*Did Tea Party Republican Josh Mandel bring up some old issues about Sen. Sherrod Brown in order to get out from under his own huge problems? Josh Mandel did not pay taxes for his campaign employees, and Salon noted:
As the presidential candidates make tax policy personal, the same thing is happening in Ohio, where Sen. Sherrod Brown’s campaign is accusing his Republican challenger, Josh Mandel, of bilking the same state treasury he runs. As Mandel ran for state treasurer in 2010, he classified at least nine of his senior staffers as independent contractors instead of full-time employees, according to campaign finance disclosures reviewed by Salon, which allowed him to forgo paying some taxes to the state and the IRS.
Classifying workers as contractors instead of employees gives employers more flexibility and lower costs, as there’s no legal requirement for them to provide health benefits or withhold payroll (Social Security) and Medicare taxes. Contractors are supposed to have their own businesses and provide discrete skills, but that norm is often abused by employers who fill positions at lower costs that should be occupied by full-time employees. Employment law prohibits misclassification, and employers who engage in it with “no reasonable basis for doing so … may be held liable for employment taxes for that worker,” according to the IRS....
Is Josh Mandel liable for over $70,000 in back taxes for these misclassified employees? Mandel is the Ohio Treasurer and he should know the rules about this stuff. If Josh Mandel spent more time actually doing his job as Ohio Treasurer, he would have found out about rules, paying taxes, etc.
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The Daily Beast took a look at the Republican candidate, Josh Mandel, Ohio's absent Treasurer:..In his campaign for Senate, Mandel keeps slipping in the polls despite nearly $18 million support from groups like the Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, in addition to enjoying a home-court advantage. In statewide polls, Mandel is losing 53 percent to 41 percent to the incumbent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown. Yet the starkest contrast comes from his base-to-be, Jews who might be willing to vote for one of their own: in polls conducted by Cleveland Jewish News (CJN) of its readership, Brown now leads those polls 81 percent to 18 percent, up from 76 percent in May...
....Jewish voters seemed most concerned with Mandel’s growing reputation for sleazy campaign tactics. With a record of eight “Pants on Fire” ratings from PolitiFact Ohio (for statements “both false and patently ridiculous”), a columnist at the Columbus Dispatch termed Mandel “the candidate of the big lie, continually making statements and airing ads that stretch the truth or are patently untrue.”
....Yet even Mandel’s supporters say that on Israel, Brown’s record is near impeccable and the issue is essentially neutralized, particularly in light of Brown’s endorsement from former AIPAC President and Cleveland businessman Tim Wuliger. Meanwhile, Brown shored up Jewish surrogates and endorsements based on his history with Northeast Ohio’s Jewish community....
Sen. Sherrod Brown has demonstrated his concern for every person and his respect and dedication to helping the middle class. Josh Mandel's right wing conservative agenda has turned off more people, even those that know him best.
While I'm at it.....
If you were caught with expired plates and issued a ticket, wouldn't you go and get the new plates or updated tag for your license within a couple of days? Would you delay it a week or more and then find yourself getting another ticket for the same offense? I'm just saying.....