Ohioans gave $930K to Trump group

A Dispatch analysis shows that Ohioans contributed more than $930,000 to a political group backing Donald Trump after he “intentionally misled his donors.”

That accusation came Tuesday from Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat with the Jan. 6 congressional committee, who told CNN that “people were conned by the former president.”

Trump asked contributors “to donate to a fund that didn’t exist and used the money raised for something other than what it said,” Lofgren said.

Nationwide, $250 million was raised in the past two years, much of it solicited for Trump’s fictional “Official Election Defense Fund,” the select committee discovered. Despite the name, little of the cash was used to challenge the 2020 election, campaign finance records show.

Instead, a large amount was funneled to a leadership political action committee (PAC) dubbed “Save America,” which in turn went to bankroll Trump rallies – including one April 23 at the Delaware County Fairgrounds and one in June 2021 at the Lorain County fairgrounds in Wellington – as well as events at Trump hotels and payments to groups and candidates backing Trump.

The Ohio donors ranged from rural retirees chipping in a few bucks every several weeks to business leaders cutting a single $5,000 check – the maximum allowable per year.

Donors who ‘maxed out’

For example, Brian Colleran, head of Cleveland-area Foundations Health Solutions that runs 57 nursing homes, “maxed out” to Save America in late June 2021. It was almost exactly two years after he hosted a private fundraiser featuring Trump at his Hunting

Valley home east of Cleveland.

In 2016, Colleran gave the Trump Victory PAC a donation of $250,000. Records show he has been a faithful GOP contributor for years, with six-figure checks to the Republican National Committee and GOP congressional committee since 2020. In all, he has provided more than $2 million to Republican candidates and causes.

Despite that substantial record, Save America officials told the Federal Election Commission that they could not identify Colleran.

Abraham Miller of Shaker Heights gave $5,000 to Save America the same day as Colleran. He and his wife run Graffiti, which employs several Chinese immigrants near downtown Cleveland who make customized baseball caps and do embroidery.

While Miller’s connection with Trump is not evident, the links for other major donors are obvious. In April 2017, Vice President Mike Pence visited a Reynoldsburg electronics manufacturer called Dynalab and met privately with Ohio business leaders, including company head Gary James. In October 2021, James gave $4,545 to Save America.

Retirees, blue collar workers across Ohio fund Trump

A farmer living near Eaton. A Mccomb billing clerk. A truck driver from Brooklyn. A maintenance worker residing in New Carlisle. A clockmaker in Sunbury. A Massillon tool-and-die worker. A plumber from Burbank.

Small donors from small towns are much more common among the more than 23,000 Ohio contributors to Trump than those who “maxed out.” A large number are retired.

For instance, Carol Laposta, a retiree from the Belmont County village of Lafferty in eastern Ohio, gave 124 donations ranging from $180 to $4.50 that added up to about $5,000. (Sometimes the donations are recorded as odd amounts because part of the contribution has been shared with other Trump or GOP entities.)

A few miles southeast in St. Clairsville, Glenn Bowers, a coal miner for Consol Energy, provided 57 contributions ranging from $225 to $4.50 totaling about $6,000.

Across the state in West Milton, north of Dayton, retiree Philip Brumbaugh made 52 contributions amounting to a little more than $5,000.

Gary Van Denend of Ripley in southern Ohio, is an example of an executive who made multiple contributions. For years he has helped run Glenro’s laminating facility across the Ohio River in Maysville, Kentucky. Denend sent the pro-trump group more than $8,000 spread across about 240 donations ranging from 23 cents to $90.

FTC cracks down on drug rebates

About a week after launching an investigation of pharmacy benefit managers, the Federal Trade Commission voted 5-0 Thursday to crack down on rebates paid to PBMS and other middlemen by drug manufacturers.

“These rebate and fee agreements may incentivize PBMS and other intermediaries to steer patients to highercost drugs over less expensive alternatives,” the commission said in a new policy statement.

FTC Chair Lina Khan said the action “should put the entire prescription drug industry on notice: When we see illegal rebate practices that foreclose competition and raise prescription drug costs for families, we won’t hesitate to bring our full authorities to bear.”

Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya cited the struggle of a pair of diabetics in Dayton and Cincinnati to obtain insulin.

“For those of you who are not lawyers, what the Commission is saying boils down to this: We will use every tool we have to investigate what’s going on with drug manufacturers, pharmacy middlemen and insulin prices,” he said.

Lawsuit: CVS ‘cheated’

A newly unveiled whistleblower lawsuit by a former CVS Health executive alleges the huge health care company “cheated beneficiaries and taxpayers” to provide “astonishing profits for itself.”

The sweeping accusations of collusion echo those of critics of inherent conflicts-of-interest within the vertically integrated company, which ranges from pharmacies to a major health insurer (Aetna) to a pharmacy benefit manager (Caremark).

Since mid-2015, CVS moved to block cheaper generic drugs from going to Medicare recipients, forcing them to buy more expensive brand name drugs, said the 680-page lawsuit revealed by STAT. As a result, many elderly Americans were forced to forgo critical treatments, the suit contends.

The lawsuit was filed by CVS senior executive Alexandra Miller, who worked with the company for 19 years. The U.S. Department of Justice declined to join the litigation.

CVS said in a statement to STAT: “We intend to vigorously defend this lawsuit and are pleased that the government has chosen not to participate in the lawsuit.”

Vance, Ryan clash

More than four months remain until Ohio voters choose whether Democrat Tim Ryan or Republican J.D. Vance should succeed outgoing GOP Sen. Rob Portman.

That doesn’t stop the two camps from sniping at each other.

For example, Ryan took a shot at the $10,800 tickets for a Vance fundraiser with billionaire supporter Peter Thiel, saying it shows Vance is “not fighting for Ohio workers.”

The Vance team responded with “a quick math lesson” by pointing to a virtual fundraiser for Ryan less than five months earlier featuring Hillary Clinton, with a top donation of $20,800.

The duo also clashed over a compromise gun bill negotiated partly by Portman: Vance opposes it, Ryan backs it. drowland@dispatch.com @darreldrowland