Tag: Gov. R. Michael DeWine

Voter Files Mandamus Suit with State Supreme Court After Ohio Election Commission Blows Off Her Blystone Complaints

Neil W. McCabe

An Ohio voter filed a writ of mandamus petition with the state’s Supreme Court Monday, asking the high court to order the Ohio Elections Commission to hold an expedited hearing on her two complaints filed April 7 against gubernatorial candidate Joe Blystone and his campaign committee.

“It was filed on behalf of Mary Capella, who’s a voter in Butler County, and it’s a challenge to the inaction and the avoidance responsibility by the Ohio Elections Commission to enforce the campaign finance laws of the state of Ohio,” said Curt C. Hartman, the Cincinnati elections attorney.

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Renacci Tops DeWine, Others in New Ohio Gubernatorial GOP Nomination Poll

Neil W. McCabe
Jim Renacci

The campaign manager for former congressman James B. “Jim” Renacci told The Star News Network that the March 28-conducted Harris poll of 1,342 Ohio Republican voters showed Renacci leading Gov. R. Michael DeWine with 46 percent support compared to the governor’s 30 percent, just over a month before the May 3 GOP primary.

“That recent Harris poll actually corroborates some massive internal data that we’ve collected over the last week or so with our phone banking operations,” said Tom Weyand, who is helming the former congressman’s campaign.

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Paduchik Rules: The Ohio GOP Central Committee Votes 36-26 to Endorse DeWine, Others Unlocking Party Support Before May 3 Primary

Neil W. McCabe

The embattled chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, Robert A. Paduchik, successfully oversaw a contentious 3.5-hour meeting Friday of the state party’s central committee held at the Nationwide Hotel and Conference Center here, culminating in the committee voting 36-26 in a secret ballot to endorse Gov. R. Michael DeWine, along with the other statewide Republicans incumbents as a slate.

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Scott Presler Brings #ThePersistence to His Ohio Tour Supporting Jim Renacci for Governor

Neil W. McCabe
Scott Presler

The conservative activist whose tagline is “Make Kindness Great Again” is bringing his #ThePersistence vibe to his tour of Ohio in support of Republican James B. “Jim” Renacci’s gubernatorial campaign.

“Well, I’m not on a bus tour, but I am in a rental vehicle traveling this state of Ohio, and I’m driving myself. I’m not living a fancy life with a chauffeur,” said Scott Presler, who worked as a dog walker and also for a Northern Virginia school system before he dedicated himself to electing Donald J. Trump president in 2016. “I take care of my own business, but I started in Medina, Ohio, doing a Super Bowl, anti-Woke party with Jim Renacci running for governor.”

Presler said he is traveling all over the state to get the word out before the May 3 primary, when Renacci faces Gov. R. Michael DeWine.

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Controversy Erupts over Claims by Ohio RNC Committeeman Jim Dicke That Document He Circulated to ORP Is ‘Full Audit Report’ Which Explains What Lawsuit Says Is $3 Million in ‘Missing Funds in Financial Statements’

Neil W. McCabe

A controversy over the financial records of the Ohio Republican Party (ORP) erupted in the days leading up to Friday’s meeting of the ORP State Central Committee (ORPSCC), the party’s 66 member governing body, at Lewis Center’s Nationwide Conference Center.The committee is widely expected to endorse Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) at that meeting in his bid for re-election in the contested May GOP primary.

Fork truck billionaire James F. Dicke II (pictured above), one of Ohio’s two National Committeemen on the Republican National Committee, ignited the controversy last month when he sent a message to all 66 members of the ORPSCC. Critics on the ORPCC, led by retired Ernst & Young partner Mark  A. Bainbridge , say Dicke’s message materially misrepresents the nature of the financial report, known as an Agreed Upon Procedures report, produced for the ORP by Compass Pointe, a small Indiana accounting firm.

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Shock Poll: 73 Percent of Renacci’s GOP Supporters Think 2020 Election Stolen From Trump, Only 39 Percent of DeWine’s GOP Supporters

Neil W. McCabe

President Donald J. Trump’s one-time campaign manager, now advising James B. “Jim” Renacci’s gubernatorial campaign, touted a new internal poll in an exclusive interview with The Ohio Star that found the former congressman is leading Gov. R. Michael “Mike” DeWine in the race for the Republican nomination to be decided in the May 3 primary.

Trump is playing a major role in Republican voter preferences for the 2022 campaign, said Brad Parscale, who tracks Renacci’s messaging and other facets of the campaign, in an exclusive interview about the poll.

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Exclusive: FBI Probing Ohio GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Blystone Campaign Finances Says Whistleblower’s Attorney

Neil W. McCabe
Joe Blystone

  In an exclusive interview with The Ohio Star, the lawyer representing a whistleblower and former co-campaign manager for Joseph K. Blystone‘s quest for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, Sarah Chambers that the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents are probing Blystone’s campaign finances. “Sarah and I met with them on Thursday, November 18, in their Columbus office,” said Scott A. Pullins, a Mount Vernon attorney whose practice has included representing many campaigns and campaign law compliance clients. Pullins also said Secretary of State Frank LaRose, and his Campaign Finance Division, received evidence of Blystone campaign finance misconduct and took no action. FBI reaches out to Chambers The graduate of The Ohio State University and the Capital University Law School said he also took note that FBI Special Agent Blaine Wetzel, one of the agents who interviewed Chambers that day, was listed as a virtual attendee at the December 16 Ohio Elections Commission hearing, where the commission reviewed the 51-page campaign finance complaint filed by Chambers and other former senior Blystone campaign staffers October 28 against Blystone, his wife, and campaign treasurer, M. Jane Blystone and his campaign committee Friends of Joe Blystone. In the complaint, Chambers, and others detailed how Blystone…

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Ohio GOP Reformers Reflect on Ohio GOP Central Committee Meeting Paduchik Cut Short

Neil W. McCabe

Members of the Ohio Republican Party’s Central Committee, who have been punished for demanding more transparency and accountability, shared with The Ohio Star their thoughts on Friday’s meeting, which ended suddenly with items still on the agenda.

Party Chairman Robert A. Paduchik had gaveled the meeting in recess until two Delaware County Sheriff’s deputies cleared out everyone from the sitting in the two dozen chairs set up in the public gallery and the people standing, who crowded the roped-off space in the back of the room.

Two of the five resolutions on the agenda were left to consider when Paduchik and his allies quickly ended the recess and adjourned the meeting on a voice vote.

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Paduchik Gavels Short Unruly Ohio GOP Central Committee Meeting; Two Resolutions Left Unaddressed

Neil W. McCabe

The Ohio Republican Party chairman gaveled shut the December 3 meeting of the Ohio Republican Party Central Committee held at the Nationwide Conference and Hotel Center here roughly 90 minutes in, leaving two resolutions unaddressed on the agenda.

“We are taking a recess until the hall is cleared,” said Robert A. Paduchik, who took over leadership of the state party from Jane E. Timken in February, shortly after 11:30 a.m., after members of the committee complained that individuals in the public gallery participated in voice votes.

The public gallery had two dozen chairs in a roped-off section in the back of the room for the roughly 100 people who showed up for the open to the public meeting. A handful of protesters held signs and during the meeting and burst into applause or cheers.

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Ohio GOP State Committeeman, a CPA, Calls on DeWine to Force Out Party Chairman Bob Paduchik

Neil W. McCabe

A retired partner from Ernst and Young, one of the Big Four international accounting firms, sent a November 24 letter to Republican Ohio Gov. R. Michael DeWine requesting the governor pressure Ohio Republican Party (ORP) Chairman Robert A. Paduchik to resign for his failure to respond to Ohio Republican State Central Committee member questions regarding missing funds from the party’s balance sheet.

“As a follow-up to my letter to you of November 8, 2021, enclosed is a letter I sent to members of the Ohio Republican State Central Committee related to unexplained ORP Net Worth Decrease of $270,600 in 2021,” wrote Mark A. Banbridge, who left Ernst and Young in 2009, before establishing his business advisory firm in Columbus.

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