Who's responsible for this ad?

Frecka PAC is a federal super PAC that was registered with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) on August 19, 2024 and registered in Ohio on October 1, 2024. According to its FEC filings, David Frecka contributed $2 million to the Super PAC on September 12, 2024.

On September 20, 2024, Frecka PAC spent $460,700 on ads backing Bernie Moreno for U.S. Senate. On September 18, 2024, the super PAC contributed $75,000 to House Freedom Action, a super PAC that is the political arm of the far-right House Freedom caucus. The group’s registered treasurer is Brittney Gonzalez, an accountant with Crosby Ottenhoff Group, a consulting firm that has registered numerous Republican groups. 

David Frecka was the longtime owner and CEO of Next Generations Films, a plastics manufacturer, which he sold in 2019 for more than $1 billion. The company’s annual sales were estimated at the time to be about $422 million.

Frecka now operates with his family “The Triple F Collection” through which they claim to be “focused on sharing their experiences with high end performance vehicles to the community through philanthropy and social media.” The website notes that Frecka is also known as “BDD – Big Daddy Dave.”

According to the Columbus Dispatch, in 2020, Frecka built the third largest home in central Ohio. The Dispatch article describes the house as “Like a castle, the home being built on Route 315 in Delaware County seems to lord over its surroundings.”

David Frecka has become a major donor to right-wing candidates and committees, contributing large sums in particular to Club for Growth, Trump’s campaigns in 2020 and 2024, and the House Freedom Caucus. David Frecka’s late spouse, Brenda Frecka, was also a major donor to far-right campaigns. 

Frecka is a major donor to the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI), according to the group’s 2021 annual report, which recognized Dave and Brenda Frecka as a few of a handful of “heroes of 2021.” CPI is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2017 by former Heritage Foundation president Jim DeMint. The New York Times described CPI as “the nerve center for the right-wing,” that “has become a breeding ground for the next generation of Trump loyalists and an incubator for policies he might pursue.” 

Dave Frecka’s 2023-2024 campaign cycle funding, per FEC filings:

• $999,999 to Make America Great Again, Inc.
• $300,000 to Club for Growth Action
• $250,000 to Protect the House 2024
• $238,400 to NRCC
• $150,000 to House Freedom Action
• $6,600 to Bernie Moreno for Senate
• $6,600 to Kevin McCarthy for Congress
• $5,000 to Majority Committee PAC

Discussion and Analysis

Analysis by Alan Johnson, retired Ohio Statehouse reporter

Tough on crime – and nothing else – is the theme of this flashy 30-second joint ad for Ohio Supreme Court Justice Joe Deters, Judges Megan Shanahan of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, and Dan Hawkins of Franklin County Common Pleas Court. All are Republicans although the ad does not mention that.

The ad paid for the Frecka PAC begins by calling the trio “Ohio’s experienced crime-fighting prosecutors,” although all three are not prosecutors and are currently on the bench. The ad flares with the standard tough on crime images – flashing lights from a police car, a man in handcuffs in an orange jumpsuit, a hand ominously reaching out for a woman in the dark, and “delivering touch, firm and fair justice” superimposed over the image of Blind Lady Justice.

This ad is a quick shot over the bow insinuating that Deters, the incumbent who was the long-time prosecutor in Hamilton County, and the two Republican judges are hard-nosed crime fighters who take no prisoners – except those they can lock up for a long, long time.

The reality is the Ohio Supreme Court rarely deals directly with law and order issues. Those are routinely dealt with at the lower court level.