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Columbus, OH – As the #OHSEN Republican field posted their abysmal fourth quarter FEC reports yesterday, it’s clear the only thing dragging the field across the finish line in this Slugfest is personal wealth, out-of-state billionaire PAC money, and Mommy and Daddy’s cash. 

Here’s a reminder of who is funding the #OHSEN field’s campaigns:

• Bernie Moreno wrote himself a $3 million check last year to try to buy Ohio’s Senate seat after he said it’s “not right” for wealthy people to “write a big fat check” and that he wouldn’t “take [his] personal wealth and buy a Senate seat.”

• Frank LaRose loaned himself a “highly unusual” and “myster[ious]” $250,000 last year and is relying on out-of-state billionaire Richard Uihlein to bankroll his flailing campaign to the tune of $3 million. Uihlein also funded LaRose’s failed August amendment to silence Ohioans and benefit special interests. 

• Matt Dolan has already put $7 million of his personal fortune into the race. It turns out buying a Senate seat is a family affair – last quarter, a PAC supporting Dolan’s campaign received $2 million from Dolan’s parents.

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“That’s An Attack That We’re Going To Keep Hearing Against Moreno”

Columbus, OH – After facing attacks on last week’s debate stage for destroying evidence Bernie Moreno was legally required to keep while being sued by his employees for wage theft, Moreno hasn’t been able to escape additional scrutiny on how far he went to avoid paying his employees the overtime they’d earned. As Moreno tries and fails to dismiss legitimate questions about shredding records he “specifically agreed” to hand over to the court, it is clear that this is “an attack that [Ohioans are] going to keep hearing about Moreno.” 

“It’s clear Bernie Moreno doesn’t believe the rules apply to him and is only out for himself,” said ODP spokesperson Katie Smith.

Read / Watch / Listen to what they’re saying:

Harri Leigh, Spectrum News: “A court did rule that Morneo, quote, ‘lost or destroyed evidence that [he] was required to preserve.’”

Spectrum News: “State Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, hammered opponent Bernie Moreno for allegedly destroying documents in a wage theft lawsuit against him. ‘You shredded those documents because it helped Bernie Moreno,’ Dolan said at the debate. As part of a lawsuit filed against Moreno on allegations that he did not pay employees proper overtime, a court ruled in August 2022 that Moreno ‘lost or destroyed evidence that they were required to preserve and which they knew or should have known was relevant.’”

Haley BeMiller, WVXU: “Dolan especially went after Moreno on [the overtime pay lawsuits] pretty hard, and specifically went after him on this part in one of the court cases where Moreno was sanctioned by a judge for destroying records pertaining to employees’ overtime pay while the litigation was still ongoing. Dolan said […] that Moreno can’t be trusted… That’s an attack that we’re going to keep hearing against Moreno […] and certainly this lawsuit thing has become an issue.”

The Hill: “Moreno was also sanctioned by a judge for destroying records that listed who worked overtime at the dealership he owned. A Columbus-based NBC affiliate reported that Moreno said in a deposition that he did not keep the documents he had after he sold the dealership and shredded the documents in 2020. Moreno was found liable in one wage theft lawsuit and ordered to pay more than $400,000 and settled more than a dozen lawsuits related to alleged wage theft less than a year before launching his campaign.”

WCMH: “During a debate between Republican candidates in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race, state Sen. Matt Dolan accused businessman Bernie Moreno of shredding evidence against him in a court case. …The court record did affirm Dolan’s claim that Moreno got rid of evidence. ‘The inference is clear: Defendants either did not retain or shredded at least these monthly reports,’ a judge wrote in the documents.”

Business Insider: “From the beginning, Moreno was required to preserve all documents relevant to the case, and he specifically agreed to do so in January 2020 as the Adem case progressed. But during a May 2021 deposition for one of those wage theft cases, Moreno conceded that in late 2020, he had destroyed paper copies of monthly reports containing information about overtime hours worked by some employees… [T]he judge in that case, Justice Michael Ricciuti, chose to sanction him for destroying potential evidence…”  

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Cleveland.com: “Moreno, LaRose, and Dolan believe ‘federal intervention’ required on abortion access, despite previously celebrating ‘send[ing] abortion back to the states…’”

Columbus, OH – While the entire #OHSEN field celebrated when Roe v. Wade was overturned because it would allow “voters to decide” on reproductive rights, they now believe the issue requires “federal intervention” and would support a national abortion ban – which would overrule the will of Ohioans who resoundingly voted last November to protect abortion access. 

“Bernie Moreno, Frank LaRose, and Matt Dolan think they know better than Ohioans and would all overrule the will of Ohioans by voting to pass a federal abortion ban,” said ODP spokesperson Katie Smith.

Read / watch what they’re saying:

Colleen Marshall, WCMH’s The Spectrum:“On abortion, all seven states that voted on abortion access voted to protect it after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and returned abortion decisions to the states. Despite that, all three Republican candidates said they would support some level of a federal abortion ban.” 

Andrew Tobias, Spectrum News: “All three of [the Republican Senate candidates] feel if they were to get to the Senate, that not only is it appropriate for the federal government to weigh in on [the issue of abortion], but also said they would vote to do so if they could.” 

Cleveland.com: Republican Ohio Senate hopefuls celebrated Supreme Court returning abortion to states. Then Ohioans passed abortion rights

Andrew Tobias

January 27, 2024 

• Ohio’s Republican Senate candidates, like other abortion opponents, previously celebrated the end of Roe v. Wade as a way to send abortion back to the states for voters to decide.

• But after celebrating the court’s decision as a major victory, some Republicans are coalescing around the possibility of a different kind of federal intervention: a legislative ban.

• One of the debate moderators […] asked all three candidates if they view abortion as a federal issue and if so, why.

• All three said they did, and expressed interest in passing national abortion legislation that they described as reining in Ohio’s new abortion-rights amendment, which they all opposed and view as going too far.

• It won solidly in an off-year election where it was top billing, and where it got outsized attention after Republicans (led by LaRose) scheduled an August special election in a doomed effort to make it harder to pass the abortion amendment. When voters cast ballots in November, the amendment won in 18 counties where former President Donald Trump won in 2020, and it would have passed even without the state’s most heavily Democratic counties: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton counties.

• Immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, LaRose celebrated the decision as a victory for “state’s rights.” Ahead of last November’s election, LaRose again said he thought abortion was best dealt with at the state level – but added a major qualifier.

• “I think the Supreme Court pushing this down to the states is a reasonable approach for now,” LaRose said in an August interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd. “But as I’ve said, I’m pro-life, and if a pro-life measure were to come to me in the Senate, I’d vote for it as a pro-life American.”

• But LaRose abandoned the “for now” in his answer during this week’s debate, saying “there should be a bare minimum at the federal level.”

• Dolan also expressed interest in passing a national abortion restriction during the debate in Cleveland.

• “I have been strong always saying that Roe v. Wade needs to be returned to the states,” Dolan told Fox News, describing the impending “Dobbs” decision that struck down Roe v. Wade as “exciting.”

• During the debate in Cleveland, Dolan said the abortion-rights measure that Ohio voters approved in November was “terrible” […] “If that starts becoming the norm, then I do think we have to step up at the federal level,” Dolan said, repeating a stance he shared with the Columbus Dispatch last October…

• Moreno also has described the Dobbs decision as largely returning abortion to the states after finding there’s no constitutional right to an abortion.

• But that doesn’t mean Moreno thinks the federal government should take a hands-off role. During the debate this week, Moreno, as he has throughout his current Senate campaign, called for federal legislation banning abortion…

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Columbus, OH – Today, the Ohio Democratic Party Executive Committee endorsed in key races facing Ohio in 2024, including the Ohio Supreme Court races, select Congressional races and select ballot issues. A full list of endorsements can be found below. 

“Ohio Dems are fired up to elect Democrats up and down the ballot in 2024 and help support key ballot issues that matter most to working families in our state. We’re not taking a single community for granted as we spend the next 10 months meeting voters where they are and showing them that Ohio Democrats are on their side,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters.  

Candidates/issues endorsed today by Ohio Democrats include:

U.S. House
Samantha Meadows, Ohio’s Second Congressional District 
Matt Diemer, Ohio’s Seventh Congressional District
Amy Cox, Ohio’s Tenth Congressional District
Adam Miller, Ohio’s Fifteenth Congressional District

Supreme Court of Ohio
Justice Michael Donnelly
Justice Melody Stewart
Judge Lisa Forbes

Ballot Issues 
Citizens, Not Politicians (redistricting reform)
One Fair Wage ($15 minimum wage)

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Columbus, OH – During the first Senate primary debate, the #OHSEN field “sparred,” “clashed bitterly,” and exchanged “personal attacks,” while making it clear they’re more focused on fighting each other than fighting for Ohioans and the issues most important to them. Plus, after Business Insider reported Bernie Moreno “destroyed” key evidence he was legally required to keep to avoid paying his employees the overtime they earned, a new fact check from WCMH confirms Moreno’s opponents’ attacks that Moreno destroyed evidence he was “obligated” to keep. 

Here’s a recap of what happened last week in what has already been called one of the “messiest,” “most expensive” and “bruising” primary battles in the country. 
 

TOP DEBATE MOMENT: BERNIE MORENO GETS BLASTED FOR DESTROYING KEY EVIDENCE

After new reporting by Business Insider revealed Bernie Moreno shredded evidence he was legally required – and agreed – to keep to avoid paying his employees the overtime they had earned, Bernie Moreno tried and failed to dismiss legitimate questions about why he destroyed the documents on the debate stage:

Matt Dolan during Monday’s debate: “And Bernie, we learned this week, I don’t know if we can trust you. You know, your employees trusted you to follow a court order, and do not destroy documents that help them, their case against you. But what did you do? You shredded those documents, because it helped Bernie Moreno, not the employees. This is a matter of trust.”

Read about the facts here and here. 

And it seems like the attacks will just keep coming…

Live footage of Bernie Moreno shredding evidence to get out of paying his employees the overtime they’d earned:

TOP DEBATE MOMENT: MORENO AND LAROSE DOUBLE DOWN, SUPPORT A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Bernie Moreno and Frank LaRose both reiterated their support for a government shutdown despite the devastating consequences for Ohioans. 

Bernie Moreno: “[A government shutdown] would not be something you’d take off the table because it lessens your ability to negotiate.”

Frank LaRose: “You bet I’m willing to shut down the government.” 

TOP DEBATE MOMENT: FIELD DOUBLES DOWN IN SUPPORT OF NATIONAL ABORTION BAN

Moreno, LaRose, and Dolan all doubled down in support of overruling Ohioans by passing a national abortion ban. 

Cleveland.com: “All three Republican candidates on Monday night called Ohio’s new abortion amendment out of the political mainstream, and said they would support a national law banning abortion…”

WVXU: “And all three — Moreno, LaRose, and State Sen. Matt Dolan of Chagrin Falls — agreed there should be a national abortion ban… It makes you question whether the three GOP candidates were paying attention last November when 57% of Ohio voters who went to the polls voted in favor of a ballot issue enshrining abortion rights in the Ohio constitution.”

Ohio Capital Journal: “Dr. Catherine Romanos, a family doctor in Columbus, said her patients ‘breathed a sigh of relief’ after the passage of Issue 1 last November. ‘They asked me less often if what they’re doing is breaking the law and they seem confident to come and get the care that they need,’ she said. Echoing the warning that Republican candidates would support national abortion restrictions, Romanos argued ‘They think they know better than Ohioans. They’re wrong.’”

But even when they’re agreeing with each other, they’re still fighting…

SENATE CANDIDATES OR INTERNET TROLLS?

While insults flew on the debate stage, Bernie Moreno, Frank LaRose, and Matt Dolan also took shots at each other online. 

SLUGFEST COUNTDOWN

53 days left until this Slugfest comes to a head and the infighting just keeps getting worse. 

TOP QUOTES FROM THE DEBATE

Bernie Moreno: “Yeah, I mean it’s silly season.” 

Frank LaRose on Moreno: “Yeah, this is a slick sales pitch from a guy that has changed his view on this.”

Matt Dolan: “First of all, what has changed in Bernie’s world is he now wants to be a Republican candidate for US Senate, he’s running in a primary, so he’s willing to abandon long held principal beliefs.”

LaRose: “What Ohioans don’t care about is a bunch of bickering from a couple of corporate elitists.”

Moreno to Dolan: “But maybe your dad can explain to you how business works.”

Dolan on Moreno: “Well we just heard an absolute political phony answer. He’s trying to reinvent himself.” 

QUOTE(S) OF THE WEEK

WVXU’s Howard Wilkinson on the field supporting a national abortion ban: “It makes you question whether the three GOP candidates were paying attention last November when 57% of Ohio voters who went to the polls voted in favor of a ballot issue enshrining abortion rights in the Ohio constitution.”

Axios: “Bernie Moreno is a corporate elitist. Matt Dolan is a failed career politician. Frank LaRose is a lying, scheming loser.”

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