Moreno Also Slammed For Opposing Anti-Fentanyl Bill and Supporting National Abortion Ban

Columbus, OH – There was more bad news for Ohio Senate candidate and car salesman Bernie Moreno this week with new reporting from the Associated Press finding that Moreno is using his rich donors to pay himself back after loaning millions of dollars to his campaign. Moreno still can’t hide from scrutiny about his partisan “peacocking” and the lies and baggage that are “dogg[ing]” his campaign, including the taxpayer-funded joyride he took in his $3.4 million Aston Martin and his support for a national abortion ban.

NEED-TO-KNOW THIS WEEK:

• New reporting from the Associated Press found that car salesman Bernie Moreno is using his rich donors to pay himself back after loaning millions of dollars to his campaign.

• Moreno continues facing scrutiny for his baggage and the lies “dogg[ing]” his campaign – including wasting taxpayer dollars for a joyride in his $3.4 million Aston Martin and his record shredding evidence to get out of paying his employees the overtime they’d earned.

• Reporting from the Courier Newsroom reminded Ohioans this week that not only does Morneo support a national abortion ban; he thinks women don’t need access to abortion as long as they have someone to lift heavy things such as strollers for them.

• Moreno’s partisan “peacocking” is on full display in a new editorial from the Ironton Tribune in which Moreno is slammed for “reject[ing]” bipartisanship and for having “no real interest” in advocating for Ohioans and being “intent on adding to [the] problem” in Washington.

BERNIE BUCKS: Bernie Moreno is once again showing Ohioans he’s out for himself – this time, using his rich donors to pay himself back after loaning millions of dollars to his campaign. The Associated Press report highlights “money isn’t enough” to overcome the reality that Moreno is an “untested” candidate who “might not be prepared for the scrutiny” his baggage brings.

DOUBLE FEATURE: Bernie’s baggage is on full display this week in two new videos: one showing Moreno taking a taxpayer-funded joyride in his $3.4 million supercar, and another from Pod Save America blasting Moreno for his “well-documented” support for a national abortion ban, his record refusing to pay his employees the wages they earned and shredding evidence to  get out of it, and his lies about his business origin story. 

• Heartland Signal: “Video from Cleveland.com shows at least three police cars blocking traffic in the Cleveland suburb of North Olmsted so Moreno could privately use the roads in his luxury Aston Martin Vulcan, which his dealership would later list for $3.4 million.”

• Pod Save America: “[Moreno] also supports a federal nationwide ban on abortion.”

• Pod Save America: “He settled over a dozen wage theft lawsuits related to his private car dealerships. So again, this is a guy who has no respect for workers.”

• Pod Save America: “And then you have guys like [Moreno] who claims ‘he had built his car dealerships all on his own’ when it turns out that he received insider deals that allowed him to buy his car dealership at a dramatically reduced price.”

HELP WITH STROLLERS, NOT ABORTION RIGHTS: Reporting from the Ohio Capital Journal and the Courier Newsroom reminded Ohioans this week about Moreno’s “well-documented” support for a national abortion ban and that he believes  “women need help with strollers, not abortion.” Read more:

• Courier Newsroom: “Moreno was asked about his stance on reproductive rights in February of this year. He shunned any direct answer and instead an anecdote about his daughter struggling with her child’s stroller. He then offered that helping women carrying strollers are ‘the kinds of things that we can do.’”

• Ohio Capital Journal: “…[Moreno] has called himself ‘100% pro-life, no exceptions.’”

• Ohio Capital Journal: “[Moreno] called Roe v. Wade ‘a terrible decision made over 50 years ago…’”

MORENO’S PARTISAN PEACOCKING: From “reject[ing]” bipartisanship, to saying he has “no real interest” in advocating for Ohioans, to calling the package that contained the FEND Off Fentanyl Act “357 pages of garbage,” Moreno has made it clear he is out for himself, not Ohioans. Read more from the Ironton Tribune Editorial Board about how Moreno “hasn’t offered any workable solutions” to the issues facing Ohioans and won’t work across the aisle to do the right thing for them:

• The Ironton Tribune: “When questioned on working with the other side at a campaign stop, Moreno said he ‘rejected the premise’ and flat out stated he has no interest in working with the other side, if elected.”

• The Ironton Tribune: “How he intends to accomplish anything in office remains unclear, as he seems intent on just being a voice of nonstop negativity and hasn’t offered any workable solutions.”

• The Ironton Tribune: “Moreno called the recent immigration package…‘357 pages of garbage,’ even though it included FEND Off Fentanyl Act, so beneficial to Ohioans and championed by many in law enforcement.”

  WHAT OHIOANS ARE READING THIS WEEK:

• Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey: “Meanwhile, Bernie Moreno – who is running against Senator Brown in the U.S. Senate race this November – talks a lot about crime and supporting police, but fails to do what’s right when he has the opportunity.”

• Heartland Signal: Report: Bernie Moreno closed down local roads to test drive $3.4M imported car

• Associated Press: Money isn’t enough to smooth the path for Republican candidates hoping to retake the Senate

• WCPT: “[Bernie Moreno] was recently forced by a court to pay $400,000 in wages that he had stolen. I mean he was literally convicted of wage theft – stolen from employees at his used-car business – and he says he doesn’t think there should be any minimum wage at all.”

• Courier Newsroom: “[Moreno] then offered that helping women carrying strollers are ‘the kinds of things that we can do.’ There was no further context given as to why women do deserve assistance and care when it comes to strollers, but not in an instance of rape, incest, or an emergency medical situation.”

CODA: “How [Moreno] intends to accomplish anything in office remains unclear, as he seems intent on just being a voice of nonstop negativity and hasn’t offered any workable solutions.”