Video footage of a rally in North Lima, Ohio, on Sunday shows Frederick “Sam” Johnson standing with Ohio Republican State Central Committee candidate Rick Barron and denouncing Barron’s opponent, Sam’s own cousin David Johnson.
David Johnson is the incumbent State Central Committeeman in the 33rd district (Columbiana and Mahoning counties) and also serves as Ohio Republican Party (ORP) treasurer. He and Barron will compete for the August 2 special primary committee seat.
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An Ohio Republican Party (ORP) Central Committeeman sent an email to party associates on Monday calling on ORP Chairman Bob Paduchik and Treasurer David Johnson to resign.
Mark Bainbridge, an accountant who represents ORP’s State Central Committee District 16 and who has led the committee’s reform caucus, wrote that the state party has suffered a decline in net worth that is “shrouded in secrecy.” Specifically, he stated, ORP reported a net gain of $147,259 through 2021 when it allegedly should have reported a loss of $162,088. He concluded that $309,347 in net expenses are absent from the organization’s profit and loss statement and that ORP had equity totaling $2,568,530 at the end of 2021 compared with $2,730,618 at the end of 2020.
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Ohio gubernatorial candidate and former U.S. Congressman Jim. Renacci (R) blasted Ohio Republican Party (ORP) Chairman Bob Paduchik, who falsely accused him of repaying a $4 million loan given to his own campaign.
“The Ohio Republican Party Chairman needs an accounting lesson. Four minus four plus four equals four. No wonder the ORP’s books are a mess,” Renacci said. “The establishment knows we are going to win this election and are resorting to low fake news attacks in the final days to try to distract from all of DeWine’s failures.”
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The certified public accountant, who is one of the five members of the Ohio Republican Party’s Central Committee suing the state party and its chairman, told The Ohio Star and The Star News Network former state party chairwoman Jane E. Timken does not have the moral courage nor integrity required to represent Ohio as a senator.
“If she could not effectively run an organization like the Ohio Republican Party, I do not believe she could be an effective senator or have any understanding of the federal budget or the complicated issues faced by a U.S. senator,” said Mark A. Bainbridge, who retired from Ernst & Young after a three-decade career there as a partner.
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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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A host of left-wing groups are suing in a last-minute attempt to halt the implementation of new abortion legislation.
“Lack of access to abortion services … clearly decreases patient safety and threatens patients’ health,” a lawsuit filed by the Ohio American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says. “Continuing a pregnancy against one’s will can pose a risk to one’s physical, mental, and emotional health, as well as the stability and well-being of one’s family, including existing children.”
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Three U.S. Senators who this week endorsed Ohio Republican candidate Jane Timken for U.S. Senate are silent after The Ohio Star reached out to ask about Timken’s alleged mismanagement of Ohio Republican Party (ORP) funds.
Tuesday, Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Deb Fischer (R-NE) endorsed Timken in the hotly contested primary race that includes candidates J.D. Vance, Mike Gibbons and Josh Mandel.
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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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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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A new poll of 626 likely Republican primary voters conducted by Public Policy Polling, and commissioned by the Democratic Governors Association, has brutal implications for Ohio Gov. R. Michael “Mike” DeWine, showing his Favorable/Unfavorable rating six points underwater.
The poll shows Republican primary voters are divided over DeWine’s job performance, with 40 percent approving of the job he is doing and 41 percent disapproving,” wrote Minami Yoshizawa, a PPP polling associate, in her analysis memorandum for the DGA.
“His approval rating when it comes to handling the Covid-19 pandemic is also underwater by four points, 40-44,” she said of the poll that was conducted Jan. 25 and Jan. 26. The poll carries a 3.9 percent margin of error.
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The new episode of The Ohio Star Podcast, hosted by Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor for The Star News Network, dropped Thursday.
McCabe interviewed Star reporter Peter D’Abrosca about his interview with Mount Vernon attorney Scott A. Pullins, who is now a candidate for state representative. Pullins is also the attorney for Blystone campaign whistleblower Sarah Chambers.
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A Republican candidate for the State House of Representatives in District 98 is suing the Ohio Republican Party (ORP) for what he says is corruption.
“I’m the new attorney for a group of State committee members trying to end the corruption in the Ohio Republican Party,” Scott Pullins, of Pullins Law Firm in Mt. Vernon told The Ohio Star.
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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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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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The retired Ernst & Young partner and member of the Ohio Republican Party Central Committee responded to charges from the party chairman Robert A. Paduchik and his supporters that he is ignorant of non-profit accounting and that he delayed the resolution of the party’s books by forcing the party’s audit firm to resign.
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A band of five members of the Ohio Republican Party’s Central Committee filed suit against the Ohio Republican Party, Party Chairman Robert A. Paduchik and Party Treasurer David W. Johnson November 29 at the Franklin County Courthouse petitioning for the court to grant their four requests:
– An injunction against Paduchik and or a temporary restraining order stopping him from reassigning members of the party’s Central Committee from their subcommittees or otherwise reorganizing the Central Committee outside the process set out in the party rules;
– Production and recovery of financial documents for a court-ordered forensic audit of the party’s books going back to the party’s fiscal year 2017, or going back as far as necessary to track down impropriety and illegality;
– Accountability and transparency sufficient to make auditable books and records that the petitioners claim has not been accomplished in 12 years, leaving the party with entirely corrupted and un-audited financial records; and
– The party’s adoption of the necessary management and officer accountability and an investigation towards the recovery of funds illegally transferred or converted from the party.
The chairman of the Ohio Republican Party sent a Nov. 30 open letter addressed to “Interested Parties,” denouncing State Central Committeeman Mark A. Bainbridge for his criticism of how party finances are handled.
“Quite simply, Mark is making crazy accusations of fiscal malfeasance to damage the State Central Committee,” said Robert A. Paduchik, who took over the party’s reins in February, succeeding Jane E. Timken, now a candidate for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate.
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The Ohio Republican Party has asked three Columbus television stations to take down a Allison Russo for Congress television attack ad against GOP opponent Mike Carey, alleging the ad violates Federal Election Commission and Federal Communications Commission rules.
The GOP party’s defense of rookie candidate Mike Carey comes just a few days before the special election in Ohio’s 15th congressional district determines who finishes out the term of Republican Steve Stivers, a 10-term congressman who resigned in May.
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The Ohio Republican Party has asked Ohio Justice Jennifer Brunner to step aside in hearing cases tied to redistricting Ohio’s state legislative district boundaries because of public stands she and her political supporters have taken on the issue.
Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Paduchik cited several instances where Brunner, who is now running for chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, acknowledged the potential for redistricting litigation and role the state’s high court might play during her campaign.
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A leader of the Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee’s reform caucus has offered more details regarding the poor integrity of the state GOP’s financial records and practices as well as a warning to fellow members in a recent letter sent to the Committee’s 66 members.
The latest salvo from Mark Bainbridge, a District 16 SCC member from suburban Columbus, specifically calls out U.S. Senate candidate and former ORP Chairwoman Jane Timken for failing to put in place internal financial controls and practices necessary during her tenure and what he considers a conflict of interest in the selection of an auditor for the party books earlier this year.
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Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci has asked Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Secretary of State Frank LaRose to open another line of investigation into the FirstEnergy Corp. public corruption scandal and incumbent GOP Governor Mike DeWine’s re-election campaign.
Renacci transmitted the joint letter to the Republican statewide officeholders Monday late afternoon in the latest attack attempting to more closely tie DeWine and the corruption scheme from the House Bill 6 passed in July 2019. FirstEnergy pushed the legislation to allow it to tap Ohio electric customers both inside its service territory and that of other investor-owned electric utilities to financially support its two old nuclear power plants located along the Lake Erie shores to the tune of $1.1 billion.
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Those expenditures are lawful and proper and are made at the Chairman’s discretion.”
– Bob Paduchik, Ohio Republican Party chairman
A small Republican grassroots panel called the Committee for a Better Ohio has challenged the legality of the Ohio Republican Party (ORP)’s decision to support the re-election campaign of Gov. Mike DeWine without the affirmation of the state central committee.
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The Ohio Republican Party (ORP) has given the 2022 re-election campaign of Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) $870,968 since January 1, 2021, despite the fact that DeWine has two announced primary challengers for the Republican gubernatorial nomination–former Congressman Jim Renacci (R-OH) and Joe Blystone.
Recent filings by the Ohio Republican Party Central Committee State Candidate Fund with the campaign finance division of Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office show the party gave the 2022 re-election campaign of Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted a $500,000 payment on July 30 without the approval of the party’s fiscal review committee or a formal endorsement of the governor’s campaign against rivals for the GOP nomination.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The treasurer of the Ohio Republican Party (ORP) has defended top management’s handling of the political organization’s financial statements against concerns the policies and procedures have created risk for improper accounting. David W. Johnson, the 32-year incumbent Columbiana County GOP chairman now in his second term as the Ohio GOP’s treasurer, dismissed allegations of poor accounting practices in need of closer scrutiny as “built of exaggerated and unsubstantiated, even false claims” from fiscal review committee members Mark Bainbridge of Upper Arlington and Denise Verdi of Timberlake and audit committee member Laura Rosenberger of Springfield in series of emails exchanged with GOP management since May. Johnson did not identify with specificity which allegations of poor accounting practices made in a series of emails sent by Bainbridge, Verdi, and Rosenberger to ORP Chairman Bob Paduchik in May and June that were “exaggerated and unsubstantiated and even false claims.” In an article published on Thursday titled, “Ohio GOP Central Committee Members Challenge Chairman Paduchik on $638k Write-Off in 2021 and $1.7 Million Deduction to Equity in 2017,” The Ohio Star reported: The Ohio Star has obtained internal emails exchanged between three of the Ohio Republican Party Central Committee 66…
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U.S. Senate Candidate Jane Timken has refused to answer questions about the health of Ohio Republican Party’s financial records during her tenure as the chairwoman of the State Central Committee. Revelations of pressure within the Ohio Republican Party (ORP) to clean up the organization’s accounting practices and its leadership’s resistance to expand the scope of an audit of the state GOP surfaced in an exclusive story published on Thursday by The Ohio Star. Timken, the party chairwoman from January 2017 to mid-February of this year, though, has emerged as a central figure in the accounting issues raised by two members of the GOP board’s fiscal review committee and another on the state GOP’s audit committee as Timken led the party as a 2017 report identified the lack of proper accounting procedures as well as the need for a full audit of the party financial statements that hadn’t occurred for at least 12 years at that point. Timken, who announced in February her candidacy for the GOP nomination to succeed retiring U.S. Senator Rob Portman in 2022, has not returned email and phone messages from The Star sent through her campaign’s press officer seeking her explanation for the books now…
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Lingering accounting issues dating back at least four years have pitted three members of the Ohio Republican Party’s Central Committee against Ohio Republican Party (ORP) Chairman Robert Paduchik over the scope of the ongoing audit of the ORP’s financial records – the first complete audit of the party’s finances in at least 16 years.
The Ohio Star has obtained internal emails exchanged between three of the Ohio Republican Party Central Committee 66 members – Audit Committee member Laura Rosenberger and Fiscal Review Committee members Mark Bainbridge and Denise Verdi – and Chairman Paduchik that discuss the need to improve the financial reporting practices of the ORP to accounting industry and government regulatory reporting standards, starting with an expansion of the years covered by a standard audit just now getting underway.
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Members of the Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee (SCC) are scheduled to meet Friday to determine if the party will censure Republican lawmakers who voted in January to impeach President Trump, elect two State Central Committee Members, and to vote on an initiative that would extend the term limit from two years to four.
According to one central committee member the initial intent was to censure U.S. Congressman Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH-16) for his impeachment vote but the effort has been “watered down” to include broader language that shifts the focus from Gonzalez and includes all GOP lawmakers who voted to impeach.
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David DeVillers is the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio who secured an indictment against then-Speaker of the Ohio House Larry Householder and four others in an alleged $60 million bribery scheme.
While Mike DeWine was Attorney General in 2018, he awarded DeVillers the Mark Losey Distinguished Law Enforcement Service Award.
This week the Republican Governor announced DeVillers will be joining a public-private partnership between the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) and a select group of talent on loan from a few of Ohio’s largest businesses.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee (SCC) voted 53-11 on Friday to elect Bob Paduchik chairman over candidate John Becker.
Paduchik will replace Jane Timken who resigned just weeks following her mid-January re-election to run for the U.S. Senate seat that will not be sought by the incumbent and two-term winner Rob Portman (R-OH).
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The Ohio Republican Party (ORP) will select its next leader Friday when the State Central Committee (SCC) members cast their votes for chairman.
SCC members will meet in person at the Nationwide Hotel and Conference Center or join the meeting virtually. The SCC currently has 65 members who are eligible to vote as opposed to their traditional roster of 66 – one seat is vacant. The Ohio GOP leader will be decided by a simple majority vote.
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Friday, former Ohio lawmaker John Becker, who represented Ohioans from House District 65 between 2013-2020, announced his candidacy for Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party (ORP).
The top spot in the Ohio GOP is open after former Chairwoman Jane Timken announced her resignation on February 5 to run for the U.S. Senate.
The Southwestern Ohio Republican declared his candidacy in a letter to the ORP State Central Committee that contained his resume.
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Jane Timken, former chairwoman of the Ohio Republican Party (ORP), announced Thursday she will seek the 2022 Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat that is currently occupied by Republican Rob Portman who announced last month he will retire from federal politics at the end of his current term.
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Both hires worked together on Portman’s 2016 campaign and Chabot’s 2020 re-election.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Jane Timken announced Friday her immediate resignation as Chairwoman of the Ohio Republican Party (ORP). The message came during a spur of the moment meeting of the Ohio Republican Central Committee during which Timken did not say whether she was leaving to pursue a seat in the U.S. Senate. The Ohio Star reported that Timken was a likely candidate for the seat U.S. Senator Rob Portman said he would not seek for a third time in 2022. Although she did not officially say she is running, Timken was re-elected chairwoman of the ORP January 15 – Portman announced his decision on January 25. Today, I am announcing my resignation as Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. I am confident that the work we have done over the last four years will leave our party in the best possible position to support Republican candidates up and down the ticket. https://t.co/04GSI5STlo — Jane Timken (@JaneTimkenOH) February 5, 2021 Timken has been officially involved in the ORP since 2010, taking over the chair in 2017. However, for decades her husband’s family (Timken), as well as she and her husband, often topped the list of GOP donors. Timken has never…
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FirstEnergy donated generously to Mike DeWine, his son Patrick DeWine, Larry Householder, who wanted to become House speaker for the second time in his life, as well as the Ohio Republican Party, as our special series shows.
FirstEnergy, as well as Ohio Republican Party Chair Jane Timken, helped Householder achieve his dream in January 2019. His first time as speaker was 2001-2004.
Householder, according to a story by cleveland.com, recruited a group of candidates for the House’s 2018 election who would need his help to gain office, the newspaper said, citing a federal charging document.
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The Dayton Daily News in January 2014 reported on allegations of pay-to-play in Attorney General DeWine’s office concerning an advisory panel.
His calendar shows he met frequently with (now deceased) Alex Arshinkoff, a lobbyist and the chairman of Summit County Republican Party who represented four companies doing business with DeWine’s office.
DeWine was not the only Ohio Republican engaging in pay-to-play. Indeed, previous news reports and public records show the Ohio Republican Party funneled money to DeWine and now disgraced former House Speaker Larry Householder from such donors as FirstEnergy.
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Mike DeWine, as former Ohio attorney general, often awarded no-bid contracts to lawyers and collections agencies to do state work. Many of those chosen vendors also happened to be his campaign donors.
The Dayton Daily News in July 2014 reported on the connections between Attorney General DeWine’s awarding of collections contracts to vendors who also just happened to be campaign donors.
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Details are emerging on how Tyler Fehrman came to help the FBI bust Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, Matt Borges and three others in an alleged $60 million bribery scheme.
Cleveland.com reported on the details, including an interview with Fehrman, here.
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President Donald Trump has set his sights on one of Ohio’s big races — former State Rep. Christina Hagan’s bid to defeat U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13).
Trump on Friday tweeted his support for Hagan.
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Is Jane Timken the leader the Ohio State Republican Party needs to help President Donald Trump win re-election when her party seems to be engaged in a civil war? The stakes are high in the Buckeye State. Trump and Biden are locked in a dead heat, according to a poll available here by RealClearPolitics. GOP insiders say the number of Republican-registered voters in the state has fallen from 2.2 million in June 2016 to 1.9 million last month. Meanwhile, Timken and Gov. Mike DeWine went on a state tour early this year to say how great things are, The Ohio Star reported. They touted the pre-pandemic economy, government spending and children’s programs while ignoring the governor’s red flag laws, his policy to allow dangerous refugees into the state and primary endorsements that the two have drawn heat on. Since then, DeWine and Timken have not addressed conservatives’ concerns over Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof’s late-night move to kill a vote on a bill to curb Dr. Amy Acton’s unrestrained powers in strangling the economy. Now, conservative-leaning county parties are showing their displeasure with state leadership by sending strongly worded letters to DeWine. It may be that letters are the…
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Matt Borges has been censured by the Ohio Republican Central Committee for working to defeat President Donald Trump and ensure Joe Biden wins the election.
Borges is the former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. However, he has been running the Right Side PAC to support Biden, The Plain Dealer reported. The party said they took the action as well due to an FEC violation and Borges’ continued criticism of Trump. They also stripped his “chairman emeritus” status.
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The classic Wizard of Oz quote “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” could apply to the attitude of the top leaders of the Ohio Republican Party.
Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Republican Party Chairwoman Jane Timken have taken to the roads to proclaim how wonderful the economy is and talk about government spending plans for children’s programs. Noticeably absent are comments about red flag laws, refugees and primary endorsements that the two have drawn heat on lately.
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Ohio Republican Party Chairwoman Jane Timken wrote an error-riddled apologetics letter sent by email on Thursday to party members defending Gov. Mike DeWine’s refugee resettlement policy.
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Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper recently claimed that “Ohio could very well be the state that ends the Trump presidency.” The comment was made during an interview on “The State of Ohio,” Statehouse News Bureau’s television program. He appeared on the show with Republican Party Chairwoman Jane Timken. The two discussed everything from Ohio’s Congressional map to the recent Lordstown plant closure, but they focused much of their attention on President Donald Trump’s chances of winning the state in 2020. “No, not at all,” Timken said in response to whether she thinks a Democrat can beat Trump in Ohio. “Donald Trump’s popularity is very high in Ohio. You think about the booming economy we’ve had. Ohio’s unemployment rate, I think it’s 4.4 percent. I travel around the state of Ohio and the biggest complaint from small and big businesses is not that they need to layoff workers—it’s that they can’t find enough workers.” “I think Ohio is doing very well under President Trump’s leadership,” she said, while arguing that the Democrats are “lurching further and further to the left” with policy initiatives like the Green New Deal and Medicare for All. “All of those things are not what…
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