Politics are dirty. Jean Schmidt has leveled serious political allegations against Dillon Blevins. Her mailers paint Blevins as a monster. Citizen Sentinels did not think this was fair. We had done research now and previously to investigate the truth of Schmidt's allegations. Mr. Blevins was kind enough to grant us a phone interview to share his side of the story.
Did you know that it is perfectly legal to lie on political campaign flyers? To tell a mistruth is an extension of a person’s First Amendment Rights. The FCC mandates that ads include a "disclaimer" stating who paid for the ad and that the candidate approved it. That’s it.
We are tackling Schmidt’s allegations chronologically. Schmidt mixes up the allegations on various mailers. The allegations are in quotes. Below is Blevins’ accounting of what happened
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"Blevins Arrested and Charged - In 2017 Blevins broke into the home of an ex and later arrested for burglary and domestic violence”. In 2024 Citizen Sentinels made a public records request to the Goshen Police Department and obtained the police incident report for that charge. Blevins got into an altercation with another young man at his ex’s house. Police were called, but all charges were dismissed. There was no burglary or domestic violence. No criminal records exist.
"Blevins Backed Radical Defund The Police Efforts – In 2020, Blevins said he was being woken up, joined anti-police protest, and backed police budget cuts”. Blevins said this allegation stems from a 06/2020 Facebook post where he was misquoted, only half the statement was used. On his post Blevins said if he was in a position to review the police budget, he would look into possible reallocation of police funds. That’s not called Defunding the Police, that’s called fiscal responsibility, constantly assuring the budget meets the needs.
"Blevins is a Left-Wing Activist – And in Cincinnati he was a featured speaker at a “Black Lives Matter” rally where he took a knee alongside protestors calling to defund law enforcements”. If you look closely at the flyer, you will notice the words “Black Lives Matter” are in quotes. In actuality, the West Chester Police Department facilitated the event. It was a peaceful rally held in response to George Floyd’s death. Many uniformed West Chester police were there. The event occurred two days after George Floyd's death and before his autopsy results showed he had taken amphetamines.
Blevins was a speaker but identified himself as a Trump supporter at the beginning of his speech. A liberal reporter from the Cincinnati Enquirer couldn’t resist the opportunity to interview a white male Republican and quote him out of context. President DJT calls them “fake news” for a reason.
Emotions were high, but there was no violence, unlike the violent pictures depicted on Schmidts mailers. Those must be photos of Minneapolis or Portland, it sure wasn’t Cincinnati. Blevins admits he did hold a sign saying, “We Can’t Breathe”. The rally was held before the truth of George Floyds death was released. It was a confusing time.
As to taking a knee, during the rally a moment of silence was observed for George Floyd’s death. Everyone, including the uniformed West Chester Police officers, took a knee in compassion for the death of a human life in what seemed a tragic event. Blevins didn’t want to disrespect the police officers who were taking a knee, and joined them.
“… riots were the voice of the unheard and I believe it” . Blevins didn’t say this; he believes it was a comment made on one of his Facebooks posts.
“Not only did Blevins REFUSE to vote for President Trump over “Sleepy Joe” Biden”. Blevins is proudly serving his county as an Army Reservist. During the 2020 Election, Blevins was in basic training. He voted for Donald Trump via absentee ballot and mailed it. Unfortunately, his absentee ballot never reached the Clermont BOE.
One flyer, “VOTER FRAUD ALERT” shows Blevins’ “mug shot”. This photo is obviously photoshopped. If you follow the height lines of every 6 inches, the top line behind his head is not black, but white and would make Blevins 6’ 6”. As Blevins laughingly admitted in his phone interview, he’d like to be another 8” tall, but he is actually 5’10”.
"Dillon Blevins Is A Financial Mess" – According the Clermont County Clerk of Courts JWorks Search engine, the tax liens are cancelled, except the 2019 “which is still open”. But the political mailer doesn’t state that the 2019 tax lien has a zero balance. Actually, Blevins owns and operates a successful multi-million dollar company which he founded.
Is Blevins a “pearl of perfection”, probably not, but neither are any of us. But no person should endure having past ill-advised decisions, unfortunate events or just being in the wrong place twisted into an terrible accusation. Then have that accusation printed on 8”x11” glossy and mailed to 37K households. This, to satisfy the First Amendment Rights of Jean Schmidt to lie on political mailers. The only recourse for Blevins is a defamation lawsuit. After an extensive campaign, whether you win or lose, pouring money into a defamation lawsuit only enriches the lawyer.
Don’t take our word for it. Look Blevins up in the Clermont or Hamilton County Clerk Court records yourself. Nothing of concern is listed.
The fact that Dillon Blevins has stood up to this political harassment shows us that he is courageous and tenacious. Perhaps we need these qualities in Columbus.