Mandel signs new pledge, forgets old one
ELECTIONS /
Shortly after signing a pledge Monday to serve only two terms if he wins a U.S. Senate seat, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel said he couldn’t remember his 2010 assurance that he would serve at least one full term as treasurer.
But a video quickly emerged from Ohio Capitol Blog of Mandel saying seven years ago he would “definitely serve there (the treasurer’s office) for the first four years, likely run for re-election” and that he “definitely want(s) to be elected and serve for at least the full four years of the term.”
Instead, Mandel began running for the Senate his first year as treasurer, eventually losing to Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2012 — the same man he seeks to challenge in 2018.
Asked Monday whether he made the 2010 pledge, Mandel said, “I don’t recall.” He then listed accomplishments as treasurer and pointed to the fact that he was re-elected in 2014.
“Obviously, the voters liked what they saw,” Mandel said.
Brown’s camp quickly fired back.
“It’s laughable that Josh Mandel, a politician who’s run for office seven times in the last 14 years and broke his promise to serve a full term as treasurer, has the audacity to think Ohioans will buy his term limits pledge,” Brown campaign communications director Preston Maddock said in an email.
“Today’s gimmick was simply a distraction from the embarrassing, unrelenting press Josh has received in recent weeks as Governor Kasich and Republicans in the legislature have called him out for his shameless campaign tactics and abuse of taxpayers’ money in the treasurer’s office.”
Mandel endorsed a constitutional amendment Monday that would limit a U.S. senator to two six-year terms, saying it’s time to hand power back to the people.
In signing the 12-year pledge, Mandel, a Republican, took several shots at Democrat Brown. Mandel said Brown pledged to serve only 12 years when he was elected to Congress 25 years ago and then went back on that promise.
“He went to Washington to do good, but he stayed to do well,” Mandel said, accusing Brown of attending cocktail parties with and taking campaign contributions from “coastal elites” from places like Massachusetts and San Francisco.
Over his time in office, Brown has lost touch with the people of Ohio, Mandel said.
“It started when he broke his pledge,” Mandel said.
Mandel made an earlier term-limits pledge when he ran unsuccessfully against Brown in 2012.
And he brought up Brown’s broken promise at that time, too.
When Brown ran for Congress in 1992, he said he supported a 12-year limit on congressional service.
But when he reached the 12-year mark in 2004, Brown
said, “Frankly, I’ve watched the state legislature and ... I’ve changed my mind,” an Associated Press article reported. Brown said term limits kept local lawmakers more focused on learning the ropes and being re-elected than dealing with problems such as school funding, health care and the budget, AP said.
Mandel said Monday that term limits are a way to “transfer power from politicians to the people.”
Asked if limits wouldn’t take away people’s power to vote for 12-year incumbents, Mandel said incumbents have unfair advantages. For example, members of Congress have franking privileges that allow them to send official (not campaign) mail to constituents at taxpayer expense, he said.
Nick Tomboulides, executive director of the advocacy group U.S. Term Limits who was at the news conference, said term limits have consistently been popular with voters and it’s time for Congress to heed them.