Speaker-affiliated super-PAC backs Balderson with ads

WASHINGTON — A super- PAC associated with House Speaker Paul Ryan has launched two new ads in Ohio’s 12th Congressional District special election — part of a $ 1 million purchase on broadcast and cable backing state Sen. Troy Balderson, a Republican running for the 12th District seat against Franklin County Recorder Danny O’Connor, a Democrat.

The first ad is a hit on O’Connor, attacking him for reportedly skipping 47 percent of the meetings of the Franklin County Automatic Data Processing Board. The Congressional Leadership Fund, which launched the ad, bases the attack on a June 11 Washington Free Beacon report. The Free Beacon is a right- leaning website.

The ad says O’Connor “skipped nearly half the board meetings we paid him to attend” and “stacked his office with political cronies, donors and friends.”

“Dishonest Danny O’Connor,” the speaker concludes. “He’d make Washington worse.”

But Melissa MessinaLanthorn, chief of staff for the Franklin County recorder’s office, said that while O’Connor wasn’t at every meeting of the data board, a representative of the recorder’s office was. That representative was often Messina- Lanthorn or IT director Rob Hinton. State law requires that a representative of the office appear — not necessarily the officeholder.

According to a review of the minutes of the seven meetings of the Automatic Data Processing Board held this year, O’Connor has missed only two. Hinton was present as his representative at the two meetings he missed. The board is led by Republican Franklin County Auditor Clarence Mingo.

Messina- Lanthorn also disputed the notion that O’Connor has hired cronies. While the Congressional Leadership Fund points to Director of Operations Chris Cupples as an example of cronyism, MessinaLanthorn said he is “more than qualified” for the position he holds.

She said that when Cupples took the job, the recorder’s office was 2 weeks behind in its work. Within a month of Cupples being at the helm, they were responding to filings within two days, she said.

The second ad features a former elementary school teacher talking about Balderson’s record on education. The woman, MaryBeth Comfort of Delaware County, said Balderson is “fighting to ensure our kids are career- ready, strengthening vocational training and freezing tuition.”

The ad campaigns are part of a massive effort by the Congressional Leadership Fund to support Balderson, and come after the organization launched a field office in Franklin County this month aimed at knocking on more than 500,000 doors for Balderson by Aug. 7, the day of the special election. Balderson