Ad Text:

The Facts:

VICKI ALMAY: You've been hearing about drug allegations in Sherrod Brown's office while he was Secretary of State.

FACT: Secretary Of State Sherrod Brown Increased Voter Registration, Reformed Campaign Finance, Put Election Integrity Above Partisanship.

Sherrod Brown Took a Leadership Role in Increasing Voter Turnout. "Mr. Brown has - in office - creatively focused on the voter-turnout problem, which needs attention." [Dayton Daily News,11/5/90]

Under Secretary of State Sherrod Brown, Increases in Voter Registration "Most Extensive and Wide-Ranging in the Nation." "Ohio's burst of voter registration activity [is] probably the most intensive and wide-ranging in the nation…"  [Washington Post, 5/6/84]

Ohio House Passed Brown's Campaign Finance Reform Bill. The House, in an 86-10 vote, approved a measure authored by Ohio secretary of state Sherrod Brown that limits campaign contributions and spending.  [Cincinnati Post, 6/14/90]

Brown Put Integrity of Ohio Elections Above Partisanship; Ruled Against a Fellow Democrat. "With the election for governor less than a month away, Secretary of State Sherrod Brown dealt a blow to fellow Democrat Anthony Celebrezze Jr. on Tuesday: He referred three cases to the Ohio Elections Commission  suggesting that lawyers hired by Celebrezze laundered political donations through relatives and friends."  [Dayton Daily News, 10/10/90]

I thought it was important to come forward and to tell you the truth.

FACT: DeWine Has A History Of Not Telling the Truth.

Plain Dealer: DeWine's Ad "Untrue." "The State of Ohio says the ad's claim is untrue." [Plain Dealer, 10/19/06]

Toledo Blade: DeWine's Ad "Incorrect." "DeWine's attack ad found to be incorrect." [Toledo Blade, 10/19/06]

Cincinnati Enquirer: "State Documents Contradict the Ad's Accusation." [Cincinnati Enquirer, 10/20/06]

DeWine Ignores Truth, Says, "Read My Lips," Stands by False Ad. During the debate in Toledo, DeWine said I about his false ad, "The ad, Sherrod is true. Read my lips: the ad is true." [WTVG Debate, 10/19/06; Toledo Blade, 10/20/06]

DeWine Has Mrs. Broyles Lie About Brown.  DeWine has Audrae Broyles repeat an accusation first raised in an RNC ad 10/17/06, saying, "You didn't pay your outstanding tax bill for 12 years." But state records show that Brown paid his tax bill as soon as he was made aware of it, in early 1994, not in 2005 as the DeWine's ad stated.  [Mike DeWine Ad, "Seniors;" Bureau of Employment Services, Notice of Payment, 4/20/94; Plain Dealer, 10/18/06]

DeWine Submitted to GOP Attack Dogs, Agreed to Campaign of Lies in Last-Ditch Attempt to Save His Career. "The flap over the accuracy of the GOP and DeWine campaign ads comes as he tries to ratchet up his attacks on Brown in a more personal manner. The push comes at the behest of national GOP officials, who are nervous that DeWine is losing a seat key to Republican hopes to hold their Senate majority." The Dispatch reported today that national Republican leaders told DeWine "money is going to go away" if he did not "listen to [his] own people who are harder and stop listening to people who are softer" [Columbus Dispatch, 10/20/06 and 10/19/06]

DeWine Put Soldier At Risk in Campaign Ad. The Army found that an enlisted soldier's appearance in uniform, in a DeWine ad "is counter to Defense Department directives and army policy." [Stars and Stripes, 10/17/06]

DeWine's Attack "Lacks Context." "The incumbent senator's rap against the congressman from Avon, made to voters in a campaign commercial, may not be deserved, according to interviews with lawmakers involved at the time […] the criticism sorely lacks context, they say." [Plain Dealer, 7/22/06]

DeWine Admits Ad on Bipartisanship Misleading. "In an interview after the ad was released, DeWine acknowledged the tax cuts didn't have significant bipartisan support. "It's true in one out of the three examples…" he said." [Associated Press, 8/25/06]

DeWine Anti-Incumbent Ad Fails to Mention DeWine Is Incumbent. "A Republican TV ad in Ohio tries to deflect the increasing anti-incumbent sentiment from Sen. Mike DeWine…It doesn't mention DeWine, or the fact that he's served eight years in the House and 12 years in the Senate." [Associated Press, 8/29/06]

DeWine Campaign Doctored Image of 9/11. "U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine's campaign doctored an image in a televised attack ad to make the World Trade Center appear to be burning, the senator admitted yesterday." In an editorial entitled, "Tough to Airbrush This One Off," the Plain Dealer writes that images of September 11th "are symbols with which one trifles only at great risk.  But trifle is just what DeWine's hired advertising company did when it produced - and the senator's campaign approved - a "graphical representation" (his spokesman's words) that showed smoke billowing from the wrong tower…his campaign produced a historically inaccurate portrayal of the transfiguring event of our time." [Toledo Blade, 7/20/06; Plain Dealer, 7/21/06]

DeWine Aired Ad Accusing John Glenn of Supporting Communism. During his failed bid against American hero and astronaut Senator John Glenn an Ohio newspaper reported the DeWine campaign claiming, "…if Glenn had his way the Berlin Wall still would be standing and former Soviet republics still would be enslaved." [Columbus Dispatch, 10/27/92]

I was a narcotics officer sent undercover to Brown's office and I made a drug buy from one of Brown's employees. Instead of firing her, Sherrod Brown promoted her and he even gave her a raise - that's the kind of person he is. I don't trust Sherrod Brown, and I don't think you should either.

FACT: Sherrod Brown Was The First To Notify Authorities.

Dayton Daily News: Brown "First to Notify" Authorities. "Patrol records do indicate that Brown was the first to notify law-enforcement officials of possible drug use in his office." [Dayton Daily News, 8/21/90]

Columbus Dispatch: Brown Asked for Investigation. "Brown himself in 1985 asked for a State Highway Patrol investigation into whether employees in his office were selling illegal drugs, though no one was charged." [Columbus Dispatch, 10/28/06]

FACT: Major Ohio Newspapers Discredited The Allegations Against Sherrod Brown.

Columbus Dispatch: Allegations Represent a "Ratcheted-up Personal Attack."  The Columbus Dispatch recently said about DeWine's allegations: "It would seem to indicate that the DeWine campaign believes their candidate is behind, as public polls have shown, heading into the final days of the election and that a ratcheted-up personal attack on Brown is required to win. […] At best, the ad overstates the level of scandal and at worst is misleading about Brown's culpability." [Columbus Dispatch, 10/28/06]

Dayton Daily News: Allegations "Junk," "Trumped-Up," "Officially Discredited," and "Full of Baloney." The Dayton Daily News called the allegations against Sherrod Brown "junk," "smut," "sleazy," "trumped-up charges," and "officially discredited." The Dayton Daily News rebuked the Columbus Dispatch's original allegations. "The Columbus Dispatch happens to have been full of baloney."  [Dayton Daily News, 10/18/90; 11/4/90;11/9/90]

Akron Beacon Journal: "No Proof of Impropriety Found in Drug Inquiry in Brown's Office." The Akron Beacon Journal said that there was "no evidence of impropriety" for the charges against Brown. [Akron Beacon Journal, 9/2/90]

FACT: Major Ohio Newspapers Reported That Investigation Was Not Handled Properly.

Highway Patrol Accepted Fault for Withholding Information. "The patrol has accepted fault for not telling prosecutors about a mid-August 1985 drug buy." [Akron Beacon Journal, 9/2/90]

DEWINE: I'm Mike DeWine and I approved this message.