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.
“In 36 years of campaigning I’ve never seen a candidate repay a loan BEFORE the election,” he wrote on Twitter Thursday.
In 36 years of campaigning I’ve never seen a candidate repay a loan BEFORE the election https://t.co/VQvjCgaKxL
— Robert Paduchik ☦️ (@Paduch) April 21, 2022
“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.”
The loan was not repaid but rather moved between accounting years.
The ORP has faced scrutiny for years over its own accounting practices.
Former Chairwoman of the ORP and current U.S. Senate candidate Jane Timken (R) was made aware of irregularities in the books when she first took the job in 2017. Instead of fixing the issue with the help of an ORP State Central Committee and accountant called Mark Bainbridge, she punted on the issue.
Bainbridge recently issued a letter noting just some of the problems with the party’s accounting.
“In the letter, Bainbridge said the McLean, Virginia-based Rightside Compliance LLC consulting firm in 2017 offered a detailed look into the ORP accounts which have not been audited for at least 16 years despite the ORP bylaws requiring such a robust examination of its financial accounts every year,” The Ohio Star reported. “That internal report, Bainbridge said, revealed the Ohio GOP needed to rework its books to comply with generally accepted accounting procedures – or GAAP, in financial accounting parlance.”
Paduchik has done even less to clean up the books.
Rather, he has been openly hostile to Bainbridge and others allied with the accountant.
“Quite simply, Mark is making crazy accusations of fiscal malfeasance to damage the State Central Committee,” Paduchik said in December.
“When Mark first brought up his concerns, I tried to work with him and his followers. In some instances, we employed some of his recommendations,” he continued. “ORP has hired a CPA to manage the books and campaign finance compliance. Additionally, we have hired a COO to coordinate all the ORP operational activities, so most staff can focus on what we do best, winning elections. We will always work to improve operations.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Jim Renacci” by U.S. House of Representatives. Photo “Bob Paduchik” by Bob Paduchik. Background Photo “U.S. Capitol” by Andrew Van Huss. CC BY-SA 4.0.
