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Ohio Capital Journal: “The Record, However, Tells A Different Story”

Columbus, OH –  Bernie Moreno takes the credit for bringing 5G wireless infrastructure to the City of Cleveland through the 2018 Blockland conference – but new reporting found that “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,” the latest example in a growing “string of inconsistencies” that is “dogg[ing]” Moreno’s campaign.

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Ohio Capital Journal: Bernie Moreno claims Blockland conference convinced AT&T to bring 5G to Cleveland
Nick Evans
June 7, 2024

• 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 December of 2018, Cleveland hosted the first of two conferences aimed at promoting blockchain technology and establishing itself as a destination for blockchain companies. The idea’s biggest booster was Bernie Moreno, who is now the Republican nominee in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race.

• But three years later, the effort was dead. 

• According to Moreno, though, it wasn’t a total loss. In 2019, he 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.

• AT&T’s declined to comment for this story as did a person who led one of the Blockland conference’s subgroups, referred to as ‘nodes’. Grzybicki did not respond to an email requesting comment. Additionally, Moreno’s campaign recommended a person involved with the conference and AT&T, but that person didn’t respond to attempts to reach them by text and phone.

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Columbus, OH –  Bernie Moreno “doesn’t support” protecting birth control, saying yesterday that he “opposes the bill” that would protect contraception access for women across the country. Moreno 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 Moreno wants to make Ohio women’s healthcare decisions for them and won’t protect women’s access to birth control,” said ODP spokesperson Katie Smith. “Ohioans will know that Moreno would overturn the will of Ohioans who voted to protect abortion rights and contraception access last year and that he is out-of-step with the widely held belief that these decisions should be between women and their doctors.”

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Columbus Dispatch: Where Ohio Senate candidates stand on contraception
Haley BeMiller
June 5, 2024

• The U.S. Senate is expected to vote […] on a bill that aims to protect access to contraception. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown supports the bill, according to his campaign.

• Brown was also an outspoken proponent of the abortion rights amendment approved by Ohio voters last year, which Moreno opposed.

• Moreno told All Sides in February that women should have equal access to contraception… Despite that, Moreno doesn’t support the bill going before senators today.

Cleveland.com: U.S. Senate Republicans kill ‘Right to Contraception’ legislation in politically charged vote
Sabrina Eaton
June 5, 2024

• The [Right to Contraception Act] was drafted after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade precedent that previously established abortion rights. Democrats say it’s needed given Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion in Dobbs, which urged the Court to “reconsider” its substantive due process precedents, including one that protected contraception.

• [Brown] cosponsored the bill the Senate considered Wednesday. Before the vote, Brown said Ohioans believe reproductive decisions should be between women and their doctors, and not national or Ohio politicians. He said contraception is under threat in the United States.

• A spokesperson for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, who is running against Brown, said he opposes the bill.

Toledo Blade: U.S. Senate vote on contraception puts spotlight on reproductive rights ahead of general election
Alice Momany
June 5, 2024

• The bill would have allowed easier access to contraception for individuals who live in states with stricter reproductive health laws, and it would have protected health care providers’ ability to prescribe contraceptives and information related to birth control.

• Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio), who co-sponsored the bill when it was first introduced, voted for it.

• He will be up for re-election in November against Cleveland businessman, Republican Bernie Moreno, who has been vocal for his support of governmental interference in abortion.

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Carla Thompson, Lima City Councilwoman: “[Moreno Is] Lying To Turn Himself Into Someone He Is Not To Appeal To Ohioans.”

Columbus, OH – Today Ohioans in Lima called out Bernie 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” after reporting revealed the lies and “string of inconsistencies” “dogg[ing]” him on the campaign trail.

WATCH MORE FROM WLIO HERE

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 said 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 he refused to sell a Chinese made car: a Buick Envision.”

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.”

Carla Thompson, Lima City Councilwoman: “If you are considering looking at Bernie Moreno as your candidate, also do the research, look at his stories, and then see if his stories are true, because what we have found is that they’re not. And I don’t think that we can afford to have somebody else in office that’s not telling us the truth.”

Lima News: Allen County Democrats speak out against Bernie Moreno
Charlotte Caldwell
June 5, 2024

• 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.

• Moreno said he escaped socialism when he migrated from Colombia to the U.S., but Thompson said that’s not historically accurate.

• Moreno said he shut down Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute while serving on the university’s board, but Thompson said it operated for years after he left the board, and he approved multiple budgets that funded that institute.

• Moreno said he built his car dealership business all on his own without handouts, but Thompson said he got a special deal and was able to purchase his dealership at a steep discount.

• Moreno said growing up he was lower-middle class, but Thompson said his family was rich and politically connected.

• “He’s lying to turn himself into someone he is not to appeal to Ohioans. There’s no need to do that,” she said. “Ohioans are smart enough. If you bring your real self, we can decide those things on our own.

• “It’s getting harder and harder to discern what the truth is, and we have to demand honesty from our politicians and the people running to be our politicians.

• United Auto Workers Local 1219 President Jeff Adams spoke next about Moreno’s history as a car salesman and how Moreno’s competition, incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown, was present and willing to fight for recent issues for employees in the car industry.

• “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.”

• Finally, retired educator Pat Joseph Johnson called out Moreno for lying and disrespecting Ohioans.

• “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.

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Columbus, OH –  Bernie Moreno does not support protections for contraception for women, saying today he “doesn’t support” a measure before the Senate to ensure women across the country have access to contraception. Moreno already voted against contraception protections by voting against Issue 1 last year, has said he would overturn the will of Ohioans by voting for a national abortion ban if elected, and opposes all abortion exceptions, saying he is–  “100% pro-life with no exceptions” and “absolute pro-life, no exceptions.”

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Columbus Dispatch: Where Ohio Senate candidates stand on contraception
Haley BeMiller
June 5, 2024

• The U.S. Senate is expected to vote today on a bill that aims to protect access to contraception.

• Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown supports the bill, according to his campaign.

• Brown was also an outspoken proponent of the abortion rights amendment approved by Ohio voters last year, which Moreno opposed.

• Moreno told All Sides in February that women should have equal access to contraception… Despite that, Moreno doesn’t support the bill going before senators today.

SEE ALSO: Bernie Moreno Reaffirms “Well-Documented” Support For National Abortion Ban That Would Overturn Will Of Ohioans

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In Lima, Youngstown, Toledo, Columbus, And Cleveland, Local Leaders And Voters To Discuss Why They Can’t Trust Bernie Moreno

Columbus, OH – As reported in Punchbowl, today kicks off the Pants-On-Fire: Moreno Lies Tour. The statewide press tour will feature local leaders and voters sharing why they can’t trust Bernie Moreno and will spotlight the “string of inconsistencies” “dogg[ing]” Moreno on the campaign trail as he tries to “rewrit[e] his personal and family history” in a calculated attempt to pander to Ohioans.

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Punchbowl News: Top takeaways from primary day
Max Cohen
June 5, 2024

• Buckeye State news: The Ohio Democratic Party is launching a statewide press tour trying to paint Ohio GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno as a liar.

• Democrats are hammering Moreno on statements he’s made about his car dealerships, his immigration story and his business career.

• The effort — labeled the “Pants-on-Fire Tour” — will make stops in Toledo, Youngstown, Lima, Columbus and Cleveland, and it will feature local elected officials and labor leaders.

Stay tuned for details on when the Pants-On-Fire Tour will come to your corner of Ohio. 

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