![Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel and CPPA President Steve Loomis [Annie Wu / ideastream]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/082b7c7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1264x711+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F10%2F17%2FMandel%20Loomis%20shake%20hands.png)
When the Cleveland police union endorsed state Treasurer Josh Mandel (Republican) today in his bid for US Senate, there were no union members in the audience.
The union president Steve Loomis announced the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association leadership had voted to endorse Mandel over incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown (D). Loomis said Brown is “stale” and does not support law enforcement.
“…rambles on about Black Lives Matter and false narratives and that’s just completely unacceptable,” said Loomis.
The police union is the latest endorsement for Mandel. Two weeks ago, the Pro-Donald Trump super pac Rev18 backed him. The group is also responsible for #Ditch Mitch. That’s Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. When asked if Mandel thought McConnell should be replaced as the Republican leader in the Senate..
“We’re here to talk about an election where every person in the state of Ohio can vote. I think your question is about an election where no one in the state of Ohio can vote.”
No one except Mandel, if he’s elected.
POLICE REFORM
CPPA President Loomis has been critical of the city’s police reform efforts with the US Justice Department. But Mandel did not offer an opinion on the Consent Decree.
“I’ll leave that to the experts. What I will say is, the benefit of the doubt and the assumption needs to be that police are doing their job. And we need to respect that.”
In March, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review of all Justice Department consent decrees.
Mandel said police are the good guys, and he added, it’s time to end the “false narrative” against police.
