1 week Ago
Rotunda Rumblings Missed votes: Since becoming Donald Trump’s vice-presidential running mate in July, U.S. Sen.
JD Vance hasn’t cast a single vote in Congress, Sabrina Eaton reports. The 42 votes the Cincinnati Republican missed while on the campaign trail for Trump were mostly to confirm federal appointees but they also included measures to expand the right to in-vitro fertilization, and to extend government funding and avoid a partial government shutdown. In less than two years in Congress, Vance has skipped more votes than Ohio’s other U.
S. Senator, Cleveland Democrat Sherrod Brown, missed in more than 17 years on the job. Modell law: The author of a state law designed to block sports teams like the Cleveland Browns from leaving cities that subsidized them with tax dollars says he’ll ensure - one way or another - that it’s invoked to fight the franchise’s recently announced relocation to Brook Park, Eaton writes.
During his days as an Ohio legislator, ex-Cleveland Mayor and U.S. Rep.
Dennis Kucinich authored a 1996 law that requires taxpayer-funded sports teams to give their cities six months notice before leaving town and give the city and its residents a chance to buy the team. It was inspired by former Browns owner Art Modell’s 1995 decision to move the Browns to Baltimore, where they became the Ravens. If Cleveland city officials don’t invoke the law, Kucinich said Monday he’ll file a taxpayer lawsuit in an attempt to force their hand.
ID check: Recently naturalized U.S. citizens who haven’t yet replaced their “noncitizen”-labeled Ohio driver’s licenses and ID cards can still use them as photo ID at the polls, so long as they also have proof of citizenship and sign an affidavit, according to recent guidance from Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office.
As Jeremy Pelzer reports , LaRose’s office previously asserted, on its website and in a June directive to elections officials, that such cards were “unacceptable” under the state’s new photo ID law. A LaRose spokesman said the new guidance was being developed before some liberal and voting-rights groups complained in a letter last week that LaRose’s earlier instructions were “putting the voting rights of some individuals at risk.” Assassination report: U.
S. Rep. Dave Joyce on Monday criticized the U.
S. Secret Service for failing to coordinate with other law enforcement agencies to secure a July 13 event in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman shot at ex-President Donald Trump and killed a bystander, Eaton writes . Joyce, a South Russell Republican and the only Ohioan on a bipartisan task force investigating this summer‘s attempts to assassinate Trump, said a 53-page interim report the task force released Monday revealed “the blatant lack of coordination by the Secret Service to properly secure the event.
” Taking a hit: The Ohio Division of Cannabis Control has recalled vaping flower grown by Paragon Development Group in Tipp City, near Dayton, because it wasn’t packaged in child-resistant bags. The flower was sold in mylar bags, and state regulators say people who purchased the product should return it at the dispensary where they purchased it, or store it in packaging harder for kids to get into, Laura Hancock reports. Election patrol: The U.
S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio named two prosecutors to field any election offense complaints for voting day Nov. 5.
As Jake Zuckerman reports , FBI field offices will be taking tips as well. Playing the Trump card: In Republican U.S.
Senate nominee Bernie Moreno’s latest campaign ad, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump makes a direct appeal for Ohio voters to back Moreno over Democratic U.S. Sen.
Sherrod Brown because of their stances on immigration. In the ad , Trump calls Brown “a radical left politician” who’s “for broken borders,” but that “Bernie Moreno will stop it. He’s going to secure our border, and you gotta go out and back Bernie Moreno.
” The ad’s part of an existing joint ad buy from Moreno’s campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Ad on: Americans for Contraception Victory Fund, a liberal political action committee, is spending $1 million to run a new digital ad around Ohio criticizing Moreno for opposing the Right to Contraception Act and praising Brown for supporting the bill. What we’re watching this week Last week, a Franklin County magistrate ruled that the Ohio House Republican Alliance owes a $1.
6 million debt. Meanwhile, a faction of House Republicans are asking the Supreme Court to hand them control of OHRA’s political bank account in lieu of the sitting House Speaker. So how does this all end? Pre-general campaign finance reports for statehouse races are due Thursday.
Look for signs of where future House leadership candidates are lending a hand On a related note, how deeply have the state parties been investing in the Supreme Court races this cycle? Is it closing message time yet? In Senate, Supreme Court, Issue 1 and congressional races, what’s the last message the campaigns want voters to hear as they cast ballots? On the Move Michael Hall and Brittany Warner have been named partners of The CJR Group, a Columbus-based lobbying firm. Hall is a former chief of staff to Gov. Mike DeWine and most recently was a partner with Ice Miller’s Government Affairs and Regulatory Law Group.
Warner, a former spokeswoman for the Ohio Republican Party and DeWine’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign, has been CJR’s president. Tick Tock The 2024 election is approaching, where Ohioans will help decide the presidential race, control of the U.S.
Senate, how the state draws state legislative and congressional lines and many other down-ballot races. Here are some key dates in the election countdown: Deadline to request an absentee ballot..
. 7 days (Oct. 29) Final day of early voting.
.. 12 days (Nov.
3) Last day to postmark an absentee ballot...
13 days (Nov. 4) Election Day..
. 14 days (Nov. 5) Also, make sure to check out our Ohio guide to the 2024 November election Straight From The Source “The groundwork is being laid to question the validity and integrity of the election.
” - Freda Levenson, legal director for the ACLU of Ohio, speaking to the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau about a wave of citizen-led mass voter challenges being filed all around Ohio . Read more Ohio politics stories New U.S.
citizens in Ohio can still use ‘noncitizen’-labeled driver‘s licenses to vote, LaRose’s office clarifies U.S. Rep.
Dave Joyce decries security failures as task force releases report on Trump assassination attempt Dennis Kucinich threatens taxpayer lawsuit if city won’t invoke ’Modell law’ to block Browns move Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. Subscribe to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free..
