Renacci goes dumpster diving

It would be blasphemous to refer to Congressman James Renacci’s personal attack on U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown as a political “Hail Mary” pass. There is nothing sanctifying about Republican Renacci resurrecting Democrat Brown’s 1986 divorce. Indeed, his ex-wife, Larke Recchie, had this to say about the Wadsworth lawmaker’s dumpster diving:

“Divorce can be difficult and ours was no different. But the political attacks against our family are just wrong. … I understand politics can sometimes be nasty, but Jim Renacci should be ashamed.”

Recchie appeared in a video that was released by Brown’s re-election campaign. According to Cleveland.com (Cleveland Plain Dealer) the video is currently only being aired on the senator’s campaign YouTube account.

Nonetheless, his challenger in the Nov. 6 general election is doubling down on his attack. Polls released last month show the four-term representative trailing the two-term senator by double digits.

Renacci, who says he owned and operated 60 different businesses before entering Congress in 2011, met last week with Vindicator editors and writers and was asked about his decision to delve into his opponent’s 30-year-old divorce.

He contended that Brown opened the door to such a personal attack when he and other Democrats in the Senate latched onto “unsubstantiated allegations” against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who was nominated by President Donald Trump for the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the Kavanaugh nomination – Brown does not serve on the panel – turned into a partisan donnybrook after the circuit court judge was accused of sexual assault by a college professor, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

Ford testified under oath that Kavanaugh attempted to rape her when they were high school students in Washington, D.C.

Two other women subsequently came forward to accuse the Supreme Court nominee of sexual misbehavior.

The FBI was asked by President Trump to investigate the allegations after Ford and Kavanaugh presented contradictory sworn testimonies.

The federal investigative agency spent about a week on the case and reportedly concluded that Dr. Ford’s claims could not be verified.

As a result, the Republican-dominated Senate Judiciary Committee voted to forward the nomination to the full Senate for confirmation. None of the Democratic committee members supported Kavanaugh.

He was confirmed by a 50-48 vote in the Senate.

Renacci, who has hitched his political wagon to Trump, told The Vindicator that he decided to dig up Brown’s divorce file because the senator was one of the Democrats who loudly condemned Kavanaugh after the sexual assault allegations surfaced.

It was pointed out to Renacci that Brown’s former wife has denied being physically harmed and that, at most, angry words were exchanged. She has also hosted a fund-raiser for her former husband.

Renacci was not impressed. He contended that while it’s great that Recchie has forgiven her former husband, the fact remains that she has not recanted the affidavits that are in the divorce file. There are several years of records, the challenger contended.

On Friday, the Renacci campaign began airing a television commercial that focuses on the divorce.

Here’s how the Columbus Dispatch reported on the commercial:

Video: Images of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and angry people pounding on the doors of the Senate. Then seemingly the most unflattering video of Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown the Renacci campaign could find, followed by images of court records. It accurately cites Brown’s quote in Monday’s Dispatch about sexual abuse survivors: “even though we did not win the vote in the Senate Saturday, we see you, we hear you, your story matters and you are making a difference telling that story.”

Script: Voice of narrator: “Innocent until proven guilty. A privilege the radical left abandoned. They tried to destroy Judge Kavanaugh with unfounded claims. And Sherrod Brown was one of the loudest voices. (Brown quote): ‘Even though we did not win the vote in the Senate (Saturday), we see you, we hear you, your story matters, and you are making a difference telling that story.’

“He would know. Court records show that Brown physically abused his ex-wife. Brown even violated a judge’s restraining order pushing, shoving and threatening that woman. Washington at its worst. Sherrod Brown. Dishonest. Phony.”

According to the Dispatch, which published a major story on the divorce in 1989, Recchie has for 25 years insisted that Brown was a good father and she has held fund-raisers for his Senate campaigns in 2006, 2012, and this year in her and her second husband’s home.

“This isn’t the first time someone has gone after my family to score cheap political points,” she said in September when a Republican political action committee raised the same charge.

But despite Renacci’s holier-than-thou attitude when it come Democrats in Congress, he is willing to turn a blind eye to accusations of sexual assault and sexual harassment, including non-consensual kissing or groping, against then businessman Donald “You can grab them by the -----” Trump. At least 19 women came forward and Trump threatened to sue them all. He hasn’t done so.

There also have been reports of hush money allegedly paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal for their silence.

The White House has denied that Trump, before he became president, had affairs with both women.

Congressman Renacci, who is unwavering in his support for the president, said, “I didn’t set standards of conduct,” when pressed on why he has not publicly repudiated Trump.

The Republican Senate nominee also bristled at the suggestion that he was being hypocritical in digging up the incumbent’s divorce file while using a private plane owned and flown by a man who owns two Cleveland area strip clubs.

The plane is registered to an address shared with the Peek-a-Boo Club in Cleveland, which is owned by Don Ksziezyk.

“I’m going with a volunteer and no one’s concerned about traveling with him or anything,” the congressman told Cleveland.com.

During his interview with The Vindicator’s editorial board, Renacci was asked if he saw contradiction between the hard-line position he has taken against Sen. Brown and his willingness to give the president a pass and his connection with a strip-club owner.

He reacted with indignation at the comparison.

But, the aspect of hypocrisy does arise when a candidate makes personal behavior a key issue in an election.