CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Rep. Jim Renacci, the Republican Senate candidate, on Friday defended flying in a strip-club owner's private plane to a meeting earlier this week with faith leaders in Scioto County.
While deflecting questions about flying with Don Ksiezyk on Ksziezyk's plane to the Tuesday event in Portsmouth, Renacci seemed to acknowledge doing so.
"I'm going with a volunteer, and no one's concerned about traveling with him or anything," Renacci said. "Again, it's so sad that we're worried about my travel, which is legal, but you won't report on Sherrod Brown's multiple abuses over the years."
Renacci was referencing his recent campaign strategy -- which has been reported on by cleveland.com -- of repeatedly calling attention to details from Brown's 1986 divorce, in which his then-wife accused him of frightening her and being rough with her. She's since become a vocal campaign supporter of Brown's, saying her heated divorce "led only to angry words," and has denounced Renacci's efforts to highlight the issue. Brown has denied being violent with his ex-wife, as he has when the issue has been raised in previous elections.
Flight records show a plane registered to an address shared with the Peek-a-Boo Club in Cleveland, which is owned by Ksiezyk, flew from the Wooster area to Portsmouth around 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Later that evening, Renacci tweeted about meeting with the "faith leaders" before he attended a Scioto County Republican Party event.
Renacci took the flight the week after the Columbus Dispatch first reported Ksiezyk had flown Renacci to events across the state throughout his campaign in the single-engine, fixed-wing plane. Renacci has reported the free travel as an in-kind contribution worth about $2,500.
"He's a volunteer who... I met during the campaign. He asked to volunteer for me," Renacci said. "I'm not going to vet volunteers, and I'm not going to vet the press's looking at volunteers."
Renacci was in Cleveland on Friday for an endorsement interview with the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. Afterward, he was also asked about growing concerns among Ohio Republicans about his campaign's lack of advertising since the May primary. Between reservations and actual spending, Brown is set to spend about $12.5 million on advertising, while Renacci has spent just $481,000.
Some Ohio Republicans have questioned whether Renacci's lack of advertising reflects his unwillingness to spend his own money on his race. Renacci has loaned his campaign $4 million of his own money, which represents the majority of his campaign fundraising.
Asked about those concerns, Renacci refused to say if he planned to spend the $4 million before Election Day.
"Our plans are our plans and that's not something I'm going to leak to the press and talk about," Renacci said. "We have a plan, and we're going to exercise our plan."
Cleveland.com reporter Seth A. Richardson contributed to this report.