NEW: Moreno Lying About Getting Rid of Confucius Institute

NEW: Moreno Lying About Getting Rid of Confucius Institute

April 5, 2024

Columbus Dispatch: Bernie Moreno Said An Ohio Confucius Institute Closed Under His Watch. It Didn't

Columbus, OH - While Bernie Moreno has repeatedly "bragged about eliminating" Cleveland State's Confucius Institute while serving on the university's Board of Trustees, a new report today revealed Moreno is lying and "the timing doesn't line up." Not only did the Confucius Institute continue to operate for "three years" after Moreno left the board, Moreno "approved university budgets that funded the program" totaling nearly $80,000. The Dispatch notes this is "the latest in a string of inconsistencies that have dogged his campaign," including lies that Moreno "escap[ed]" socialism and lies about his business origin story.

Read more:

Columbus Dispatch: Bernie Moreno said an Ohio Confucius Institute closed under his watch. It didn't

Haley BeMiller

April 5, 2024

• "I chaired the board of trustees at Cleveland State University, and I'm very proud of the fact that when I was there, we got rid of our Confucius Institute," Moreno said during a campaign event in March 2023. "We made certain that we focused everybody on student achievement, and we respected free speech on campus."

• He recounted the same story in Strongsville months later: "I was a chairman of the board here at Cleveland State. I was vice chair at (Cuyahoga Community College). I'm very proud of the things that I did there, making certain that at Cleveland State we honored free speech. We got rid of our Confucius Institute. We didn't allow our kids to be brainwashed."

• But the timing doesn't line up. While Moreno did chair the board, his term expired three years before Cleveland State shuttered its Confucius Institute. He also held leadership positions when trustees approved university budgets that funded the program.

• While Moreno bragged about eliminating Cleveland State's institute, it didn't close until 2021. He was vice chairman when trustees passed a 2017 budget that gave roughly $38,000 to the institute. The board, with Moreno as chairman, reupped that funding for the 2018 fiscal year. Both budgets passed on voice votes with no documented opposition by Moreno, according to board meeting minutes.

• Taken together, Moreno's claims appear to overstate his involvement in the institute's closure.

• It's the latest in a string of inconsistencies that have dogged his campaign. Moreno said his family fled socialism in Colombia, but the Guardian found that his home country was under a different form of government when he was born. And while Moreno opposes affirmative action policies, he bought his first dealership at a discount because Mercedes-Benz wanted more minority owners, Business Insider reported.

• "The more Ohioans learn about Moreno, the less they trust him," Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who ran against Moreno in the primary, posted on X last month.

###

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.