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May 14 2024

WHAT OHIOANS ARE SAYING: Bernie Moreno “Will Overrule The Nearly 2.2 Million [Ohioans] Who Voted To Protect Abortion Rights”

Columbus, OH – In a new opinion piece for the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo reminds Ohioans that Bernie Moreno supports a national abortion ban that would overturn the will of Ohioans.

Moreno called the Dobbs decision, which leaked two years ago this month, – a “monumental victory.” Moreno has also said he is “100% pro-life with no exceptions” and “absolute pro-life, no exceptions,” and voted to ban abortion without exceptions for rape or incest in Ohio last year by voting against Issue 1.

Read more:

The Columbus Dispatch: Abortion rights are essentially on Ohio’s ballot again in 2024
Allison Russo
May 13, 2024

Two years ago this month, we found out that the Supreme Court was getting ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, a decision that ripped away reproductive rights and would have wide-ranging consequences for women in Ohio and around the country. When the decision — Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — eventually came out, Bernie Moreno called that decision “a monumental victory.”

No surprise there, because Moreno once described himself as “100% pro-life with no exceptions.”

While Moreno was celebrating the Dobbs decision, Ohioans got to work organizing to put an amendment on the ballot that would protect abortion rights in the Ohio Constitution and keep out-of-touch politicians like Moreno out of our doctor’s offices.

Once that issue successfully made the ballot (in spite of some political gamesmanship from Republican politicians), Bernie Moreno opposed the abortion rights issue and even donated $100,000 to Protect Women Ohio, the group leading the campaign to defeat November’s Issue 1.

But Moreno wasn’t done. He then turned right around and called for a national abortion ban that would overrule the will of Ohio voters.

Time and again, Moreno has proven that he’s on the wrong side of this issue and is only looking out for himself.

A national abortion ban does not reflect what is best for Ohioans. Last November, Ohioans said loud and clear they want the freedom to make their own healthcare decisions, but Moreno has made it known he will overrule the nearly 2.2 million who voted to protect abortion rights if he is elected to the Senate.

It’s clear that abortion rights are once again on the ballot in 2024.

We must reject politicians like Moreno who want to overrule Ohioans and insert themselves into private, personal decisions that should be made between a woman, her doctor and her family.

Moreno doesn’t care about what’s best for the health and privacy of Ohioans. He doesn’t care that Ohioans have already been clear they support abortion rights. And that’s why we have to make sure Bernie Moreno gets nowhere near the U.S. Senate this November.

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May 13 2024

Bernie Moreno Faces Further Scrutiny For Phony “Rags-To-Riches Tale”

Cleveland.com: Ohio Senate Candidate Bernie Moreno’s Background Faces National Scrutiny In New York Times

Columbus, OH – New reporting from Cleveland.com further “scrutiniz[es]” the phony “riches-to-rags-to-riches” tale Bernie Moreno tells on the campaign trail after the New York Times exposed Moreno’s “bootstraps story” as a “calculated process of self-creation” – the latest in a series of lies “dogg[ing]” his campaign that shows Ohioans they can’t trust Moreno.

Cleveland.com: Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno’s background faces national scrutiny in New York Times
Andrew J. Tobias
May 13, 2024

A new New York Times article offers further details on Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno’s biography while scrutinizing the story he’s told publicly about his family’s decision to move to the United States.

As previously reported by cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, Moreno comes from a wealthy and politically connected family in Bogota and moved to the United States when he was a child. He has described to voters while campaigning how his family “left everything” in Colombia to live in a two-bedroom apartment in Florida.

The New York Times story casts the version of his life Moreno has told while campaigning, which can give the impression of a rags-to-riches immigrant story, as “not as tidy” as he portrays it, and the type of “calculated process of self-creation” that all candidates undergo when deciding how they will present their lives to voters.

The New York Times article describes how Moreno’s family initially lived in a three-bedroom condo in a high-rise building on the beach after moving from Colombia to South Florida in 1971. But a couple months later, they moved to a four-bedroom house, using money loaned to them by Moreno’s step-grandfather on his mother’s side.

Moreno’s father, Bernardo Moreno Sr., held a high-ranking position in the Colombian government roughly equivalent to the U.S. Secretary of Health.

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May 13 2024

Moreno’s “String of Inconsistencies” Grows with Phony “Rags-To-Riches” Tale

Columbus, OH – This weekend, the New York Times detailed Bernie Moreno’s phony “riches-to-rags-to-riches” story that he’s made the “signature pitch” of his campaign. But that’s only the latest in “a string of inconsistencies” showing Ohioans that Moreno is only out for himself.

Here’s A Reminder of All Of The Lies Bernie Moreno Is Telling On the Campaign Trail:

1. Moreno’s phony “riches-to-rags-to-riches,” “only-in-America bootstraps story” which he has made the “signature pitch” of his campaign is a lie he’s telling as part of a “calculated process of self-creation” on the campaign trail. Moreno repeatedly tells voters his family came to the United States with “absolutely nothing,” but reporting found Moreno is intentionally omitting details of his “rich and politically connected family” and his parent’s “quick” success in America during his pitch to voters.

2. Moreno repeatedly lies and says he never sold the Chinese-made Buick Envision – an SUV that was always made in China – but the truth is, Moreno sold the car for years and “promoted the vehicles” in numerous ads, including in a customer testimonial.

3. Moreno lies about shutting down Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute while serving on the university’s board – but in fact, the Confucius Institute operated for years after Moreno’s tenure and Moreno approved multiple budgets that funded the Institute.

4. Moreno claims that he came to the United States from Colombia to “escape” socialism but reporting found that Moreno is lying and his statements “do not withstand historical scrutiny.”

5. Moreno is lying about his business origin story, claiming he built his car dealership business “all on his own” and without “handouts” – but in reality, Moreno received an insider deal to purchase his first dealership at a “dramatically reduced price.”

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May 13 2024

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: Bernie Moreno “Under Fire” For Phony “Riches-To-Rags-To-Riches” Story That “Isn’t What He Says”

New York Times: Bernie Moreno, The Republican Challenging Senator Sherrod Brown In Ohio, Tells A Riches-To-Rags-To-Riches Tale. But The Reality Isn’t So Tidy.

Columbus, OH – Following yesterday’s New York Times report detailing Bernie Moreno’s phony “riches-to-rags-to-riches,” “only-in-America bootstraps story” which he has made the “signature pitch” of his campaign, Moreno is “under fire” for lying to Ohioans as it becomes clear his “story isn’t what he says.”

What Ohioans are reading about Bernie Moreno’s phony “bootstraps story”:

Politico Playbook: TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?
May 12, 2024

Ohio GOP Senate nominee BERNIE MORENO has often told a family story of classic immigrant striving: “We came here with absolutely nothing” from Colombia, he says, and he eventually rose to become a successful businessman.

That’s not quite the whole story, NYT’s Jonathan Weisman, Patricia Mazzei and Simón Posada uncover.

In fact, he “was born into a rich and politically connected family in Bogotá, a city that it never completely left behind, where some members continue to enjoy great wealth and status.”

One brother is a former Inter-American Development Bank president who’s friends with the CLINTONS and JEB BUSH. And Moreno’s story is “familiar to the South American elite.”

Political Wire: Bernie Moreno’s Immigrant Story Isn’t What He Says
Taegan Goodard
May 12, 2024

New York Times: “Running under the banner of Donald Trump’s populist political movement, Bernie Moreno, the Republican challenging Senator Sherrod Brown, humbly calls himself a “car guy from Cleveland” and recounts the modest circumstances of his childhood, when his immigrant family started over from scratch in the United States.”

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

“But there is much more that Mr. Moreno does not say about his background, his upbringing and his very powerful present-day ties in the country where he was born.”

“Mr. Moreno was born into a rich and politically connected family in Bogotá, a city that it never completely left behind, where some members continue to enjoy great wealth and status.”

Trending on X: “Bernie Moreno’s Rags-to-Riches Tale Under Fire”

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May 12 2024

NEW: NYT Report Details Bernie Moreno’s Phony “Rags-To-Riches Tale” & Lies About “Bootstraps Story” As Part Of “Calculated Process of Self-Creation”

New York Times: Bernie Moreno, The Republican Challenging Senator Sherrod Brown In Ohio, Tells A Riches-To-Rags-To-Riches Tale. But The Reality Isn’t So Tidy.

New York Times: “There Is Much More That Mr. Moreno Does Not Say About His Background, His Upbringing And His Very Powerful Present-Day Ties In The Country Where He Was Born.”

Columbus, OH – A new New York Times report today details Bernie Moreno’s phony “riches-to-rags-to-riches,” “only-in-America bootstraps story” which he has made the “signature pitch” of his campaign to voters as part of a “calculated process of self-creation.” While Moreno repeatedly tells voters his family came to the United States with “absolutely nothing,” the report finds Moreno is lying about his family moving into a “cramped, two-bedroom apartment” and is intentionally omitting details of his “rich and politically connected family” and his parent’s “quick” success in America during his pitch to voters.

This is the latest in a “series of inconsistencies” that are “dogg[ing]” Moreno on the campaign trail – including Moreno lying about his family “escap[ing]” socialism, lying about refusing to sell Chinese-made cars, lying about his business origin story, and lying about shutting down Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute.

Read more:

New York Times: He’s Running for Senate With an Immigrant’s Origin Story. Here’s the Rest.
Jonathan Weisman, Patricia Mazzei and Simón Posada
May 12, 2024

Bernie Moreno, the Republican challenging Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio, tells a riches-to-rags-to-riches tale. But the reality isn’t so tidy.

He is running for the Senate as an immigrant who made good, reaching out to Ohio voters with a stirring, only-in-America bootstraps story: arriving as a child from Colombia, taking a risk on a struggling business, and then turning it into a smashing success and himself into a millionaire 100 times over.

…Bernie Moreno, the Republican challenging Senator Sherrod Brown, humbly calls himself a “car guy from Cleveland” and recounts the modest circumstances of his childhood, when his immigrant family started over from scratch in the United States.

“We came here with absolutely nothing — we came here legally — but we came here, nine of us in a two-bedroom apartment,” Mr. Moreno said in 2023, in what became his signature pitch. His father “had to leave everything behind,” he has said, remembering what he called his family’s “lower-middle-class status.”

But there is much more that Mr. Moreno does not say about his background, his upbringing and his very powerful present-day ties in the country where he was born.

Mr. Moreno was born into a rich and politically connected family in Bogotá, a city that it never completely left behind, where some members continue to enjoy great wealth and status.

Roberto Moreno, one of the candidate’s brothers, is president and chief executive of Amarilo Holdings, a major development and construction conglomerate in Bogotá.

Another brother, Luis Alberto Moreno, after serving as Colombia’s ambassador to the United States, was elected president of the Inter-American Development Bank with the backing of George W. Bush’s administration.

The Morenos’ immigration narrative is also atypical in that they were not strangers to the country when they arrived: The candidate’s father, Bernardo Moreno Sr., had studied gastroenterology, earned a master’s degree in surgery and had done his medical residency all at the University of Pennsylvania, where Bernie Moreno’s eldest three siblings were born. His mother, Marta Moreno, had earned a degree from Stanford.

In Colombia, Dr. Moreno had been the country’s equivalent of the secretary of health, and he and his wife enjoyed what Bernie Moreno described as considerable generational wealth on both sides: multiple properties, farms, servants, staff and a house in Bogotá so prominent that it was later converted to the German ambassador’s residence.

Mr. Moreno, as a candidate for office, speaks often of the cramped, two-bedroom apartment in Florida where his parents and their seven children first took up residence. That first home, purchased in 1971 with a mortgage worth more than $300,000 in today’s dollars, was a three-bedroom condominium in a new, 15-story high-rise on the ocean in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

The building was advertised as having “300 feet of your own private beach,” a “wide deck for sunning,” a pool, a putting green and a sauna.

Within two months, Bernie Moreno’s step-grandfather had lent the family the money to move to a four-bedroom house in Pompano Beach with a pool on a canal, ocean access and a two-car garage.

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