Jun. 5—LIMA — A group of Allen County Democrats gathered Wednesday at the Children’s Garden, 620 W. Market St., Lima, to bring awareness to U.S. Senate Republican candidate Bernie Moreno’s alleged lies throughout his campaign as part of a press tour put on by the Ohio Democrats called “Pants-On-Fire Moreno Lies Tour.”

Lima councilor Carla Thompson spoke at the event and highlighted what Moreno has said vs. what she said has been revealed by different news sources:

—Moreno said he refused to sell Chinese-made Buick Envisions when he was a car salesman when he sold them for years, “hurting Ohio workers in Lima and our manufacturing industry,” Thompson said.

—Moreno said he escaped socialism when he migrated from Colombia to the U.S., but Thompson said that’s not historically accurate.

—Moreno said he shut down Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute while serving on the university’s board, but Thompson said it operated for years after he left the board, and he approved multiple budgets that funded that institute.

—Moreno said he built his car dealership business all on his own without handouts, but Thompson said he got a special deal and was able to purchase his dealership at a steep discount. “These are the types of handouts that Republicans don’t always want to support but are necessary for people to get ahead and move forward,” Thompson said.

—Moreno said growing up he was lower-middle class, but Thompson said his family was rich and politically connected.

—Thompson said Moreno had to clean up workers’ claims against him before announcing his candidacy.

Moreno’s Communications Director Reagan McCarthy responded to the allegations.

“Sherrod Brown and his allies are stooping to the politics of personal destruction because they know they can’t defend Sherrod’s extreme left-wing voting record,” she said. “Sherrod votes with Joe Biden nearly 100% of the time and has repeatedly supported mass amnesty for illegals and Biden’s radical anti-American energy agenda. The last thing he wants is a policy debate because he knows Ohioans will reject his pro-Biden, left-wing record.”

Thompson characterized Moreno differently.

“He’s lying to turn himself into someone he is not to appeal to Ohioans. There’s no need to do that,” she said. “Ohioans are smart enough. If you bring your real self, we can decide those things on our own.

“It’s getting harder and harder to discern what the truth is, and we have to demand honesty from our politicians and the people running to be our politicians.

“I personally have always supported Sherrod Brown because I appreciate somebody who tells the truth and who works for unions and who works for our employees and laborers in our state and I’ve seen him do that repeatedly,” Thompson said.

United Auto Workers Local 1219 President Jeff Adams spoke next about Moreno’s history as a car salesman and how Moreno’s competition, incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown, was present and willing to fight for recent issues for employees in the car industry.

“As a car dealer, Moreno refused to pay his employees overtime wages they earned, and he went as far as to shred evidence to try to get away with it, and then he got caught when he repeatedly lied about it. Even after fact-checks found his excuses to be false, he kept lying.

“Sherrod Brown had our backs in 2023 on the Senate floor… he gave a speech about how he stood in solidarity to UAW, how we should have good-paying jobs, and we deserved a piece of the pie,” Adams said. “Sherrod Brown also visited a strike line the day after we went on strike.

“Also, back in 2020 when our unemployment was a mess and got hacked, people were stealing our unemployment, Sherrod Brown was the only one that was there to help us. I personally reached out to everybody, and nobody reached back out to me except Sherrod Brown,” Adams said.

Finally, retired educator Pat Joseph Johnson called out Moreno for lying and disrespecting Ohioans.

“As one of those voters, I am insulted and appalled that one of our potential elected officials would craft such stories to get elected. Does he think we’re that gullible?” Johnson said.

Reach Charlotte Caldwell at 567-242-0451.