Panel says campaign made false statement

September 27, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS

By a 2-1 vote, an Ohio Elections Commission panel found probable cause that U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson’s campaign made a false statement about the campaign of his rival, Democrat Charlie Wilson.

But the panel ruled Wednesday that there wasn’t probable cause on three other complaints filed by Wilson’s campaign against the campaign of the Republican incumbent in the 6th Congressional District race.

That decision came six days after a four-member panel, two Democrats and two Republicans, unanimously voted that Wilson’s campaign made a false statement in a campaign ad that Johnson “voted to kill Medicare.”

Full hearings on both matters are set for Oct. 4 in front of the full commission.

A different panel, consisting of three members, voted Wednesday to find probable cause that Johnson’s campaign improperly used the plural “false statements” rather than the singular in a press release issued last week.

The Democratic and independent panel members voted yes while the Republican voted no.

Mark Weaver, Johnson’s campaign spokesman, said the finding against the Republican “is a rather technical issue compared to” Wilson’s.

Statements that Johnson and other Republicans “voted to kill Medicare,” was called the “Lie of the Year” by Politifact, a newspaper political fact- checking program.

J.R. Starrett, Wilson’s campaign manager, said Johnson “voted to kill the Medicare system that our seniors know.”