Really? Mandel Claims He’s Ready For “Important” Discussion About Campaign Finance Reform. If He’s Not Lying, He Should Take A Position on DISCLOSE Act.

Mandel’s Refused To Reveal Stance On Bill That Would Disclose Donors To Secretly-Funded Groups That Have Spent $11.5 Million Keeping His Campaign Afloat

It’s well known that  Josh Mandel often refuses to reveal his positions on legislation being debated in Congress, which is why it came as a surprise last week when he shockingly claimed, “I think it’s important we have a discussion about campaign finance reform.”

Really? Josh Mandel’s the beneficiary of more money from third party groups that don’t disclose their donors than any other candidate for Senate in the country, and he’s refused to discuss where he stands on the DISCLOSE Act, which would force the groups to come clean about their donors.

As has been widely reported, Josh Mandel’s floundering campaign for senate has been “kept afloat” almost entirely by an influx of outside cash measuring more than $11.5 million.

Before his campaign decided it would not comment on the record-amounts of special interest money spent on Josh Mandel’s behalf, Mandel himself claimed the third party expenditures had been “very effective” in helping to tighten the race.

Given his refusal to take a position on the DISCLOSE Act and his own comments regarding the effectiveness of outside money in this race, it’s painfully obvious that Josh Mandel’s trying to have it both ways.

Either he is lying, and he has no intention of engaging in the “important” conversation about campaign finance reform, or he owes it to Ohioans to immediately state where he stands on the DISCLOSE Act that would shine a light on the secretly-funded groups he has relied on to stay competitive.

“Since launching his campaign for senate from the empty halls of the Treasurer’s office, Josh Mandel has remained competitive thanks only to an influx of $11.5 million in special interest cash from third party groups that refuse to disclose their ultra wealthy donors,” said Sadie Weiner, spokeswoman for Friends of Sherrod Brown. “Either Josh Mandel is lying when he says he’s ready for an ‘important’ debate about campaign finance reform, or he must immediately come clean to Ohio voters by revealing where he stands on the DISCLOSE Act that would force the secretly-funded special interest groups, which have kept him in this race, to disclose their donors.”

BACKGROUND

Mandel – It’s “Important We Have A Discussion About Campaign Finance Reform.”  In an August 2012 Q & A with the Sandusky Register, Mandel answered a question what campaign finance reforms he would support with “…I think it’s important we have a discussion about campaign finance reform.” [Sandusky Register, 8/10/12]

Headline: “Josh Mandel Kept Afloat By Outside Cash.”  [Politico, 6/17/12]

Not A Senate Candidate In The Country Earning “A More Consistent String Of Lousy Headlines” Than Mandel, Yet Mandel Can Stay In The Game With Outside Spending.  In June 2012, Politico reported “There isn’t a Senate candidate in the country who has earned a more consistent string of lousy headlines than Ohio’s Josh Mandel. Yet the 34-year-old Republican state treasurer continues to defy political gravity, inching increasingly closer to Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in polls despite repeated stumbles, the cloud of a campaign finance investigation and a prickly relationship with his home state press corps. So what gives? Behold the post-Citizens United era of unlimited outside spending, where even a blunder-prone candidate can stay in the game if there’s sustained firepower trained against his opponent.” [Politico, 6/17/12]