Ohio treasurer hires two campaign staffers

Josh Mandel seeking Senate seat held by Sherrod Brown.

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By Jessica Wehrman and Jack Torry
Staff Writers 8:24 PM Sunday, February 5, 2012

WASHINGTON — The chief of staff for Rep. Jim Jordan is taking a leave of absence to manage Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel’s campaign for U.S. Senate.

Ray Yonkura, who has worked with the Urbana Republican beginning with his first 2006 campaign for Congress, will take leave from Jordan’s office beginning next week to serve as Mandel’s campaign manager. Yonkura said his move represents a shift to a more concerted campaign mode by Mandel, who has served as Ohio Treasurer since January 2011.

Mandel has also hired Travis Considine, most recently communications director for U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., to serve as his communications director. Considine also worked on former eBay chief Meg Whitman’s unsuccessful gubernatorial bid in 2010, and worked on Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2008.

Yonkura said the campaign plans to emphasize Mandel’s willingness to “take on the status quo” to improve the treasurer’s office.

“We’re going to start to more aggressively promote his record, as a Marine, as treasurer and we’re going to draw contrasts between us and Sherrod Brown,” he said. “There’s a mess in Washington, and Sherrod Brown is part of the problem.”

Considine, meanwhile, said the campaign will emphasize Mandel’s work as treasurer. “You can’t say he’s avoided his day job,” he said.

But Justin Barasky, a spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party, said it would be hard for Mandel to tout his record in the treasurer’s office.

“Josh Mandel is ignoring his job and spending all of time fundraising for his Senate campaign,” he said, adding that the fact that Mandel is hiring only emphasizes his focus on campaigning.

Turner says pension queries ignored

Rep. Mike Turner is protesting the fact that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Program has failed to produce responses to questions Turner submitted last November over how and why officials decided to cut Delphi salaried retiree pensions by as much as 70 percent.

In a Feb. 2 letter to Joshua Gotbaum, director of the PBGC, Turner, R-Centerville, wrote that PBGC Deputy Director for Operations Vincent Snowbarger has repeatedly failed to produce responses to questions he submitted in November.

And speaking on the floor of the House this week, Turner said the agency has failed to release “even the most basic documents” about its decision to cut pensions for Delphi retirees.

“The hard-working taxpayers whose tax dollars were used to pay for the auto bailouts deserve to know who made these decisions to cut these pensions and why they were made,” he said.

Senator questions Citibank action

Calling the practice “gratuitous,” Sen. Sherrod Brown has written a letter to the CEO of Citibank after hearing reports that the bank is sending 1099 tax forms to customers who received frequent-flier miles as a reward for opening a checking or savings account.

Brown, an Ohio Democrat who serves chairman of a Senate Banking Committee subcommittee focused on banks and consumer protection, wrote a letter to Citibank CEO Vikram Pandit today urging him to end the practice, saying the Internal Revenue Service has clearly stated that frequent-flier miles are not subject to income tax.

“The last thing Citibank should be doing is creating baseless fear in middle class families, or placing a nonexistent tax burden on the backs of families who are already struggling to make ends meet,” he writes.

According to the Associated Press, Citibank has interpreted the rewards – given for opening a checking or savings account – as interest income, which is taxable.

But Brown said a 2002 ruling from the IRS clearly ruled that frequent-flier miles are not taxable.

In his letter, he said reporting frequent-flier miles as taxable income “is inconvenient to consumers, raises their anxiety unnecessarily, and is not required by law.”

WPAFB gets boost on bid for center

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill that included language aimed at boosting Wright-Patterson Air Force Base’s bid to become a center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems.

The Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill included language that requires the FAA to establish six test ranges aimed at integrating Unmanned Aerial Systems into the national airspace system. The region – involved in Unmanned Aerial Systems because of its proximity to Wright-Patterson – hopes to become one of those sites.

Turner and Rep. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, both backed the measure.

Jack Torry and Jessica Wehrman report on issues in Washington that impact Ohio. This column runs every Monday.

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