Secretly-Funded Outside Groups Have Boosted Mandel’s Campaign With $10.6 Million In Attack Ads, More Than Any Other Senate Candidate In The Country

Absentee Treasurer Josh Mandel, whose campaign is being kept afloat by $10.6 million in outside, secretly-funded attack ads, has not yet told Ohioans where he stands on the DISCLOSE Act that would shed a light on outside money. A procedural vote on the DISCLOSE Act failed yesterday on a party line vote with every Republican Senator voting against the bill, but the Senate is expected to take up the bill again.

Mandel who has “flat-out refused to take a position on issues,” has also campaigned on an empty promise to be independent from party bosses – the same party bosses who are filling Mandel’s campaign coffers during his marathon D.C. fundraising trips, including one where he was welcomed by 30 GOP Senators.

Will Mandel keep his word and defy party bosses to support the DISCLOSE Act? Will he stay true to his newfound “belief” in transparency? Or is he simply too dependent on the secret money and party bosses that are bolstering his foundering campaign?

“The only thing transparent about Josh Mandel is his willingness to lie about anything and everything to get elected, including his phony promise to be independent from the party bosses who are raising cash for his campaign,” said Sadie Weiner, spokeswoman for Friends of Sherrod Brown. “Josh Mandel is just another politician who can’t be trusted, and it’s no surprise that Mandel, secret money’s biggest Senate campaign beneficiary, refuses to come clean about his position on a bill that would make it easier for Ohioans to know who is funding the false attack ads that are keeping his campaign afloat.”