DeWine’s attack plays loose with facts

THE ADS: WHERE TO SEE THEM: Broadcast and cable TV stations statewide. The campaign did not disclose the cost or size of the buy. IMAGES: “Lines”: Black-andwhite video of Democratic opponent Richard Cordray and former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and images on TV monitors of unemployed workers and plant closings in Ohio. A dramatization of people standing in a line at the “unemployment office” while video of Cordray plays on a TV on the wall. “Don’t Go Back”: Video of workers on the factory floor addressing the camera. Images of Cordray and Strickland together. SCRIPTS: “Lines”: “We didn’t forget you, Richard Cordray. You were there when our taxes were hiked, and over 400,000 jobs were killed, forcing so many of us to the unemployment line. And now that we’ve recovered, you’re back. You’re back trying to force upon us those same job-killing taxes that cost us so much. Richard Cordray, if we put you back in office, then you’ll put us back in the unemployment line.”

“Ohio is moving forward. People are working. Unemployment is down. Wages are going up. The last thing we need are higher taxes. That’s exactly what Richard Cordray would do, because Cordray opposes $5 billion in tax cuts that have led to good, quality jobs. During the StricklandCordray era, taxes were raised by $800 million and Ohio lost 400,000 jobs. Higher taxes? Lost jobs? We can’t go back to that. Richard Cordray will raise taxes, kill jobs.” ANALYSIS: The DeWine campaign plays loose with the facts in its attempt to stoke voter fears by branding Cordray with the “T” (taxes) word. Ohioans have seen this theme in the 2010 race, when Republican John Kasich dumped Strickland from the governor’s office, and again in 2016, when Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman defeated Strickland to retain his seat. The DeWine commercials attempt to blame Strickland, and Cordray (who was state treasurer in 2007-08 and attorney general in 2009-10), for the 2007-2009 national recession that led to the bleeding of jobs and battered state budgets throughout the nation. The global recession’s impact on Ohio was far from unique among the states. And the attorney general has virtually nothing to do with jobs and economic and taxation policy, so it’s over the top to blame that office and DeWine its occupant. The spots again raise the long-cited red herring that when Strickland postponed the final year of a five-year, 21 percent income-tax cut to help avoid further cuts to a beleaguered state budget, it constituted a tax increase of more than $800 million. The intended 2009 tax cut was deferred for one year, to 2010. The move did not increase Ohioans’ taxes; it delayed tax relief for a year. Without much foundation, the ads assert that Cordray will increase Ohioans’ taxes. Since becoming the Democratic nominee for Ohio governor, Cordray has consistently said he will not increase taxes even though he has proposed several new initiatives. He has expressed reservations that some of the $5 billion in tax cuts approved by the GOP-controlled legislature and Kasich have deprived the state of money that could be sent to schools and local governments, but he has not said he will seek to reverse them; that would be the longest of long shots with what almost certainly will remain a Republican-ruled General Assembly. Cordray says that state revenue growth, budget surpluses and other factors, such as collecting sales taxes on more internet retailers, could provide money for needed investments on his watch as governor.

“Lines” and “Don’t Go Back,” 30-second TV commercials from the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Mike DeWine. “Don’t Go Back” (various “workers” narrating):