Corporate Bailout for Ohio’s Weakest Incumbent, Dave Joyce

Despite recent ratings changes to the contrary, Congressman Dave Joyce is in trouble in Ohio’s 14th District. Defending Main Street Super PAC, a corporate backed special interest group funded by former 14th District Congressman turned lobbyist, Steve LaTourette, just swooped in with a $67,000 TV buy to bail out Joyce.

It’s no surprise that Joyce is in trouble, given that OH-14 is a true swing district, voting for Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown 48-47% in 2012, and polling shows Congressman Joyce is vulnerable to defeat from a Democratic challenger.

 

Joyce has built virtually his entire campaign with big money from corporate PACs and Super PACs, to the tune of over $1.7 million this cycle. But voters are ready to toss Joyce for his 90% voting record with Speaker John Boehner, and his turning a blind eye to corporate inversions, a practice that allows large companies to dump their tax burden on the middle class by reincorporating in tax havens overseas.

Michael Wager, Joyce’s Democratic opponent, has been relentless in calling out Joyce’s support for corporate interests, taking him to task in a recent interview for being the largest recipient of PAC dollars from Eaton Corporation, a formerly Cleveland-area based company that moved its headquarters to Ireland to dodge paying taxes. Here’s what Wager said in a Cleveland Scene interview this week:

I’ve been aware of what are called corporate inversions for a long time. It's just another one of the enormous loopholes in the way the tax code is set up in the U.S. They're largely taken advantage of by large companies, corporations and very wealthy people who have tax planners. What they're doing is not illegal. It's just wrong. Eaton Corp. is the example I use, because they're local. And they're not fond of me using them. In a sense, I don't blame Eaton Corp. They did what was in their interest to maximize their profits. Do I believe it was wrong and inconsistent with the notion of being an American company? Of course I do. And I understand why they did it. What I don't accept is that the U.S. Congress knows they're doing it and that dozens of other large companies are doing it — and the list is growing as we sit here.

I've tried to draw David Joyce out on this. And it's more than just, 'He's a Republican in Congress and he hasn't acted on it.' He is the single largest recipient of PAC money from Eaton Corp. When I mentioned that to him in a side-by-side debate last Friday, he didn't respond. He just said it's a big loophole and something should be done about it.

Wager, a corporate lawyer, knows the tricks that these large companies use to dodge paying their fair share. That’s why they’re scared he’ll make it to Congress, push for real tax reform, and cut into their massive profits.

Things aren’t looking so good for corporate America’s lapdog, Congressman Dave Joyce. Joyce is in retreat: just days after Michael Wager went on air calling him out for his votes to shut down the government and cut Social Security and Medicare, Joyce pulled his first ad, and LaTourette’s Defending Main Street Super PAC stepped in to bail him out.

 

If you want to help Michael, a Blue America endorsed candidate, before the Super PAC ads air next week, please click here.