T] was already planning,” and Moreno’s claims were little more than an attempt to “burnish his own reputation” that he “still insists” on telling Ohioans on the campaign trail today.

• Ohioans in Lima kicked off the Pants-On-Fire Tour to slam Moreno for “lying [to] and disrespecting Ohioans,” and said they are “insulted and appalled” by his calculated attempt to “turn himself into someone he is not” The event followed reporting which revealed the “string of inconsistencies” “dogg[ing]” Moreno on the campaign trail.

• Bernie Moreno said he “doesn’t support” protecting birth control and opposed the bill that would protect contraception access for women across the country.

🚨 LIE ALERT LOADING: New reporting from Ohio Capital Journal discovered that Moreno’s claim that he brought 5G to the City of Cleveland is yet another lie that Moreno “still insists” on telling Ohioans. Read the highlights:

• The record, however, tells a different story. AT&T’s earliest announcements about 5G networks come from 2016. The Blockland conference was held in 2018.

• In 2019,  [Moreno] claimed the Blockland initiative prompted AT&T to bring 5G service to Cleveland.

• “AT&T is looking at putting 5G in Cleveland,” he told Smart Business Dealmakers Cleveland that April. “That probably wouldn’t have happened without the Blockland effort and the people who were involved.”

• In a Cuyahoga County finance and budgeting committee meeting a few months later, Moreno said, “AT&T has made the decision to roll out 5G in Cleveland — first in Ohio, and probably first fully implemented city in America, if they go on their timeline.”

• The record, however, tells a different story. One in which Blockland was less a draw for AT&T than a new platform to lobby for infrastructure improvements the company was already planning. The episode demonstrates how Moreno interacts with major corporate interests and burnishes his own reputation in the process.

• AT&T’s earliest announcements about 5G networks come from 2016.

• AT&T projected it would roll out the technology in 20 metro areas by the end of 2017.

• The following year, AT&T announced plans to introduce true 5G services in a dozen cities… The announcement projected they’d bring 5G evolution to 500 markets, Cleveland among them, by the end of the year. That’s more than six months before the first Blockland conference…

• While AT&T was rushing headlong toward 5G coverage nationally, it was also lobbying leaders in the Ohio Statehouse and in Cleveland City Hall. Those efforts began years before Blockland and were aimed at laying the groundwork for 5G around the state.

• Nevertheless, Moreno still insists Blockland played a major role in convincing AT&T to bring 5G to Cleveland.

🔥 PANTS-ON-FIRE TOUR STOP #1: Moreno is facing further fire from Ohioans for “lying [to] and disrespecting Ohioans” in a “calculated” attempt to “turn himself into someone he is not.” Whether it’s lying about his phony “rags-to-riches” story, lying about selling Chinese-made cars, lying about shutting down Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute, lying about “escap[ing]” socialism, or lying about his business origin story, Ohioans are “insulted and appalled” by Moreno’s fibs. Read more about “Moreno’s record of lying”:

• WLIO: “Lima Councilwoman Carla Thompson, local UAW president Jeff Adams, and retired teacher Pat Joseph Johnson all spoke on what they are calling Moreno’s record of lying. They say that he didn’t tell the truth when he was telling his business origin story of doing it all on his own when the Democrats say that he got an insider deal for his first car dealership. Plus, they say he lied when he said that he refused to sell a Chinese-made car, the Buick Envision.”

• Lima News: “Moreno said he refused to sell Chinese-made Buick Envisions when he was a car salesman when he sold them for years, ‘hurting Ohio workers in Lima and our manufacturing industry,’ Thompson said.”

• Jeff Adams, United Auto Workers Local 1219 President: “‘As a car dealer, Moreno refused to pay his employees overtime wages they earned, and he went as far as to shred evidence to try to get away with it, and then he got caught when he repeatedly lied about it. Even after fact-checks found his excuses to be false, he kept lying.’”

• Pat Joseph Johnson, retired  Lima educator: “‘As one of those voters, I am insulted and appalled that one of our potential elected officials would craft such stories to get elected. Does he think we’re that gullible?’ Johnson said.”

❌ BERNIE OPPOSES BIRTH CONTROL ACCESS: Bernie Moreno said he “doesn’t support” protecting contraception access for women across the country this week. Reminder: Moreno has already voted against protecting birth control by voting against Issue 1 last year, supports a national abortion ban that would overturn the will of Ohioans, and opposes all abortion exceptions, saying he is “100% pro-life with no exceptions” and “absolute pro-life, no exceptions.”

🚫 BERNIE WANTS AN ABORTION BAN PART 2749281:There’s more – an organization that pledged to only back candidates who support a national abortion ban endorsed Bernie Moreno today, who has said he would overturn the will of Ohioans by voting for a national abortion ban and opposes all exceptions.

 🗞️ WHAT OHIOANS ARE READING THIS WEEK:

• Carla Thompson, Lima City Councilwoman: “[Moreno is] lying to turn himself into someone he is not to appeal to Ohioans…  I don’t think that we can afford to have somebody else in office that’s not telling us the truth.”

• Jeff Adams, UAW Local 1219 President: “I always ask: where was Bernie Moreno when the auto workers Stand Up Strike of 2023 was? I never heard him say anything or do any of our press conferences. Sherrod Brown was on the strike line and walking with us.”

• Tony Totty, UAW Local 14 President: “I’ve been at six different facilities in the auto industry, because they closed so many of them because of people like Bernie Moreno, you know, not caring, when it benefits them… [Moreno] doesn’t have a problem profiting from these vehicles made in China… He’s a hypocrite. He’s trying to pull a fast one. But we caught him and we’re not going to let them off the hook.

• Rick Smith, WCPT: “You know, [Moreno] sold [Chinese-made cars], you know, he did it and advertised it for years. And then is now taking the campaign route hoping no one will notice…”

• Brent Larkin, Cleveland.com: “…Moreno’s campaign has been dogged by persistent reports of him rewriting his personal and family history in an effort to disguise himself…”

• Cleveland.com: “A spokesperson for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, who is running against Brown, said he opposes the [Right to Contraception Act].”

🐤 TWEET OF THE WEEK:

🎶 CODA: “Bernie Moreno was sued for stealing wages from workers. How can you be pro-worker when you’re stiffing them in their paycheck?”

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