Dem
51
GOP
49
Bernie Moreno (R) hadn't even won his Ohio primary, and he already had his first scandal on his hands. In short, the AP discovered an account at Adult Friend Finder (AFF) that was created in his name. Whoever created it knew Moreno's preferred nickname ("Nardo"), had access to his e-mail address, and had access to the computer in his office.
The account is pretty old (early 2000s), so what's the problem? Well, the first issue is that he's married, and has been since well before the account was created. The second issue is that the profile page says: "Hi, looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling." These things will not do for a candidate who is backed by evangelical and anti-LGBTQ groups. And while Moreno actually used to describe himself as an LGBTQ ally, he transitioned to a hardline anti-gay stance once he entered politics.
Once the AP broke the story, a fall guy quickly came forward and took full responsibility for the profile. That would be Dan Ricci, who says he was working as an intern at Moreno's car dealership at the time, and that he created the account as a "juvenile prank." Maybe that is true, maybe it isn't. Truth be told, we are 50/50 on whether we believe Ricci or not. It would be instructive if Moreno's membership status, or lack thereof, at other such sites was known. However, the only reason that the AFF account came to light was that the site had a massive data breach. So, there's no way to dig deep and see if Moreno is also registered at, say, Grindr or SCRUFF.
But for our purposes, it really doesn't matter. What happens in someone's bedroom, as long as it doesn't harm anyone, should be their business (and that of their partner or partners). However, once someone decides to start poking around in other people's love lives, they become fair game to be poked at themselves. Moreno is now learning that the hard way, and we suspect there are going to be at least some anti-LGBTQ voters in Ohio who are not persuaded by his claims that he didn't do it. Since control of the Senate could depend on this seat, it wouldn't surprise us if some outside group funded by dark money grabbed the ball(s) and ran ads on the subject. (Z)