Complaint filed in "payday lender" race

Sheila McLaughlin reports:

Fighting what he calls a “last-minute smear campaign” in Ohio’s 35th House District, Republican candidate John Rabenold filed an 11th hour complaint Monday with the Ohio Election Commission against his opponent Ron Maag.

Among the nine allegations is that Maag’s recent television ads and mailers wrongly characterized Rabenold as a predatory lender because of his job as vice president of government affairs for the company that owns Check ‘n Go.

At least $100,000, or about half the money Rabenold raised for his run at public office, came from the payday lender industry, campaign finance records show.

Rabenold also contends that Maag misrepresented him as a “Columbus lobbyist” because he’s not registered as a lobbyist in that city or in Ohio.

Rabenold, however, has registered as a lobbyist for the company in other states.

Rabenold said Maag also misrepresented an endorsement and made false allegations in mailers that Rabenold did not vote Republican from 1996 to 2004.

The Ohio Elections Commission won’t consider the complaint until after the primary election. By that time, voters will already have made their decision: Rabenold, Maag, or Grace Kendrick of Symmes Township.