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Harry Reid Attacks Marine Veteran
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Josh Mandel will face Sherrod Brown for Senate seat
From the Associated Press:
(AP) — Ohio Republicans have picked a first-term state treasurer as their U.S. Senate nominee and delivered easy victories to a host of GOP congressional incumbents, including House Speaker John Boehner.
Treasurer Josh Mandel easily won a four-way Republican primary Tuesday. He will face Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in November.
Veteran U.S. Reps. Marcy Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich were jockeying for the lead in a closely watched battle for a newly drawn congressional district linking Toledo and Cleveland along the Lake Erie shoreline. Kaptur had an 8-point lead with a quarter of the votes counted. Joseph “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher was trailing his opponent on the Republican side of the race.
Looks like Senator DeMint and the Senate Conservatives Fund are happy with the outcome:
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Mandel developing ‘rescue plan’
From the Youngstown Vindicator:
Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said he is developing a plan to “rescue the auto industry.”
When asked about the $82 billion government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler in 2009, Mandel said in a Thursday call to The Vindicator, “Our economy has not yet been rescued. So many people are still out of work.”
GM earned its largest profit ever in 2011, two years after the bailout. GM, with a complex in Lordstown that builds the Chevrolet Cruze, made a $7.6 billion profit last year. It received $49.5 billion of the bailout money.
“I’m not saying the bailout didn’t work,” Mandel said.
But Mandel said he “respectfully disagreed” that it saved the American auto industry.
Justin Barasky, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Democrat incumbent who Mandel would face in the November general election if the latter wins Tuesday’s Republican primary, mocked the state treasurer’s comments.
“Mandel’s claim to be putting together a plan to rescue the industry is a laughably candid example of how completely clueless he is as to what’s going on with Ohio’s middle class and how he’ll say anything to get elected,” Barasky said.
Brown was a vocal proponent who voted for the auto bailout, which saved thousands of jobs in Ohio, Barasky said.
Ohio: Mandel Talks Health Savings Accounts & Sherrod Brown’s $800 Billion Stimulus may have Extended the Recession
In Ohio, the Lima News reports that Treasurer Josh Mandel tells Ohioans that Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) allows individual citizens to make their own health care decisions. About 10 million Americans have health savings accounts now, Mandel said. If federal health care reform is repealed by Congress or declared unconstitutional, health savings accounts will “skyrocket,” Mandel said. If it is not, he expects they will stall. Mandel spoke before a panel discussion on health savings accounts. He repeatedly called the 2010 Affordable Care Act the “government’s takeover of health care.” “When American people have a choice, they vote with their feet,” Mandel said. “The HSA concept is one that shifts decision making from government bureaucrats to individual citizens. Who do we trust more: individual citizens to make decisions or government officials to make decisions for us.”
Meanwhile, the editorial board at the Columbus Dispatch writes that Barack Obama and Sherrod Brown’s $800 billion stimulus may have extended the recession. With the recent marking of the third anniversary of the first federal stimulus bill’s passage, it’s hard to argue that taxpayers got their $800 billion worth. If anything, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — passed along party lines, with the aid of all sorts of side deals and kickbacks to woo holdout lawmakers — ultimately might have delayed and extended the pain of the recession by providing only short-term and inefficient fixes to a much-larger economic problem, while significantly increasing the nation’s burden of debt.
Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel Makes Stop in Lima
Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel isn’t 35 years of age yet, but he has a resume that many people would like to have when they retire.
Mandel is no where close to retiring, he’s just getting started. He’s been a U.S. Marine, serving two tours in Iraq. Served two terms in the Ohio House of Representatives and he’s been elected to statewide office.
He hopes his next step is a national office, he is one of 6 republicans vying for a spot on the November ballot to take on incumbent democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown.
Mandel says it’s time for the attitudes to change in Washington.
Mandel also had an update on the 4 billion dollars in investments his office oversees for Ohioans.
Mandel was in Lima for the Lima-Allen County Chambers health care event Thursday.
SCF: First Senate Election of 2012 – Josh Mandel (Ohio)
Fellow Conservatives:
The first primary election for U.S. Senate will occur in Ohio two weeks from today. Voters can send a true conservative fighter to Washington by nominating State Treasurer Josh Mandel.
Josh Mandel is not only the strongest conservative in the race, he also has the best chance of defeating Democrat U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown — ranked the most liberal politician in the Senate.
We looked for a suitable candidate to take on Sherrod Brown for nearly six months last year. Several names were floated, but nobody stepped forward until a young, former U.S. Marine answered the call.
Josh Mandel was not recruited by Washington; he was drafted by the grassroots in Ohio. And over the past eight months, he has shown the strength voters are looking for.
In fact, when House Speaker John Boehner — another Ohio Republican — cut a deal with President Obama to increase the debt limit without balancing the budget, Josh Mandel courageously opposed it.
This kind of principled independence is exactly what our nation needs today, but it stands in stark contrast to Sherrod Brown’s blind support for President Obama’s liberal agenda.
If Josh Mandel is nominated by Republicans in Ohio to face Sherrod Brown next November, it will be one of the biggest political showdowns in the country.
The race will pit a young conservative leader with the principles and determination to restore America’s greatness against a liberal, career politician who has supported the policies that gave us sky-high unemployment and over $15 trillion in debt. Consider the contrast:
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- Brown voted FOR the Wall Street bailout. Mandel opposes it.
- Brown voted FOR the $787 billion stimulus bill. Mandel opposes it.
- Brown voted FOR President Obama’s government takeover of healthcare. Mandel supports full repeal.
- Brown voted FOR the Cash for Clunkers program. Mandel opposes it.
- Brown voted for FOR union intimidation using “card check” elections. Mandel opposes card check.
- Brown voted AGAINST permanent repeal of the death tax. Mandel supports full repeal.
- Brown voted AGAINST the earmark moratorium. Mandel supports a permanent ban.
- Brown voted AGAINST defunding Planned Parenthood. Mandel supports defunding it.
- Brown voted AGAINST the Balanced Budget Amendment. Mandel supports it.
- Brown SUPPORTS cap-and-trade legislation that will destroy jobs. Mandel opposes it.
- Brown SUPPORTS raising the debt limit. Mandel opposes it.
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On issue after issue, the choice is clear. Josh Mandel fights for freedom while Sherrod Brown fights for debt and dependency. Voters in the Buckeye State can replace Sherrod Brown next year with a true conservative leader who will stand up to the big spenders in both political parities, but that can only happen if the voters know they have a choice.
That is why the Senate Conservatives Fund needs your support to tell the voters in Ohio about Josh Mandel and make certain they know the truth about Sherrod Brown.
Josh Mandel is not as well-known as Sherrod Brown, but he’s gradually gaining on him. When we endorsed Mandel last year, he trailed Brown by more than 15 points. But a recent Rasmussen Reports survey shows Mandel trailing by just 4 points.
We can win this race, but we must work together.
Please make a contribution to the Senate Conservatives Fund today to help us push Josh Mandel across the finish line in the Republican primary election on Tuesday, March 6.
Thank you for your continued support and encouragement.
Respectfully,
Jim DeMint
United States Senator
Chairman, Senate Conservatives Fund
Mandel: Office budget down by $1.2M
From the Associated Press:
COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel says he reduced his office’s budget by $1.2 million after identifying cost-cutting measures through a comprehensive review of office operations.
Mandel, a first-term Republican running for the U.S. Senate, released results of the review Tuesday. He said it led him to discontinue buying or using promotional giveaway items with the treasurer’s name on them, and reduced or eliminated spending on promotional materials and advertising.
He says the office also is using technology more wisely to save money and modernizing banking practices as a result of the review.
A Cleveland Appearance – Cutler to Attend Mandel fundraiser.
From National Journal Hotline:
Treas. Josh Mandel (R), “whose cross-country fundraising jaunts have provoked criticism from opponents, has a top-dollar, hometown fundraiser on his calendar this month. … A Jan. 27 luncheon at the downtown Union Club is billed as Mandel’s ‘first Cleveland event of 2012′ in an invitation signed by” Eaton Corp. CEO Sandy Cutler. For $1K, supporters “can receive a general admission ticket for the lunch.” For $2.5K, “donors can also attend a private, pre-lunch reception with Mandel and Cutler.”
Cutler “is well-known in civic circles. He is a past” chair of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, “the region’s chamber of commerce. And he was a leader in the successful effort three years ago to replace” the Cuyahoga Co. commissioners with a charter government.
Cutler, in the letter: “He honorably served two tours in Anbar Province, Iraq, and is now serving as our state treasurer. … Under Josh’s conservative leadership, his $4 billion local government investment fund received the highest possible credit rating from Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch recently issued their highest rating for Ohio’s short-term general obligation bonds.”
Mandel, Cutler writes, “was drafted into this race by a strong mix of Republicans, Democrats and independents, and we are proud that he is stepping forward to once again serve his country.”
Cutler “does not directly attack” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) in the letter. “But he closes, with the assistance of another military metaphor, by encouraging recipients to ‘join me in supporting Josh in this next mission to steer Ohio and America in a starkly better direction’” (Gomez, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1/10).
Corporate Cleveland Titan Sandy Cutler to Chair Union Club fundraiser for Josh Mandel
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
CLEVELAND, Ohio — U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel, whose cross-country fundraising jaunts have provoked criticism from opponents, has a top-dollar, hometown fundraiser on his calendar this month.
The Republican state treasurer is the leading candidate in a six-way March primary to determine who will face Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in November.
A Jan. 27 luncheon at the downtown Union Club is billed as Mandel’s “first Cleveland event of 2012″ in an invitation signed by Eaton Corp. Chief Executive Sandy Cutler.
For $1,000, supporters can receive a general admission ticket for the lunch. For another For $2,500, donors can also attend a private, pre-lunch reception with Mandel and Cutler.
The invitation does not identify Cutler’s place in the corporate world; not that it needs to.
The Fortune 500 exec is well-known in civic circles. He is a past chairman of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the region’s chamber of commerce. And he was a leader in the successful effort three years ago to replace the Cuyahoga County commissioners with a charter government. Cutler cut a personal $10,000 check and helped raise money; Eaton contributed $50,000.
Cutler has contributed to other GOP candidates, notably former State Rep. Matt Dolan, who failed in a 2010 bid to become the first county executive under the reorganized government that Cutler favored. He also donated that year to Mandel’s successful state treasurer campaign.
Ohio Democrats Desprate Attempt to Slam Josh Mandel’s Work Schedule
From the Cleveland Plain Dealder
Ohio Democrats ask to see Josh Mandel’s work schedule
WASHINGTON — The Ohio Democratic Party says that state Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican, is spending too much time tending to political duties, short-changing the citizens.
Mandel, who now has served a year as treasurer, is running for U.S. Senate, hoping to unseat Democratic incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown in November. But that requires time and money. So Mandel travels the country, from Hawaii to the East Coast, taking in millions for his Senate campaign and winning significant political endorsements.
Has he neglected his current job?
The former state representative, who also served as a Lyndhurst councilman and as a Marine in Iraq, says no. He can multitask. And he regularly sends out announcements saying his office is doing the job Mandel said it would do when he ran for treasurer.
But Mandel recently declined a long-standing invitation to appear before the Akron Press Club, telling club organizers that he was “too busy.” His media strategy has him being selective, not only in terms of whom he’ll grant interviews to (conservative program hosts, for the most part) but also about giving his opinion to the Ohio press on U.S. Senate issues.
That might be smart politically; he’ll probably be much more accessible later in the year. But Democrats say Mandel, while too busy to address Ohioans through the media, seems to consistently find time to fly out of state to raise money for his political campaign.
So Ohio Democratic chief Chris Redfern is asking: Exactly what is Mandel’s work schedule like?
Today, Redfern sent a letter to the treasurer’s office asking for “the daily schedule of Treasurer of State Josh Mandel from January 10, 2011 to January 9, 2012.”
The letter is brief and mostly has boilerplate public-records-request language.
We’re awaiting a response from Mandel.
