Ohio Democratic Ads Connect Husted to Bribery Scandal, Despite No Charges of Wrongdoing

Filed 1h ago · Via FactCheck.org · The Buffoon Desk

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Bad Ideas (clean)

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Paul Keller · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Democratic ads in the Ohio Senate race tie Republican Sen. Jon Husted to the FirstEnergy bribery scandal, in which former House Speaker Larry Householder got 20 years for a $61 million racketeering scheme tied to a 2019 nuclear bailout bill. Husted backed that bill and received $3.5 million in campaign help traced to FirstEnergy, including dark-money routed through groups like Freedom Frontier and State Solutions. He has not been charged with or accused of wrongdoing in the case.

The ads splice accurate news clips together, one about the ‘largest bribery case ever in Ohio,’ the next naming Husted, without ever directly alleging he broke the law. Viewers are left to connect dots the ads decline to draw themselves. Husted's campaign calls the implication a lie; the money trail, meanwhile, is real and documented in court records and settlements, including FirstEnergy's $230 million in federal penalties.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Every word in those ads checks out and the overall picture they paint still isn't true, which is a neat trick if you can manage it. It's like telling your neighbor his dog was seen near the henhouse and the henhouse got robbed, and letting him work out the rest himself. Husted took the money and backed the bill; that's the whole story, and it didn't need the extra polish.

Source: Read the original at FactCheck.org → Scored: Bad Ideas (clean) · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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