Mystery Ohio news site boosting Ramaswamy's Amy Acton ad tied to California GOP non-profit
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Set us as preferred As Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy came under fire for releasing an attack ad featuring his Democratic competitor’s estranged mother, a mysterious news site was running a Facebook ad boosting the controversial video.The Buckeye Bulletin, which bills itself as an Ohio-based news platform committed to “reliable journalism” and “strong editorial standards,” popped up suddenly this spring and began pumping out a steady stream of pro-Ramaswamy content.
The publication’s articles have no bylines.There is no list of staff.
The website does not feature digital advertisements, nor does it prompt readers to subscribe, but there is also no disclosure of who is funding it.A closer look at the Buckeye Bulletin’s Meta advertising data shows that its Facebook and Instagram accounts are managed by the Lincoln Media Foundation, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Orange County-based Lincoln Club — the oldest and largest conservative donor organization in California.IRS documents show that the club and foundation are associated organizations and share at least two key executives.
The Buckeye Bulletin, Lincoln Club and Lincoln Media Foundation did not respond to requests for comment.The Bulletin appears to be a partisan site posing as a local news outlet ahead of the midterm elections, a strategy political scientists refer to as “pink-slime” journalism.This is not the first time a “pink-slime” outlet has been linked to the Lincoln Media Foundation.
In 2024 Max Read, director of civic innovation for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, identified seven such alleged outlets.With the exception of one Los Angeles-focused site, those outlets all targeted critical states for the 2024 presidential election such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.Read reported that t...