Group spends big in GOP race

March 13, 2020

Advertisements criticizing Louis G. Lyras, a Republican candidate in the 13th Congressional District primary, and praising Christina M. Hagan, who’s also seeking the GOP nomination, are not being funded by Hagan, but by the Ohio Freedom Fund, a group that has spent $75,000 on media buys and production in the past week-plus, according to a recent document filed with the Federal Election Commission. Where is the Ohio Freedom Fund getting its money? That’s a good question, and documents don’t provide that information. There’s nothing illegal or improper about the independent ...

Ohio Secretary of State urges caution

March 6, 2020

“Instead of trying to hack the elections, they’ve tried to hack our minds.” That’s what Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said this week about “foreign adversaries,” particularly those from Russia, trying to interfere in U.S. elections. They’re particularly active during presidential elections as we saw in 2016. LaRose, a Republican, said they’re continuing. “The very institution of democracy is under attack,” he said. Russia uses social media to alter images to confuse voters or set up protest rallies on Facebook to incite people. “They’re trying to ...

Sen. Brown is blunt about Biden

February 28, 2020

When I asked U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown about the state of the Democratic presidential race, he seemed hesitant to say anything specific about most of the candidates. But that wasn’t the case with former Vice President Joe Biden, who was the front-runner before the primary / caucus season started. If Brown’s comments about Biden were a movie title, it would be “He’s Just Not That Into You.” I asked Brown, a Cleveland Democrat who explored running for president in late 2018 and early 2019, if he was surprised with Biden’s slow start. “No, no surprise,” he ...

Will primaries attract voters?

February 21, 2020

The presidential race will drive voter turnout in November as it always does every four years. But what about the primary? For Republicans, President Donald Trump was the lone Republican to qualify as a candidate in Ohio. Trump will attract some people who will vote in the primary just to show their support for him. For Democrats, it’s kind of messy right now. There are 10 Democrats whose names will appear on the March 17 primary ballot in Ohio, and you can also write in Andrew Yang. However, Yang is out of the race, as are two of the candidates whose names will appear on ...

Loan program not going away

February 14, 2020

A number of Democratic officials were in an uproar over President Donald Trump’s budget proposal to eliminate a loan program that Lordstown Motors Corp. might use to seek $200 million for its local electric truck facility. But there’s only a tiny chance — if even that much — that the loan program will be eliminated. When Trump, a Republican, released his proposed budget earlier this week, it included the elimination of the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program. His administration referred to ATVM and two other Department of Energy loan programs as “costly, ...

Rep. Ryan lags in fundraising

February 7, 2020

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan saw his fundraising numbers improve in the fourth quarter, but they were far from great. Ryan, D-Howland, raised $137,882 and spent $80,590 during the final three months of 2019, so he didn’t net much money. It was an uptick for Ryan who raised $30,255 and $42,883 in the second and third quarters of 2019, respectively. He spent $58,114 in the second quarter and $41,167 in the third. Compare him to U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Bainbridge Township, who raised $410,447 in the fourth quarter or U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, who collected $250,111 in those three ...