Ohio House candidate attacked over defense contracts

By Jason Hart | Ohio Watchdog

Ohio Republican Party mailers are painting Chad Monnin, a Libertarian running in Ohio House District 19, as an Obama-funded candidate because of his company’s defense contracts with the federal government.

The front of a recent ORP mail piece shows an image of Monnin smoking a rolled hundred-dollar bill adjacent to text asking, “Who’s really funding Chad Monnin’s campaign?”

Next to a photo of a grinning President Obama on the reverse, the mailer accuses Monning of being “funded with federal government contracts from Obama,” citing federal records that show the company Monnin founded “scored a nearly $3.2 billion contract from the Obama administration thanks to a half million dollar deal with a lobbyist.”

“He took that money and rolled it into his campaign fund,” the ORP mailer asserts.

A native of Dayton, Monnin launched Ohio-based linguistics and intelligence firm Mission Essential Personnel in 2004 with a business partner after injuring his back during an Army parachute training exercise. Monnin stepped down from his MEP executive role in 2010 and briefly worked for Newt Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign.

“When Gov. John Kasich, Senator John McCain and Congressman Pat Tiberi were in my office, they said my company was amazing and doing great things for this nation and for this state,” Monnin said in an email to Ohio Watchdog. “But ever since I started questioning the establishment, I’m a war profiteer and a hypocrite.”

“Bush was president when I started the company, not Obama,” Monnin said, adding, “I wrote the business plan while recovering from a back injury after a military parachute jump and I brought hundreds of jobs and millions of tax dollars to this state.”

Monnin noted Republican Kasich’s support for Common Core and Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion — both programs championed by Obama and touted by ORP as sources of federal funding for the state. Kasich’s Medicaid expansion has cost federal taxpayers roughly $1.7 billion since Jan. 1.

While ORP attacks Monnin as someone who “deals with Obama,” the governor travels Ohio stumping on a message of increased entitlement spending. During an Oct. 28 speech in Columbus, Kasich implored Republicans to renew the Obamacare expansion, work together with Democrats and “respect the office of the president.”

ORP is led by Kasich loyalists and Monnin is running against incumbent Republican Anne Gonzales, an ally of the governor. ORP spent $47,603 on mailers for Gonzales during the most recent campaign finance reporting period.

“If Rep. Gonzales had ANY courage, I would have gladly discussed this during a debate (as they are valid criticisms and I was up to the task) but she refused to show up,” Monnin told Ohio Watchdog. “Why? Because she is a check-cashing puppet for the establishment and everyone knows it.”

Gonzales has missed local debate opportunities, including a Gahanna Freedom Alliance meeting organizers claim they attempted to fit around her schedule. Gonzales declined comment to Ohio Watchdog because she had not seen the ORP mailer.

Aided by an obtuse legacy press, ORP and Kasich defend the federally funded Obamacare Medicaid expansion while campaigning against Obamacare and unsustainable federal spending. This spring, ORP mailers promoted Kasich-aligned candidates for the party’s state central committee as strong Obamacare opponents.

At the same time, Republicans not on board with the party’s self-contradictory messaging have been subjected to withering ORP attacks.

Tom Brinkman, a former Ohio House member and founder of Cincinnati-based Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes, was slammed as an Obama ally in ORP primary mailers because he ran on a platform of opposition to Common Core and Medicaid expansion.

Brinkman toppled incumbent Peter Stautberg in May and is expected to win Tuesday’s general election in the 27th Ohio House District.