GOP on negative DeWine ad: crickets

FDarrel Rowland

olks at the Ohio Republican Party were upset last week when a super PAC backing Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor for governor aired a TV commercial attacking party-backed rival Attorney General Mike DeWine.

But DeWine got a pass from the party when his campaign responded with an even more virulent commercial attacking Taylor, reporter Randy Ludlow observed.

GOP Chairwoman Jane Timken quickly dispatched a statement about the Taylor ad: “It’s disappointing to me and many other Republicans that Mary Taylor’s super PAC is falsely attacking a true conservative like Mike DeWine, who has fought hard to defend President Trump’s law-andorder policies on immigration, sanctuary cities and fighting drug dealers.”

Later the same day, the attorney general’s campaign rolled out an even-more incendiary TV spot describing Taylor as a “slacker” who is “unfit and unqualified to be governor.”

The Dispatch then asked the Ohio GOP — twice — whether the party or Timken had anything to say about DeWine’s broadside against Taylor, who did not spare the adjectives describing her displeasure with the GOP when it endorsed DeWine.

Crickets.

Then, a new DeWine campaign Twitter account — @ MaryDoesntWork — accused Taylor of committing a crime with the 2011 personal use of a state airplane, embellishing the tweet with a familiar line borrowed from the Trump campaign: “#LockHerUp.”

Ohioan Bod Paduchik, No. 2 at the Republican National Committee and Donald Trump’s 2016 Ohio campaign manager, weighed in with a statement decrying the Taylor super PAC ad and observing, “Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor was missing in action during the 2016 campaign and her supporters’ claims for the ‘Trump’ mantle are based on political opportunism in direct conflict with years of silence and inaction.”

Ohio GOP headquarters was again asked whether Timken had any statement on DeWine going negative and/or whether Paduchik cared to address the topic.

All we got was this, from state GOP spokesman Blaine Kelly: “I think it’s obvious that the use of #LockHerUp from a parody account was tongue-in-cheek.”

Many social-media commentators noted that if DeWine really believed Taylor committed a crime, perhaps as Ohio’s chief law-enforcement officer, he should have taken legal action.

Is Sherrod quaking?

Many politicians poormouth their prospects and build up their big, bad opponent to boost fundraising, but the re-election effort of Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown seems to be reaching a new high — or low.

Shortly after the White House announced that President Donald Trump would visit Ohio this week, Brown’s campaign issued a plea for money saying, “it’s just the latest sign that his standing is on the rise here,” and noting the president is backing Republican Congressman Jim Renacci.

Brown had sought cash just a few hours earlier: “If you’re wondering about the reason behind the urgency, it’s because special-interest spending is infiltrating Ohio. The Koch brothers are not wasting any time.”

Two days before it was, “I need to ring some alarm bells. We’re losing ground. The Koch brothers are targeting Ohio. And we’re not on pace to hit our goal.”

In mid-March: “It appears that we’re losing ground. My opponent, Congressman Renacci, is within striking distance.”

A day earlier: “It’s hard to be optimistic right now. We’re only 24 hours away from our mid-month goal, and we’re not on pace to hit it.”

Two days before: “We’re behind and need your help.”

Four days earlier: “Sherrod is losing ground.”

But perhaps the most creative was the day the time changed: “As exciting as it is to watch the clock change, this year, daylight saving time is making me a little anxious. Here’s why: We’re losing an hour from our work to reelect Sherrod, and with the race this close, every second counts.”