DCCC POLITICAL MEMORANDUM
To:
From:
Date:
Dept:
District:
Rep. Bustos
Jason Bresler, Great Lakes Political Director (cell: 202.458.1842)
July 20, 2015
Political
US Attorney Steven Dettelbach (OH-14, Joyce – Northeastern Ohio)
Purpose of Meeting:
Thank you for meeting with US attorney Steve Dettelbach. Steve is open to the idea of running for Congress
but needs to see a path to victory. Because of his background and potential strength of candidacy, should
Dettelbach run for Congress, this seat has the potential to be a tier 1 pick-up opportunity. Please encourage
him to enter the race by September 1st.
Talking Points:

With the right kind of candidate, this is a very winnable race. Rep. Joyce was nominated by President
Bush to be U.S. Attorney and did not pass his vet. Running against a U.S. Attorney would start this race
off in the perfect frame.

Rep. Joyce is facing a very legitimate primary from Tea Party darling and former State Rep. Matt
Lynch. There is a very real possibility Rep. Joyce may spend down for the March 2016 primary.

Dettelbach’s biggest concern is viability. Please emphasize to him DCCC is working on a deep dive into
the numbers to show him the path to victory. Please also assure him that should he enter the race,
because of his accomplishments and stature as a U.S. Attorney, this race would become a top priority for
the DCCC. We strongly believe he can win this race.

This race will likely cost $3 million to win. DCCC explained this to Dettelbach and he was not taken
aback. Please assure him that he does not need to see the path to $3 million right now and the DCCC
will work with him to achieve his fundraising goals. The strong support of Senator Sherrod Brown will
be critical here, too.

Dettelbach will very likely say he needs to earn an income during the campaign and will have to resign
from his current job. With help from Senator Brown and his own personal relationships in the
Cleveland-area legal community, he should be able to find a good short-term place to land.
Background:

DCCC staff spent an hour and a half talking to Dettelbach and Senator Sherrod Brown’s State Director
John Ryan. Steve is definitely interested in running and represents our best opportunity to win this seat
this cycle.

Prior to his 2012 election to Congress Rep. Joyce was nominated to be a U.S. Attorney but did not pass
vetting. On top of being a hardworking and dedicated candidate, U.S. Attorney Dettelbach vs. rejected
U.S. Attorney Joyce represents a great thematic to start the race.

Rep. Joyce will also face a contested primary against former State Rep and Tea Party darling Matt
Lynch. Joyce will likely win the primary, but there is a very real possibility he will be forced to spend
down to zero for his March primary. Lynch ran against Joyce in 2014 and came within ten points of
winning. If Dettlebach enters the race, DCCC will look very hard at what we can do to affect the
Republican primary.

Long-held by former Rep. Steve LaTourette, OH-14 is a slightly Republican-leaning swing district in
Northeastern Ohio. Rep. Joyce won the seat in 2012 virtually unchallenged because LaTourette resigned
past the primary date and Republicans were able to appoint their nominee. Polling showed a strong
Democratic candidate was poised to win this seat following LaTourette’s resignation. However, the
filing deadline had passed for Democrats and we could not navigate around the perennial token
candidate.
Biography:
Steven M. Dettelbach was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1965. He graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth
College in 1988. He then studied at Harvard Law School 1988-1991. While at Harvard, graduated magna cum
laude, served as notes editor for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and volunteered
representing indigent people in the Boston area for the Harvard Defenders. He also occasionally played pickup
basketball with Barack Obama at Hemingway Gymnasium.
Dettelbach began his legal career as a law clerk for Judge Stanley Sporkin of the United States District Court
for the District of Columbia. Dettelbach joined the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division,
Criminal section in 1992 as a trial lawyer and also served as the acting Deputy Chief there under Richard W.
Roberts (who was later appointed a federal judge). Dettelbach handled several high-profile cases in the Civil
Rights Division, including an involuntary servitude case involving 70 Thai garment workers in California,
which came to be known as the El Monte slavery case.
He became an Assistant United States Attorney in Maryland from 1997 to 2001, and was named deputy chief of
the Southern Division of that office, covering the Washington, D.C. suburbs. There he was lead prosecutor
on United States v. Litten, a bankruptcy fraud prosecution involving a wealthy real estate developer, and United
States v. Mohr, a case involving the railroading of a Prince George's County police officer doing her job against
illegal aliens/criminals who didn't listen to police commands. He was named "Prosecutor of the Year" by the
International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators for his handling of a significant identity-theft case
as well. He was then detailed as counsel to Chairman Patrick Leahy of the Senate Judiciary Committee from
2001 to 2003. There, he worked on oversight and policy, including the enforcement provisions of the SarbanesOxley Act.
From 2003 to 2006, Dettelbach was an assistant U.S. Attorney in Cleveland, working on the Organized Crime
and Corruption Task Force. In that position, he prosecuted significant corruption cases, including United States
v. Nate Gray, a series of cases involving a pay-to-play municipal corruption scheme. He also prosecuted US v.
Budd, a case involving a series of beatings by guards and senior managers at a jail in Youngstown, Ohio,
resulting in eight convictions on civil rights and obstruction of justice charges.
From 2006 until his appointment in 2009 to his current position, he was a partner at BakerHostetler, a legal and
lobbying firm, where he worked on litigation and regulatory matters, as well as conducting internal
investigations for clients. He was also appointed by Governor Ted Strickland to serve on the Ohio Ethics
Commission.
On July 10, 2009, President Obama nominated Dettelbach to be U.S. Attorney for Northern Ohio. He was
unanimously confirmed by the senate on September 15, 2009. He had been recommended by Senator Sherrod
Brown after the senator appointed a search committee to make a recommendation to him. Attorney General Eric
Holder appointed Dettelbach to the Attorney General's Advisory Committee, and he chairs the group's Civil
Rights subcommittee.
Dettelbach has made civil rights enforcement, both criminal and civil, a priority in his time as United States
Attorney. His office successfully prosecuted the largest case, in terms number of defendants, under the ShepardByrd Hates Crimes Prevention Act. In that case, Samuel Mullet was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 15
other defendants were sentenced to prison for their roles in a series of religiously motivated attacks on
practitioners of the Amish faith.
His office also secured a guilty plea to hate-crimes charges from an Indiana man who drove to northwest Ohio
and set fire to the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo. The plea agreement included a binding recommendation for
a 20-year prison sentence. That came more than a year after a white supremacist was sentenced to prison for
setting fire to the only predominantly African-American church in Conneaut, Ohio, an event Dettelbach used as
the basis for the formation of United Against Hate, an interfaith group committed to religious tolerance.
The office has also pursued civil remedies to civil rights issues, including successfully suing for the use of a
bilingual ballot in Cuyahoga County under the Voting Rights Act.
Dettelbach was a good shot blocker when he played basketball at the Hawken School. He met his wife, who
worked on public health and nutrition matters, in Washington, D.C. He has two children and is Jewish.
OH-14 DISTRICT SUMMARY
FINANCIAL INFO
2015 Q1 Candidate Summary
Name
Party
R
David Joyce
Q1 Raised
$167,984.00
Q1 Spent
$155,928.00
Q1 COH
$287,086.00
Cycle Raised
$185,984.99
2014 Candidate Cycle Summary
Name
Party
D
R
Michael Wager
David Joyce
Cycle Raised
$1,195,312
$2,600,497
Cycle Spent
$1,003,371
$2,543,232
Ending COH
$20,773
$360,104
2014 Major Democratic v. Republican IE Spending
Name
Party
D
D
D
R
R
DCCC
House Majority PAC
Other Democratic Spending
NRCC
Other Republican Spending
All Democratic Spending
IE
$0
$0
$4,983
$0
$136,269
$4,983
All Republican Spending
$136,269
$141,252
2012 DCCC Full Itemized Spending
Name
Field
DCCC
IE
$0
ELECTION RESULTS
Congressional Statistics
(2 Party Only)
Cycle W/L Candidate
Party Vote
2014 L
WAGER
DEM 34.3%
2014 W
JOYCE
REP 65.7%
2012 L
BLANCHARD
DEM 41.8%
2012 W
JOYCE
REP 58.2%
2010 L
(redistricting)
DEM 34.5%
2010 W
(redistricting)
REP 65.5%
Presidential Statistics
(2 Party Only)
Cycle Candidate Party Vote
2012 OBAMA
DEM 48.3%
2012 ROMNEY REP 51.7%
2008 OBAMA
DEM 49.8%
2008 MCCAIN
REP 50.2%
$0
DISTRICT DATA
DPI
AfAm
Hispanic
Other
Total Minority
47.3%
3.7%
1.3%
1.7%
6.7%
MAJOR CITIES
Ashtabula
Stow
Mentor
Other Spending
$0
Total
MEDIA MARKETS
Cleveland/Akron (97%)
$325 (Politics) / $465 (Issue)
Youngstown (3%)
$104 (Politics) / $149(Issue)
$0