Hagan & Flanary campaigns deny involvement in UAW CCW letter

Yesterday we reported that a document is being circulated around a union "shop" that remained unnamed. In response to our massive distribution of that information, numerous people have come forward to tell us that they too received the letter. One confirmation comes from an employee at GM Powertrain - UAW 211.

The actual document is now available on the OFCC website in PDF format. If you would like to download it, click here.

You will notice that the top of the document also says "William Flanary For State Senate". Flanary, a Democrat who is running against Republican Lynn Wachtmann (a strong CCW supporter), works at GM Powertrain in Defiance, Ohio, where the letter originates!

In an effort to confirm the facts concerning this letter, an OFCC Board Member contacted the Tim Hagan campaign, and spoke with Austin Jenkins, Head of Communications for the Hagan campaign, who can be reached at (216) 357-3140. Austin saw the document for the first time today, and informed our organization that it is not authentic, it is not authorized, and it is not an official statement of Tim Hagan.

A second call went to William Flanary at his home in Defiance, OH. Flanary was less than helpful, and said we were "sticking our nose where it didn't belong", but he eventually denied writing the letter.

Finally, we contacted the UAW Work Center at(419) 784-7279. They referred us to the "CAP Council", at (419) 782-0185. An unidentified person there acknowledge that he had not seen the letter yet, but heard that it was "all over the plant".

Commentary by Chad D. Baus:
We can only assume that an effort to mislead these honest union members to vote for Tim Hagan and William Flanary has taken place. If you are employed at this facility, or any other facility where false documents are being distributed to sway voters, we highly encourage you to bring it to our attention. This kind of dirty politics is absurd, and we all know where Tim Hagan stands on Concealed Carry Reform, or individual gun rights in general.

The document claims the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature has failed to pass "any such legislation as they promised to six years ago", yet HB274 has passed the Ohio House by a veto-proof majority. The document has the "UAW" logo in the middle of two photocopied William Flanary for Senate buttons, but nowhere on the document does it say "Paid for by", as required by Ohio election laws.

The authors of this effort should be ashamed of lying to their members.