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Community Leaders Demand Steve Stivers Take Down Deceptive Ad Amidst New Evidence Showing Stivers Ties to Organization Receiving Stimulus Funds
Columbus, OH – Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern and several community leaders had stern words for career banking lobbyist Steve Stivers about his latest ad which questions Mary Jo Kilroy’s patriotism. The ad which the Columbus Dispatch has called “ludicrous” and says resorts to “red-baiting,” neglects to mention that Stivers sits on the board of an organization that received stimulus funds and created jobs right here in central Ohio.
“In 2009, I served on the Board of Directors for IMPACT community action, with Steve Stivers who is both Treasurer of the organization as well as Chair of the Finance Committee,” said State Representative Carlton Weddington. “Steve Stivers, didn’t just KNOW about the grant, he helped approve it, and helped steer it. Stivers can talk all he wants about his opposition to the Stimulus, or how its not working…its not true. He’s lying.”
In 2009, IMPACT Community Action received a grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which directly led to the creation of 42 new full-time jobs with benefits weatherizing houses in central Ohio. Those jobs were made permanent through a public-private partnership. Stivers, as Treasurer and Finance Chair of the organization had a hand in procuring and disbursing this grant money.
“It is absolutely galling that Stivers could be on the board of an organization that sought and accepted stimulus money, created jobs and then put hundreds of thousands of dollars behind an attack because Mary Jo voted for the bill which got him the money,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern. “Stivers needs to stop lying to central Ohio and pull this baseless ad.”
Ohio law prohibits a candidate for political office from disseminating through a television advertisement “a false statement concerning a candidate, either knowing the same to be false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not, if the statement is designed to promote the election, nomination, or defeat of the candidate.” Ohio Revised Code § 3517.21(B)(10). A cursory review of the evidence could have alerted Stivers to the fact that his advertisement is false. Therefore, Stivers either knew the ad to be false or disseminated the ad with reckless disregard for its truth or falsity. In either case, the ad violates Ohio law and may not be disseminated.
Independent news outlets have found that the claims made in Stivers’s advertisement are patently untrue. Pulitzer Prize winning PolitiFact deemed identical statements back in February, “false.” The Columbus Dispatch called the ad, “ludicrous” and “red-baiting.” Further, the Dispatch states, “The ad exploits fears of China and questions Kilroy's loyalty to the United States by showing images of Chairman Mao and Kilroy's image against the U.S. and Chinese flags.”
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****** Let me emphasize these paragraphs:
...In 2009, IMPACT Community Action received a grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which directly led to the creation of 42 new full-time jobs with benefits weatherizing houses in central Ohio. Those jobs were made permanent through a public-private partnership. Stivers, as Treasurer and Finance Chair of the organization had a hand in procuring and disbursing this grant money.
“It is absolutely galling that Stivers could be on the board of an organization that sought and accepted stimulus money, created jobs and then put hundreds of thousands of dollars behind an attack because Mary Jo voted for the bill which got him the money,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern. “Stivers needs to stop lying to central Ohio and pull this baseless ad.”
Stivers applied for and received stimulus money that created jobs for the IMPACT Community Action. Once again we see that Stivers, like so many Republicans, is capable of talking out of both sides of his mouth.