JOSH CLAIMS: His office has a perfect attendance record at the Board of Deposit.

THE TRUTH: Josh Mandel blew off every single meeting of the billion-dollar Board of Deposit and the seven other state boards he sits on during his first year in office.

1. Josh Mandel blew off every single meeting of the billion-dollar Board of Deposit during his first year in office. [Associated Press, 01/25/12]

2. Josh Mandel has also skipped every single meeting of the seven other state boards he sits on. [Salon, 10/3/12]

3. Mandel missed one meeting for a $2,000-a-plate fundraiser in Washington D.C., another for a radio interview and he has flatly refused to disclose his whereabouts during the other meetings he skipped. [Politico, 1/25/12]

Josh Mandel Did Not Attend The First 14 Meetings Of The State Board Of Deposit After He Became Treasurer.  [State Board of Deposit official minutes, 2/23/12; State Board of Deposit official minutes, 1/26/12;  State Board of Deposit official minutes, 12/22/11; State Board of Deposit official minutes, 11/29/11; State Board of Deposit official minutes, 10/27/11;  State Board of Deposit official minutes, 9/29/11;  State Board of Deposit official minutes, 8/25/11; State Board of Deposit official minutes, 7/28/11; State Board of Deposit official minutes, 6/23/11; State Board of Deposit official minutes, 5/26/11; State Board of Deposit official minutes, 4/27/11; State Board of Deposit official minutes, 3/24/11; State Board of Deposit official minutes, 2/24/11; State Board of Deposit official minutes, 1/27/11]

AP: Mandel’s Absence “Makes Him Unique Among Modern-Era Treasurers.”  In a January 2012 article The Associated Press reported:  “the total absence of Mandel, a first-term Republican, makes him unique among modern-era treasurers.  Meeting minutes, news clippings and interviews by The Associated Press show that every state treasurer since at least the early 1980s has some record of attending the Board of Deposit meetings in person.” [Associated Press, 01/25/12]

Mandel’s Recent Attendance Of Board Of Deposit Meetings Has Been Helped By Changes Made To The Schedule.  In July 2012, The Dayton Daily News wrote “Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel has attended five straight state investment board meetings, but his newly minted perfect attendance record might have been helped by changes made to the meeting schedule.”  [Dayton Daily News, 7/31/12]

Mandel Held A DC Fundraiser Hours Before The Scheduled Board Of Deposit Meeting In Columbus.  In January 2012, Politico reported “Josh Mandel — the Ohio Senate candidate who has been fully embraced by the Washington GOP establishment but besieged by a downpour of critical headlines — is facing more scrutiny about how he’s juggling politics with his day job.” Politico noted “that the first-term state treasurer ‘hasn’t attended a single monthly meeting’ of a powerful board that decides which banks will hold billions in state deposits.”  Politico continued:  “What makes the punch even cleaner?  POLITICO has obtained an invitation for a D.C. fundraiser on behalf of Mandel set for Thursday morning — just two hours before the next scheduled board of deposit meeting in Columbus.”  [Politico, 1/25/12]

 Mandel Had Not Attended Any Meetings On Any Of The Additional Boards He Serves On Until His Absenteeism From The Board Of Deposit Was Revealed. In October 2012, Salon reported, “But it’s not just meetings of the Board of Deposit that Mandel has skipped. The Ohio state treasurer serves on an additional seven boards or commissions, according to his office’s annual report, for which Mandel’s attendance record has not been scrutinized thus far. The eight boards have met a total of 48 times since Mandel took office, and he hadn’t attended a single meeting of any of them until catching heat for skipping the Board of Deposit meetings, according to information obtained through open records requests by the liberal research group American Bridge and provided to Salon. Mandel still hasn’t attended any of the other boards’ meetings, and his seven appearances at the Board of Deposit — all since the controversy began — remain the only times he’s attended any of the meetings. In his first 14 months in office, his attendance record was zero.” [Salon, 10/3/12]