Dayton Daily News...
Mandel takes on critics of campaign
GOP Senate candidate addresses allegations with Dayton Daily News.
By Laura Bischoff  

October 4, 2011 

COLUMBUS — After four years in the Ohio House, Republican Josh Mandel won statewide office on his first try — an unusual political accomplishment for a rookie. 

He wasn’t done. Just four months into the new post as state treasurer, Mandel, 34, set his sights on yet another political office: U.S. Senate. 

But Mandel’s campaign to unseat incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown next year appears to be off to a rocky start. 

He is more than 120 days late in filing a required personal financial disclosure statement with the Senate. 

Also, he is trailing badly in early polling on the race — 49-36 percent in a head-to-head matchup against Brown, according to the Quinnipiac Poll published last week. 

Mandel has also had to fend off repeated Democratic attacks questioning his ethics. Democrats allege that Mandel improperly used state campaign money to raise cash for his federal race, accepted questionable campaign contributions and spent taxpayer money on self-promotion. 

“All of us have shortcomings. We are all human, but in Josh Mandel’s case, it’s a pattern,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern. “It reflects who, at the end of the day, he is and how he will conduct himself.” 

Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine said the Democratic attacks are “inconsequential” and unlikely to be remembered by voters a year from now. 

“Josh, with his ability to build a campaign, is a credible alternative to the liberal Sherrod Brown,” DeWine said. The Democrats are taking shots at Mandel because they’re worried about Brown getting re-elected and they’re fearful of losing control of the U.S. Senate in 2012, he said. “They’re attacking Josh because they’re scared.” 

Fast rise 

An Iraq war veteran, Mandel started his political career on the Lyndhurst City Council and then served two, two-year terms in the Ohio House before running for treasurer against incumbent Democrat Kevin Boyce last year. 

It’s been a meteoric rise, which in turn has brought incoming fire from Democrats on everything from his failure to meet the filing deadline to his timing for declaring his candidacy. Mandel took office in January and formed his Senate campaign committee on April 6. 

In a wide-ranging interview with the Dayton Daily News, Mandel talked about his Senate chances, the allegations about ethics lapses and the reason he decided to run after declaring during his campaign for treasurer that he had no political plans beyond serving the full four-year term. 

On his decision to run: Mandel said he was drafted by the party and other supporters and has always answered the call to public service. He said he also likes his chances. 

“I’m hearing from a good mix of Democrats, Republicans and Independents who are disappointed and angry at the fact that Sherrod Brown has made a bunch of promises about jobs and the reality is that in his time in Washington, we’ve lost hundreds of thousands of jobs,” Mandel said. “People are frustrated, people are angry with Sherrod Brown. And it’s not just Republicans — a lot of Democrats too.” 

On ignoring disclosure deadlines: Mandel is more than 120 days late in filing the required personal financial disclosure report with the U.S. Senate. The nine-page form details income sources, assets, liabilities, jobs, businesses and other data for candidates for U.S. Senate. It is more detailed than a state form Mandel filed last spring. Democrats imply that Mandel is hiding something; Mandel’s campaign says he is awaiting clarification from Senate authorities on which of his wife’s assets must be disclosed. Mandel declined to discuss it futher. 

On the questions raised over campaign contributions: Mandel accepted more than $100,000 in campaign donations from employees of Canton-based Suarez Corp., a marketing firm owned by GOP donor Ben Suarez. The (Toledo) Blade reported that several of the donors live in modest homes, have low-level job titles and have never made political contributions to federal candidates. Yet they dug deep and gave the maximum allowable campaign contribution to Mandel — $5,000. Giving campaign money in the name of another is illegal. 

“When people support us, we expect them to follow the letter of the law and the spirit of the law,” Mandel said. “We have no reason to believe whatsoever that anyone has stepped across the letter of the law or the spirit of the law here. Again, these are people who are angry with the fact that Sherrod Brown has been responsible for so much job loss in the state of Ohio and they are motivated to support us because of that.” 

On the charge that he used state campaign money to run for federal office: Between Jan. 1 and April 1, Mandel’s state campaign committee spent $22,651, including money on travel to New York, Arizona, Illinois and elsewhere, but it raised less than half of that. Shortly after Mandel’s federal campaign committee opened for business in April, it started seeing a flow of checks from travel destinations funded by his state campaign. The Ohio Democratic Party says this pattern demonstrates that Mandel improperly used state campaign funds to pay for activity related to his federal campaign. The Democrats filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission alleging that Mandel improperly uses state resources and state campaign money to help his federal campaign. 

Mandel called the allegations “hogwash and baloney” designed to garner headlines. He said he is confident the FEC will find the complaint baseless. 

Brown’s camp responds 

In responding to questions about his campaign for Senate, Mandel was quick to turn the tables and attack Brown, saying voters are angry with the incumbent’s failed policies and resulting job losses. In voting for the multi-billion dollar economic stimulus bill, Brown promised it would create 133,000 jobs in Ohio but since that time the state has lost 70,000 jobs, Mandel said. Pinning the job losses on Brown is fair, he said. 

The Mandel campaign is also trying to link Brown to Solyndra, the California-based solar technology company that defaulted on a $530 million federally guaranteed loan. On March 4, 2011, Brown’s campaign received a $2,500 donation from Solyndra board member Tom Baruch. Baruch also sits on eight other corporate boards, donates to Democrats campaigns, runs a venture capital fund, and has ties to Ohio, where he earned his law degree and once worked. And the donation came before problems with the Solyndra loans became public. 

Ohio Democratic Party Press Secretary Justin Barasky called Mandel’s attempts to tie Brown to Solyndra “a reach.” 

“This is a desperate and pathetic attack by Josh Mandel who took money from three convicted felons in his 2010 campaign and will do anything to distract from headlines over his numerous legal and ethical violations,” Barasky said. 

Proven fundraiser 

Statewide campaigns in Ohio are never inexpensive, and next year’s battle is already shaping up as a bruising affair. Just three months after his federal campaign was formed, Mandel reported that he raised $2.34 million, spent just $161,204, and has $2.18 million on hand. That amounts to pulling in $26,000 a day in campaign contributions. 

According to Brown’s last report, he raised $6.79 million, spent $3.57 million and has $3.5 million on hand. 

Read it at the Dayton Daily News