Need proof that Ohio Republicans are trying to gerrymander their way into winning?
FIRST: The Ohio Supreme Court struck down the first round of maps drawn by the Republican-led redistricting commission — maps that would have given Republicans a 62-37 advantage in the House and a 23-10 advantage in the Senate. So the Ohio Supreme Court ordered the redistricting commission to redraw the maps to be indicative of how Ohioans vote.
THEN: The redistricting commission met to redraw the maps — but the replacement maps aren’t any better. These maps give Republicans a 57-42 advantage in the House and a 20-13 advantage in the Senate.
BUT: It only gets worse under these new maps. In the newly drawn maps, 12/42 Democratic-leaning House seats and 4/13 Democratic-leaning Senate seats give Democrats advantages of 3% or less. Only one Republican-leaning Senate district has an advantage of 3%, and no Republican-leaning House districts do.
We can’t make it any more clear: Ohio Republicans don’t care about giving everyday Ohioans a voice; they care about winning and pushing an agenda that hurts the middle class. We can’t let these new maps pass — and we’ll take it back to court if we have to.
One Week Later, DeWine Administration Still Silent on HB 6 Records Requests
Columbus, OH — One week after Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters called on Mike DeWine to tell Ohio voters what he knew and when about the largest public corruption scandal in state history, questions about the scandal remain unanswered. Last week, the Ohio Democratic Party announced the submission and resubmission of several public records requests to get to the bottom of the scandal. Those requests remain unanswered.
If the DeWine administration continues to stall and refuses to answer questions Ohio voters deserve to know, the Ohio Democratic Party is prepared to take legal action.
“One week later, and still crickets from Mike DeWine and his administration. DeWine’s lack of response raises even more questions about what he’s trying to hide and why, questions we plan to get to the bottom of on behalf of Ohio voters,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.
Since October, the party has been working on getting answers to who knew what and when about the HB 6 bribery scandal, but has been stonewalled at every turn by the DeWine administration, leaving public records requests unanswered for over one hundred days.
Public records requests recently submitted by the party include:
- Any communications among Mike DeWine, Jon Husted, their staffs and special interest groups tied to the HB 6 scandal.
- Any communications between those individuals and individuals who are implicated in the scandal.
- Any communications involving Sam Randazzo’s appointment to the Public Utilities Commission.
- Any communications between DeWine/Husted and statewide officeholders regarding HB 6.
- The demotion of Laurel Dawson & the resignation of Dan McCarthy.
The party also resubmitted previous public records requests that include: a visitor’s log from the governor’s office and the governor’s mansion; any vetting of Sam Randazzo; and communications between Mike DeWine’s staff and FirstEnergy.
The party will provide updates to the media and Ohio voters as the process plays out and as we continue to demand accountability from people in power.
The Hill: GOP Critics Sometimes Own Stock In The Big Tech They’re Slamming
According to a new report from The Hill, several Republican Ohio U.S. Senate candidates own stock in the Big Tech companies they attack on the campaign trail.
The report highlights that Jane Timken, through herself and her family, holds between $800,000 and $1.6 million in Google, Facebook, and Apple. Josh Mandel owned stock in Google and Apple before selling his stock in this latest Senate run. And Silicon Valley Vance’s campaign is propped up by a Big Tech billionaire who bankrolled a super PAC with $10 million.
“Jane Timken, J.D. Vance, and Josh Mandel can’t hide from Ohioans how they are all beholden to Big Tech. This new report will only show Ohioans they can’t trust what these out-of-touch millionaires are selling and only amp up the nasty attacks flying in this primary,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.
The Hill: GOP critics sometimes own stock in the Big Tech they’re slamming
Rebecca Klar
January 30, 2022
- A number of Republican Senate candidates running on anti-Big Tech platforms have stock holdings in the same companies they are vowing to hold accountable if elected to Congress.
- That’s drawn accusations, from Democrats and some fellow Republicans, of hypocrisy.
- Others say arguing that someone won’t hold Facebook or Google accountable because they have stock in the company is a weak attack and that the conflict-of-interest accusations don’t hold water.
- In Ohio, former state GOP Chairwoman Jane Timken has called Big Tech “an arm of the Democrat party” and said that “their immunity privileges must be stripped.” In May, after Facebook said it would keep former President Trump’s account suspended until at least 2023, she said the “censorship of conservatives must end.”
- Timken, who is running in a GOP primary to succeed retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), holds stock valued at between $800,000 and $1.6 million in Google, Facebook and Apple through herself and her family, according to her financial disclosure reports. A spokesperson for the Timken campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
- Former Ohio state Treasurer Josh Mandel, who is also running for Portman’s seat, slammed Republicans for holding stock in companies they’re vowing to regulate.
- “I do not believe that United State senators should be able to secretly obtain information in the halls of the United State Senate and then personally put money in their pockets because of it,” Mandel said at a debate this week with Democratic candidate Morgan Harper.
- Mandel, an outspoken Big Tech critic, previously owned thousands of dollars in tech giants. He sold off all of his tech stock shortly after joining the race, according to his campaign.
- Mandel’s financial disclosure report filed in August showed he earned thousands of dollars in capital gains income from Apple and Google.
- Another candidate in the Ohio primary, conservative author and venture capitalist J.D. Vance, also has been critical of Big Tech. His financial disclosure reports don’t include stock holdings in Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple, though PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel did donate $10 million into a super PAC backing Vance’s run.
- “If you’ve spent any time actually looking at the issue, you’ll see that Peter Thiel is one of the leading voices arguing against the dangers of Big Tech. We wear his support with a badge of honor,” Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesperson for the Vance campaign, said in a statement.