PRE-GENERAL REPORT

10/23/2020

Pre-General Campaign Finance Reports

For Immediate Release:

Pre-General financial disclosure reports, the last information on candidates’ fundraising and spending before election, day have been filed. In the race for state representative of the Ohio 2nd district (Richland County), Sam Grady, who only began accepting donations at the end of August, raised $2,660.20 through October 14th, with an average donation of $76. The majority of the donations came from supporters of Grady’s online antics who view his campaign as that of a “poster” (as in one who posts on social media) invading the mainstream and the territory of the “normies”. 

Sam’s opponent, Marilyn John, raised $24,050 through October 14th, with an average donation of $1,336. More than half of which came from a single donation of $13,000 from Political Education Patterns, the Super PAC of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 18. John had received an additional $13,000 from IUOE and its PAC earlier in the year. IUOE’s PAC gave nearly $400,000 to former Speaker Larry Householder’s 501(c)(4) Generation Now which was used to funnel Householder’s bribe money to enrich himself and secure political power for himself and his allies. Generation Now money was used, for instance, to fund the Growth & Opportunity PAC which funded negative mailers against Marilyn John’s primary opponent. 

“$26,000 is a lot to take from one organization, especially one that gave a lot of money to a shady operation like Householder’s. That’s worrying because one day, you know, they’re going to want something and there’s that conflict of interest. I think it shows a poor judgment, that she didn’t learn anything from the Householder experience. I’m glad she donated the Householder money but I don’t think she learned the lesson about corruption or the perception of corruption in our government.” Grady commented. 

The donated Householder money in question refers to the $13,292.35 she received from Larry Householder and possibly the $1,000 from FirstEnergy, a company implicated in the Householder bribery scheme. She donated an equivalent amount in $1,000 increments to various charitable organizations as she promised to do when news of the Householder scandal broke. That and $11,000 contributed to the Ohio Republican Party represented the bulk of her $27,280.72 in spending in the latest report. 

Grady reported spending just $221.95 split between a website, campaign flyers, and donation processing fees. With less than two weeks left in the election, it’s unlikely the election becomes one of Ohio’s higher spending races but the Grady campaign promises a more aggressive and “post-political” approach in the lead up to election day.