The ad is a $50,000, weeklong full-page splash on the websites of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Columbus Dispatch and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. It follows an ad that the super-PAC ran last month likening Mandel to infamous local sports star LeBron James, which painted Mandel as being under FBI investigation — a claim later rated false by PolitiFact Ohio.
{mosads}Readers who click through on the ad are directed to a page that explains that Mandel’s wife owns the ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury exchange-traded fund, according to ThinkProgress, stocks that go up in value when Treasury bill values fall — indicating, Workers’ Voice says, that Mandel would win big if the government defaulted on its debt.
The ad is the first voted on by Workers’ Voice members in a campaign that allowed them to trade credits earned by volunteering for votes on where to spend the PAC’s money. Members were offered nine other statewide races and the presidential race, and they chose to invest in the Ohio Senate race, where Mandel is facing an uphill battle against incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D). Workers’ Voice spokesman Eddie Vale said the focus on Ohio was due to members’ appreciation for Brown, not necessarily their distaste for Mandel.
“The biggest reason folks had for picking that race was because Sherrod has been such a great champion of working families they wanted to get his back,” he said.
But the Mandel campaign slammed the ad as evidence of Brown’s supporters “stoop[ing] to a new low” and calling the charges “false and malicious.” Mandel spokesperson Nicole Sizemore pointed out that the assets held by the Mandels are in a family trust, over which they have no control, and called for Brown to distance himself from the attack.
“Until Sherrod Brown publicly condemns this blatantly false ad and demands that it be taken down, he is guilty of the attack as well,” she said.
–This post has been updated from an earlier version.