Columbus, OH – It’s been another bad week for Ohio Senate candidate and car salesman Bernie Moreno after the New York Times revealed he is lying about his phony “riches-to-rags-to-riches” story, and “pants on fire” Moreno’s “calculated process of self-creation” is raising serious questions that he is refusing to answer. As it becomes clearer that Moreno’s “story isn’t what he says,” his lies about his “rich and politically connected family” add to the long “string of inconsistencies” “dogg[ing]” his campaign and make it clear that Moreno only looks out for himself.

NEED-TO-KNOW THIS WEEK:

• New York Times reporting detailed Bernie Moreno is lying about his phony “riches-to-rags-to-riches,” “only-in-America bootstraps story” – which he has made the “signature pitch” of his campaign to voters as part of a “calculated process of self-creation.”
• Moreno continues to dodge questions about the “string of inconsistencies” and many lies he has told on the campaign trail, showing Ohioans that he only looks out for himself. 

• In a new opinion piece for the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo reminds Ohioans that Bernie Moreno supports a national abortion ban that would overturn the will of Ohioans.

PRIVATE BEACH ACCESS, A POOL, A PUTTING GREEN AND A SAUNA:  A recent New York Times report finds Moreno is lying about his family moving into a cramped, two-bedroom apartment that was, in reality, a “three-bedroom condominium in a new, 15-story high-rise” with private beach access and “a pool, a putting green and a sauna” – before he almost immediately moved into a four-bedroom house. Read more of what Ohioans are reading about Moreno intentionally omitting details of his “rich and politically connected family” and his parent’s “quick” success in America as his “signature pitch” to voters:

• The New York Times: “Within two months, Bernie Moreno’s step-grandfather had lent the family the money to move to a four-bedroom house in Pompano Beach with a pool on a canal, ocean access and a two-car garage.”

• Politico Playbook: “In fact, [Moreno] ‘was born into a rich and politically connected family in Bogotá, a city that it never completely left behind, where some members continue to enjoy great wealth and status. One brother is a former Inter-American Development Bank president who’s friends with the CLINTONS and JEB BUSH. And Moreno’s story is “familiar to the South American elite.’”

• WOSU: “Moreno’s rags to riches immigrant story isn’t exactly the whole truth… For example, Moreno likes to say that his family “came here with absolutely nothing”. And then all nine of them were living in a two bedroom apartment in Florida when they arrived in America…. And according to the records that the New York Times reviewed, that first apartment had three bedrooms not two… It was a luxury waterfront building with a putting green, a sauna and 300 feet of private beach. So it was not the small cramped apartment perhaps that he makes it out to be.”

• Axios Cleveland: “Moreno…has frequently told the story of his legal immigration and rags-to-riches success in the United States. Reality check: The New York Times recently revealed there’s more to Moreno’s upbringing and connections in Colombia than the narrative he projects. “Mr. Moreno was born into a rich and politically connected family in Bogotá, where some members continue to enjoy great wealth and status,” the Times reports.”

• Cleveland.com: Ohio Senate Candidate Bernie Moreno’s Background Faces National Scrutiny In New York Times

• WFMJ: “Now multiple media outlets are reporting on Sunday’s New York Times article that dives into Moreno’s background and compares his pitch to voters about his story of immigrating to America from Columbia and the 70s with his family, nine people total in a two bedroom apartment. But the article also points out that his uncle had some wealth and his family had status in Columbia.”

• The Washington Post: “In Ohio, questions have arisen about Republican candidate Bernie Moreno’s background, including his family’s rags-to-riches story as Colombian immigrants.”

• Roll Call: “Origin story: The New York Times examined Bernie Moreno’s rags-to-riches personal narrative and found that the Ohio Republican Senate nominee omitted some key details.”

• National Journal: “Bernie Moreno (R) is campaigning “as an immigrant who made good, reaching out to Ohio voters with a stirring, only-in-America bootstraps story….” However, Moreno “was born into a rich and politically connected family in Bogotá, a city that it never completely left behind, where some members continue to enjoy great wealth and status.” One of his brothers served as ambassadors to the U.S., and another “ founded a development and construction empire that stretches across the Andes from the Colombian interior to its Caribbean shores.”

• Political Wire: Bernie Moreno’s Immigrant Story Isn’t What He Says

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS BERNIE MORENO?: After lying to Ohioans about his phony “rags-to-riches” story, Moreno continues to dodge questions about how the “signature pitch” of his campaign is a lie. Questions Moreno must answer:

1. Why did you lie about the modest circumstances of your childhood when your family “never completely left behind” your wealth and status?

2. Why did you lie about moving into a cramped, two-bedroom apartment that was in reality a “three-bedroom condominium in a new, 15-story high-rise” with private beach access and “a pool, a putting green and a sauna” before you almost immediately moved into a four-bedroom house?

3. Why are you claiming you had a “lower-middle-class status” on the campaign trail when your family was actually “rich and politically connected?”

4. Why are you trying to mislead Ohio voters through a clearly “calculated process of self-creation?” 

BERNIE’S NATIONAL ABORTION BAN ON THE BALLOT: Bernie Moreno would “overrule the nearly 2.2 million who voted to protect abortion rights if he is elected to the Senate.” Read more from Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo in the Columbus Dispatch:

• “Bernie Moreno opposed the abortion rights issue and even donated $100,000 to Protect Women Ohio, the group leading the campaign to defeat November’s Issue 1… But Moreno wasn’t done. He then turned right around and called for a national abortion ban that would overrule the will of Ohio voters. Time and again, Moreno has proven that he’s on the wrong side of this issue and is only looking out for himself.”

• “We must reject politicians like Moreno who want to overrule Ohioans and insert themselves into private, personal decisions that should be made between a woman, her doctor and her family.”

CODA: “Bernie Moreno’s immigration tale is only true if you believe living in a luxury high rise condo tower in Florida means a life of hardship.”