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Columbus, OH – Bernie Moreno, Frank LaRose, and Matt Dolan don’t understand the issues facing working Ohioans because they’ve been more focused on using their massive fortunes, sweetheart deals, and shady loans to try to buy Ohio’s Senate seat. It’s clear the entire field is wealthy, out-of-touch, and won’t fight for Ohioans because they don’t understand the issues most important to their daily lives.

• Bernie Moreno wrote himself a $3 million check 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.” But a $3 million check is chump change for Moreno,who is worth over a hundred million dollars with properties in Costa Rica, New York City, Washington, D.C., and the Florida Keys worth up to $24.7 million.
   
• Frank LaRose loaned himself $250,000 after claiming to be a “thousandaire” and mocking his opponents for their wealth – raising questions about LaRose’s shady finances.  LaRose also refused to file his required financial disclosure until weeks past the deadline and has continued to dodge questions about the “highly unusual” and “myster[ious]” six-figure loan. Now, LaRose is being bankrolled by out-of-state billionaire Richard Uihlein – who also funded LaRose’s August amendment to silence Ohioans and benefit special interests. 
   
• Matt Dolan has already loaned his campaign $7 million this cycle and is worth as much as $41 million. Dolan faced backlash from his opponents for bankrolling his campaign with a cheap loan at a “staggeringly low” interest rate of less than one percent – an example of “some of the financial gateways available to wealthy politicians but closed to most of the constituents they represent.”

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On Reproductive Rights, Healthcare, Bipartisanship, and More, Tonight Ohioans Will See No One in the #OHSEN Field is Fighting for Them 

Columbus, OH –  Ahead of tonight’s Republican #OHSEN debate, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters, Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga, and Ohio Dr. Catherine Romanos discussed how none of the candidates in the primary are fighting for Ohioans. Whether it’s working to overrule Ohioans by supporting a national abortion ban, attacking Ohioans’ healthcare, or refusing to work across the aisle on the issues important to Ohioans’ lives, Ohioans see that Bernie Moreno, Frank LaRose, and Matt Dolan are more focused on attacking each other and helping themselves than working for Ohioans. 

“The digs and insults and scripted attacks are sure to come tonight, but there’s one thing Ohioans won’t hear: meaningful positions on the issues that matter most to them,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters. “While working Ohioans are worried about paying their bills, affording prescription medication, putting food on the table for their families, these candidates up on stage tonight are only focused on themselves.”

“From Bernie Moreno being sued over a dozen times for not paying his workers for the overtime they’ve earned, even destroying evidence in the process, to Frank LaRose who cast the deciding vote on Senate Bill 5 – that stripped firefighters, nurses, teachers and public employees of their collective bargaining rights – it’s clear these guys will not fight for workers in our state,” said Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga. “None of these candidates on the debate stage tonight will make Ohio workers their priority, and with control of the U.S. Senate likely coming down to Ohio, there’s too much at stake for workers in Ohio and across the nation for us to sit on the sidelines and let those who don’t share our values decide the future of working people in our country.” 

“Ohioans made it clear that they want the government out of their exam rooms and out of the most personal decisions of their lives,” said Dr. Catherine Romanos. “But Bernie Moreno, Frank LaRose, and Matt Dolan think they belong in your doctor’s office. All three opposed November’s State Issue 1 and they would all vote for a national abortion ban if elected to the Senate, which would overrule what the majority of Ohioans just supported.”

What you need to know ahead of tonight’s debate:

• Bernie Moreno, Frank LaRose, and Matt Dolan all support a national abortion ban and would overrule the majority of Ohioans who voted to protect reproductive rights and overturn the state’s existing ban last November. 

• Bernie Moreno, Frank LaRose, and Matt Dolan would all vote to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which would put 857,000 Ohioans at risk of losing their coverage and jeopardize care for nearly 2 million Ohioans with a preexisting condition. 

• The entire field is trying to buy Ohio’s Senate seat: Bernie Moreno wrote his campaign a $3 million check, Frank LaRose self-funded a “myster[ious]” $250,000 loan and has refused to answer questions about the source of the “highly unusual” loan, and Matt Dolan has already loaned himself $7 million this cycle. 

• The field won’t work across the aisle to prevent a potential government shutdown or fight for the issues most important to Ohioans’ daily lives: Bernie Moreno “reject[ed]” bipartisanship and has “no real interest in” working on behalf of Ohioans. Both Moreno and Frank LaRose would vote to shut down the government and force 6,800 active duty troops and tens of thousands of civilian employees in Ohio to work without pay. 

Please find a recording of this morning’s press call for media use here.

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Business Insider: Ohio Senate Candidate Shredded Documents As He Faced A Lawsuit Accusing Him Of Wage Theft

Columbus, OH – New reporting today from Business Insider reveals Bernie Moreno “destroyed” key evidence a judge had ordered him to keep to avoid paying his employees the overtime they deserved. After forcing his employees to sue him to get the pay they were entitled to, Moreno was found liable by a jury for wage theft and was forced by the Court to pay over $400,000 in damages – only then did he settle over a dozen lawsuits before launching his Senate bid. 

“Not only did Bernie Moreno spend years cheating his employees out of the overtime pay they had earned, he went so far as to shred key evidence he was required to keep to escape paying his employees for their work. Just as a judge and jury held him accountable for destroying key evidence and withholding his employees’ wages, Ohioans will see that Moreno is a slimy, dishonest conman who is only out for himself,” said ODP spokesperson Katie Smith.

Read more from Business Insider below:

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

Bryan Metzger

January 19, 2024

• Former car dealership owner turned GOP candidate Bernie Moreno […] settled over a dozen wage theft lawsuits in the months before launching his campaign last year, according to court documents reviewed by Business Insider.

• Those settlements came after a jury ordered Moreno to pay over $400,000 to two former employees at his Massachusetts dealership for failing to pay overtime in accordance with state labor laws.

• As he faced those lawsuits, Moreno admitted in a deposition to shredding documents containing information that was potentially relevant to the case, despite being instructed to preserve records — drawing a rebuke from a state judge.

• Moreno’s legal troubles began in 2017, when Omar Adem — a former salesperson at a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Burlington, Massachusetts — filed a lawsuit alleging that Moreno had failed to pay him for overtime hours worked while he was employed at the dealership between February 2015 and July 2017.

• Yet by 2015, state law mandated that employers like Moreno pay salespeople for any time worked beyond the standard 40 hours per week, regardless of commissions.

• Moreno continued to litigate the case, even as that ruling appeared to open the floodgates for further lawsuits. 16 other former salespeople who had worked at the Massachusetts dealership from 2014 to 2018, all of whom were represented by the same lawyers as Adem, sued Moreno for wage theft beginning in March 2022.

• 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, arguing that the only proof that overtime records for salespeople never existed was Moreno’s own testimony.

• “This case turns on the parties’ credibility,” wrote Ricciuti. “Plaintiffs should not be forced to take Moreno’s word about the substance of these reports.”

• In sanctioning Moreno, Ricciuti ruled that the jury could use the fact of destroyed evidence when determining whether Adem and other employees were owed overtime pay.

• “Where negligently or intentionally, the Defendants lost or destroyed evidence that they were required to preserve and which they knew or should have known was relevant,” Justice Michael Ricciuti wrote in August 2022.

• Ultimately, a jury found in August 2022 that Adem and another salesperson who joined the lawsuit had proven “by a preponderance of the evidence” that they had worked overtime hours, and that his employers knew that.

• The judge later ordered Moreno to pay out a total of $416,160, including compensation for the overtime hours worked, damages, and legal fees, in November. In January 2023, Moreno settled 14 of the 16 related lawsuits, court records show. Just 3 months later in April 2023, Moreno launched his comeback bid for US Senate.

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Columbus, OH – In case you missed it, the Canton Repository published an editorial today praising Congresswoman Emilia Sykes’ ability to deliver for Ohio’s 13th district amid the dysfunction of the current Congress. The editorial outlined Sykes’ successes so far, her ability to break through partisanship in Washington and her vision of making sure the 13th district is front and center for critical Congressional priorities in 2024. 

“During her tenure, she brought back $100 million in federal dollars to the district. The Akron Metro RTA station, for example, received a $37 million grant to build a new facility. In Stark County, SARTA is getting another $4 million in federal funds to continue to be the leader in hydrogen-powered vehicles in the country,” writes the Canton Repository editorial board. 

“What’s Sykes’ No. 1 priority for the remaining year of her freshman term? ‘So it’s pretty boring,’ she said. ‘I just want this government to work for people in this area.’ In these times of uncivil discourse and ineffective division in federal politics, we’ll take boring any day,” the board continued. 

Read more from the Canton Repository HERE and below: 

• An effective lawmaker finds ways to assist those they were elected to serve and to advocate for their community, even when gridlock makes it nearly impossible to get laws passed.

• Sykes has taken this approach with her to Washington as she begins the second year of her first two-year term representing Ohio’s 13th Congressional District, which covers half of Stark County. Rep Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, who will soon assume the presidency at Youngstown State University, covers the other half. (The two worked well together and Sykes, who belongs to the Problem Solvers Caucus along with Johnson, hopes that continues with Johnson’s successor.)

• “We did not seek out a very broad package of legislative activity because, quite frankly, I just didn’t think it was going to be very fruitful to do so,” she said. “And I’m very glad that we made that decision, because you could spin your wheels pretty significantly trying to put together a lot of legislation for it to go nowhere.”

• Sykes serves on the House’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee — bodies that are important to the region, especially as the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority continues its push for a hydrogen hub and Akron seeks to capitalize off its polymer expertise.

• When the Federal Railroad Administration announced last year that Ohio is in line for service expansion but Akron and Canton weren’t part of the plans, Sykes took notice.

• “No one even bothered to mention Akron-Canton in the conversation,” she said. “It just never came up. And that is what I hear over and over. No one said it, no one said those two communities.”

• She then met with the Amtrak CEO to urge future expansions to include the region, citing such benefits as connecting travelers with the Akron-Canton Airport and workers in Central Ohio’s growing job market with Greater Akron’s more affordable housing stock. There’s no word yet whether her request will go anywhere, but at least someone is speaking up for the region.

• During her tenure, she brought back $100 million in federal dollars to the district. The Akron Metro RTA station, for example, received a $37 million grant to build a new facility. In Stark County, SARTA is getting another $4 million in federal funds to continue to be the leader in hydrogen-powered vehicles in the country.

• What’s Sykes’ No. 1 priority for the remaining year of her freshman term?

• “So it’s pretty boring,” she said. “I just want this government to work for people in this area.”

• In these times of uncivil discourse and ineffective division in federal politics, we’ll take boring any day.

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Columbus, OH – This week, the #OHSEN field threw punches at one another with accusations of collusion and name-calling. The Toledo Blade Editorial Board even took a swing, slamming Bernie Moreno for his “questionable” judgment and having significant ties to the sketchy crypto industry – a “financial tool that primarily benefits criminals.” 

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

BERNIE MORENO’S “DIRTY INSIDER POLITICS” 

Newly leaked audio this week revealed Frank LaRose taking a shot at Bernie Moreno for his “dirty insider politics.” 

And there’s more…

Frank LaRose on Moreno receiving J.D. Vance’s endorsement: “I think that that was a completely transactional thing between the two of them, to be very candid.”

MORENO VS. LAROSE: WHO IS THE BIGGEST LIAR?

Bernie Moreno threw gasoline on the fire this week by calling Frank LaRose a liar who is trying to salvage his “floundering” campaign. 

Then, Frank LaRose’s team shot back:

“The word of a used car salesman is not to be trusted. Especially one that is losing by double digits after spending millions of dollars on campaign ads.”

MATT DOLAN ENTERS THE RING

Matt Dolan had FOMO during Moreno and LaRose’s battle and also chimed in:

Dolan Campaign: “Bernie Moreno is an ideological shapeshifter who will say or do anything to get elected. He is unvetted, untested and gaffe-prone. The more voters learn about Bernie, the less they’re going to like him.”

BERNIE “GOOD FOR THE GROWTH OF RUSSIA” MORENO

The Toledo Editorial Board slammed Bernie Moreno this week for his “questionable” judgment citing Moreno’s close ties to the sketchy crypto industry – a “financial tool that primarily benefits criminals.” 

The Editorial Board listed a number of reasons to question Moreno including the positive impact he would have on “the growth of Russia.” 

SLUGFEST LIVE! COMING SOON TO A STAGE NEAR YOU

On January 22, Bernie Moreno, Frank LaRose, and Matt Dolan will duke it out on the debate stage in Cleveland. 

Get more details here.

SLUGFEST COUNTDOWN

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

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Dolan Campaign: “Bernie Moreno is an ideological shapeshifter who will say or do anything to get elected. He is unvetted, untested and gaffe-prone. The more voters learn about Bernie, the less they’re going to like him.”

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