By Wayne Gates
Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent to influence the State House District 66 race by a group that nobody seems to know anything about.
The Growth and Opportunity PAC has spent $265,000 alone so far on negative radio and television ads against candidates Nick Owens and Adam Bird.
The group has also paid for multiple mailings to every home in the district, robo calls, surveys, Facebook ads and other attempts to influence voters to reject Owens and Bird.
Bird said that his campaign staff has estimated the total spending by the group to be half a million dollars so far. Owens concurred with that estimate.
The third candidate in the race is Allen Freeman, which the group has not targeted with negative ads. In fact, all advertising for Freeman that has been paid for by the group has been positive.
When asked about the Growth and Opportunity PAC in a telephone interview with The Brown County Press, Freeman said, “I know nothing about them. I don’t coordinate with them. I have no contact with them.”
The Federal Election Commission lists the Growth and Opportunity PAC as a federal Super PAC. That means that the group can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money as long as it doesn’t coordinate with any candidate or candidate committee.
The group is not required by federal law to file a quarterly spending report until April 15, which will be 29 days after the March 17 primary.
The winner of that primary vote in District 66 will take office as the next state representative because there will be no opposition from a Democrat in the November election.
The Growth and Opportunity PAC has been closely associated with current Ohio Speaker of the House Larry Householder, both in published reports by the Cleveland Plain Dealer and others as well as in background conversations with Columbus insiders.
The Brown County Press contacted Speaker Householder via text on March 5 and asked the following questions;
“1. District 66 will not have Democrat opposition, so the next state representative will be chosen in the primary. Why are you spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in this race?
2. How do you respond to charges that you are “buying the election” in Districts 65 and 66?”
Householder responded with the following text approximately an hour later.
“Federal law prohibits me from coordinating with the Growth and Opportunity PAC so I cannot answer why that PAC is advocating in your area. I encourage you to contact the Growth and Opportunity PAC regarding those questions.”
Filings by the Growth and Opportunity PAC with the FEC indicate that it is operating out of Lexington, Kentucky and was created by Attorney Eric Lycan with the law firm of Embry, Merritt, Shaffar and Womack, which is headquartered in Lexington. Lycan is listed as the Treasurer. He released the following statement to The Brown County Press via e-mail.
“Growth and Opportunity PAC’s involvement in Ohio House Districts 65 and 66 stems from a broken local process when it comes to vetting candidates.
We believe that the voters of Clermont and Brown Counties deserve to know the record and character of individuals running for the Legislature.
Voters put a significant amount of trust In a person when they elect them to the Statehouse. Whether it’s voting on education policy that affects students or overseeing the state’s budget, state representatives have a tremendous impact on people’s lives.
And if voters don’t know the whole story about someone’s professional record or personal character, how can they put that level of trust in anyone?
We chose to become involved after it was apparent that the local candidate vetting process was broken. In House District 65 we have a person alleged to have picked his wife up and slammed her to the ground, all while belonging to a website seeking to have affairs with other married women. In the same race we have another person who went bankrupt personally while being charged with drug use and domestic abuse. Clearly voters would not trust either of them if they knew the whole story.
In HD 66 we have a person who pushed cuts to vital services for schools while pushing for a permanent tax increase and another person who supported giving away tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses to Columbus bureaucrats.
The bottom line is that the local vetting process failed its residents and we decided to become involved to ensure voters got the whole story.”
The group has a website, www.growthandopportunitypac.org. The site consists of one page with a statement that reads “Growth & Opportunity PAC, Inc. is a political action committee dedicated to advocating for the election of candidates to public office who support policies and solutions based on free enterprise, limited government, and economic growth.”
Candidates and local GOP officials are objecting to the money being spent in the district by the Growth and Opportunity PAC.
“I think that the citizens of Brown and Clermont counties should be picking their next state representative, not a political action committee of outsiders,” said Brown County Republican Party Chairman Greg Lang.
District 66 candidate Adam Bird said “When half a million dollars is being spent on a candidate, then that candidate is now beholden to Columbus. I want to be beholden to the voters of District 66.”
He added “I think that District 66 voters are intelligent and very independent. They see through this. When they see big money pouring into the district to support one candidate, it throws up red flags about that candidate.”
Owens had similar feelings.
“I believe it is an obscene amount of money to buy a state legislator. I surely hope the citizens see through this outrageous attempt to steal our values and priorities so they can have a rubber stamp in Columbus,” he said.
“The speaker of the house is trying to pick winners and losers in our district and all across the state so that he can tell his fellow state representatives what to do and how to vote.”
Owens also talked about the effect of the negative advertising campaign on his family.
“It’s frustrating for myself and my family to work hard and dedicate yourself to serving the community and then have hundreds of thousands of dollars be spent lying about my character, my values and my record. It’s sad. It drives good people out of politics and it’s the reason we have such a corrupt system today.”
Freeman said that his campaign is not engaging in negative campaigning.
“My campaign is focused on running a positive message. We are out listening to people and dealing with the issues of the 66th district. I’m focused on infrastructure, economic development and education. That’s the only thing I’ve worked on for the entire campaign.”
When asked about the activities of the Growth and Opportunity PAC, Freeman replied, “What other people do, if they come in and add or detract is up to them.”
When asked if he would like to tell the Growth and Opportunity PAC to stop supporting him, he replied that he had already addressed that question at the Brown County Press and News Democrat Candidate Forum in Georgetown on Feb. 26.
When the Growth and Opportunity PAC was brought up for discussion at the forum, Freeman said this;
“They haven’t exactly endorsed me and they haven’t put out any direct mail pieces on my behalf…I have not sat for an endorsement of that group. I don’t know who that group is other than what I hear from the gentlemen Owens and Bird) who are sitting next to me.”
Moderator Wayne Gates then asked Freeman the following question;
“If you don’t have anything to do with these people, would you like to take this opportunity to publicly tell them to stop acting on your behalf?”
Freeman responded, “At the end of the day it is their free speech to do it.”
That prompted the following exchange between Freeman and Owens.
Owens: “You can ask them to stop, Allen. Come on!”
Freeman: “You know as well as anybody, Nick that these are all based on what you call ‘dark money’, but they are called 501C sixes. They are legal, they are allowed to do it. They have a constitutional right to do it.”
Owens again challenged Freeman to denounce the group, which led to this exchange.
Owens: “Denounce it tonight!”
Freeman: “Why? It gives you something say.”
Owens: “You are being bought and paid for by Columbus!”
“Freeman: I am not being bought and paid for by anybody.”
The election will be held on March 17.
