CLEVELAND, Ohio — Aimee Gilman was at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. last month when she decided to send a message to Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel.
The Lyndhurst civil rights attorney logged into her Twitter account, dormant since last summer, and unleashed a series of blasts. “Josh Mandel does NOT support rights for people with disabilities,” read the first, accompanied by a #stopjoshmandel hashtag. “Think about that.”
#stopjoshmandel Josh Mandel does NOT support rights for people with disabilities. Think about that.
— Aimee Gilman (@AimeeGilman) January 22, 2017
That was Saturday. On Tuesday — three days and a half-dozen anti-Mandel missives later — Gilman picked up the phone at her law firm and was surprised to hear Mandel’s voice on the other end. Mandel made no mention of Gilman’s tweets. But he launched into a sales pitch for the STABLE investment program his office administers for disabled Ohioans and their families.
“He calls me up, and he starts going on and on about how he’s calling me so I can spread the word about STABLE accounts,” Gilman told cleveland.com in a telephone interview.
A Mandel spokesman said Gilman’s tweets did not prompt the call, which he ascribed to routine business. Gilman has trouble believing it was a coincidence. She said she told Mandel that he would “have to allow me a healthy dose of skepticism about the real reason” for his outreach.
“This would strain the bounds of credulity,” she said. “This guy couldn’t help himself.”
As of Monday morning, Gilman had 28 followers on Twitter. Mandel had more than 12,500 at his @JoshMandelOhio account, which Gilman has tagged frequently in tweets since the call.
Mandel, a Republican, is running for Senate in 2018. Gilman’s tweets establish her as critical of the GOP and supportive of Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, whom Mandel hopes to unseat. She is particularly piqued by Mandel’s backing of Attorney General-designate Jeff Sessions.
Most of Gilman’s tweets since Jan. 21 have targeted Mandel. Others have slammed President Donald Trump, whose anti-establishment message Mandel is attempting to channel.
“Josh called me to try and change my mind,” Gilman wrote on the day of the call. “Nice try.”
#stopjoshmandel Josh called me to try and change my mind. Nice try
— Aimee Gilman (@AimeeGilman) January 25, 2017
The STABLE program allows participants to set aside up to $14,000 a year to pay for college, housing and disability-related expenses. Mandel promoted the accounts in televised public service announcements that he appeared in alongside Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer. Mandel’s office has spent about $1.8 million on the ad, which hasn’t aired since early December.
Gilman, who said she also reached out to Mandel’s office via email and phone before his Jan. 24 call, has agreed to meet at her office with the STABLE director later this month.
“Nearly every day Treasurer Mandel is having conversations about STABLE with people in the disabilities community and those who serve and fight for individuals with disabilities,” Mandel spokesman Chris Berry wrote in an email. “Aimee must have been one of those people.”
Told Gilman was skeptical about Mandel’s reason for calling, Berry replied: “He called Aimee because someone saw her firm website and she seemed to be someone who could help spread the word about STABLE to the disabilities community. It had nothing to do with her social media or her email. I asked Josh and he didn’t even know what email you’re talking about.
“I have no idea who this Aimee is and I’m sorry she’s skeptical,” Berry continued in his emailed response. “All we’re trying to do with STABLE is help people with disabilities but obviously this person has some black helicopter conspiracy theories flying around.”
Cleveland.com reporter Andrew J. Tobias contributed to this story.
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