Continues Pathetic Effort To Distract From His Well Deserved Reputation As A Habitual Liar

After being called out for a disappointing debate performance filled with little more than “meaningless”slogans, down in the polls, and reeling from hit after hit from Ohio newspaper editorial boards, Josh Mandel has gone on the air with possibly his most unbelievable ad of the campaign. (I know we’ve said that before, but you’re not going to believe this.)

In an attempt to distract from his own stunning record of dishonesty, including the “Pants on Fire Crown” he wears, Mandel is running an ad that calls Sherrod “dishonest.” But laughably, the ad cites an old PolitiFact article that focused on whether Mandel was really opposed to the auto rescue, which Mandel himself said he opposes just three days ago during Monday’s debate.

“Josh Mandel’s embarrassing record of repeatedly lying has hit new lows as he laughably uses his own opposition to the auto rescue to try to call Sherrod dishonest,” said Sadie Weiner, spokeswoman for Friends of Sherrod Brown. “Ohioans know that the only candidate in this race who wears the PolitiFact ‘Pants on Fire’ crown is Josh Mandel, and no amount of ridiculous ads will change the fact that he broke his promise to serve a full four-year term, broke his promise to hire qualified staff, and has spent the last year and half telling non-stop lies about Sherrod Brown.”

Mandel Ad Cited A May, 2012 PolitiFact Article That Found Josh Mandel Had Not Yet Taken A Stance On The Auto Rescue. In May 2012, PolitiFact wrote “Mandel could have made it easy on us by simply taking a position — yea or nay. But true to form, he declined. Furthermore, his campaign communications director, Travis Considine, was adamant that our research was accurate: Mandel had not taken a public stance on the loans.” [PolitiFact, 5/18/12]

October 2012:  Mandel Finally Took A Stand On The Auto Rescue – “I Would Not Have Voted For That.  I Couldn’t Have.”  In October 2012, The Toledo Blade wrote “Mr. Mandel gave his most blunt answer yet on the $80-billion taxpayer-funded rescue that many believe saved the U.S. auto industry after the 2008 credit crisis.  I would not have voted for that. I couldn’t have,’ Mr. Mandel said, saying the bailout deprived nonunion retirees of the Delphi Co., a General Motors spinoff, of the value of their pensions.”  [Toledo Blade, 10/15/12]

“Josh Mandel Finally Made It Clear Monday That He Wouldn’t Have Supported The Auto Industry Bailout.”  In October 2012, The Associated Press wrote “Republican Josh Mandel finally made it clear Monday that he wouldn’t have supported the auto industry bailout, an issue backed and touted at nearly every turn by his Democratic opponent in the race for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat.”  [Associated Press, 10/15/12]

CNN:  Mandel Does Not Favor The Auto Rescue.  In October 2012, CNN reported “Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and the Republican seeking to unseat him, State Treasurer Josh Mandel, debated on Monday in Cleveland, sparring over whether the auto bailout and other stimulus measures had helped the Ohio economy.  Mandel said that if elected he would ‘take a backseat to no one when it comes to fighting for auto jobs, to protect auto jobs, and to grow auto jobs here in the state of Ohio’ but said he did not favor the measures.”  [CNN.com, 10/15/12]

Mandel Said He Could Not Have Supported The Auto Rescue.  In October 2012, The Associated Press wrote “Mandel, elected Ohio’s state treasurer two years ago, said Monday that while he supports policies that help the auto industry, he could not have supported the bailout because it also meant the loss of pensions for nonunion employees at Delphi Corp., a former General Motors subsidiary, and the loss of jobs for mechanics and salespeople at car dealerships that were forced to close.  ‘I’m not a bailout senator,’ Mandel said. ‘He’s the bailout senator.’”  [Associated Press, 10/15/12]

Mandel:  The Vote For The Auto Rescue Package Was “Un-American.”  In August 2012, The Columbus Dispatchwrote, “In their first head-to-head meeting of this election season, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel described Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown as ‘un-American.’  ‘I don’t toss around the word un-American very often — it’s a dangerous word to use. But stripping … Delphi employees of their pensions with that vote — that is un-American,’ Mandel said during a sit-down with Brown and editors and reporters of The Dispatch.  ‘While Josh was running for treasurer in 2009 and 2010, I guess he missed how this auto industry was going to implode,’ Brown replied. ‘And to say that my votes closed plants or that my votes caused Delphi workers to lose their pensions or that my votes caused other tragedies and devastations in the auto industry is peculiar when all four auto companies in Ohio and almost the entire supply chain … wanted this because they knew the auto industry might implode.’”  [Columbus Dispatch, ellipses original, 8/25/12]

Mandel Made An “Impassioned Critique” Of The Auto Rescue and Said The Rescue Saving 850,000 Jobs Was A “Ridiculous Argument.” In August 2012, The Columbus Dispatch stated, “Mandel also said the cost of the loans was ‘outrageous,’ that Honda and Ford plants still would be open in Ohio, and that Brown’s arguing the bailout saved 850,000 Ohio jobs is a ‘ridiculous argument.’ He issued an impassioned critique of the bailout, saying evidence showing it ‘didn’t work’ was the Mansfield-Ontario stamping plant’s shutting down in 2009. He said Brown’s vote closed the plant.” [Columbus Dispatch, 8/25/12]