Frank LaRose Slammed for Crossing “Many Ethical Lines,” Putting Political Ambitions Ahead of Ohioans
December 6, 2023
Ohio Capital Journal: “LaRose took a side in an election he was overseeing and corruptly manipulated the ballot language on behalf of that side to win.”
Columbus, OH – Today, Ohio Capital Journal columnist Marilou Johanek slammed Frank LaRose for crossing “many ethical lines,” “abusing the power of his office,” and “[selling] his soul” while putting his political ambitions ahead of Ohioans. Since the onset of his campaign, Frank LaRose has been slammed for a series of scandals – including costing taxpayers $600,000 to move his official office to the same location as his campaign headquarters, colluding with out-of-state special interests to ban abortion in Ohio, and refusing to follow the rules and disclose his personal finances.
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Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio Sec. of State LaRose has repeatedly abused the power of his office for extreme partisanship
Marilou Johanek
December 6, 2023
- Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose… the overtly partisan elections chief removed all doubt with voters this year about his willingness to play dirty in tipping the scales on free and fair elections.
- He dropped any pretense of being an impartial elections chief people could trust in two statewide elections in 2023. He abused the power of his office to promote a one-sided agenda.
- But far from being contrite over the preferential treatment he gave anti-abortion extremists in ballot issues he campaigned for and soundly lost, the unapologetic LaRose is using his unethical conduct as a selling point in his U.S. Senate campaign. At a recent Republican Party candidate forum, according to a cleveland.com report, LaRose tried to ingratiate himself with a questioner by emphasizing his underhandedness in thwarting the abortion rights amendment.
- Wrap your head around his reported admission of election sabotage to score political points. At the event, the top elections official in Ohio — whose primary duty is to impartially administrate above board state elections — confessed to collaborating with three prominent anti-abortion groups to alter the ballot language on the Nov. 7 referendum in order to defeat it.
- What LaRose revealed in colluding with anti-Issue 1 lobbyists to massage the text of a ballot initiative to benefit their campaign was public corruption beyond the pale.
- What the state elections chief pulled in his official capacity as chair of the Ohio Ballot Board (that determines what voters see on their ballots before casting them) was an outrageous breach of public trust. LaRose took a side in an election he was overseeing and corruptly manipulated the ballot language on behalf that side to win.
- LaRose doesn’t seem to care how many ethical lines he crosses to snare a U.S. Senate seat. Under the auspices of a Secretary of State newsletter (paid for by taxpayers) he promoted his candidacy to replace incumbent Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown.At a cost of more than $600,000 LaRose surreptitiously transferred his entire department into a building that coincidentally houses his Senate campaign offices — which he conceded using for campaign activities presumably when he’s not masquerading as a nonpartisan referee of state elections.
- Ohio’s chief elections officer has still not complied with a federal law requiring candidates for U.S. House and Senate to file financial disclosure forms about their income and assets. LaRose is weeks past due on submitting the legally required financial information that might shed light on how a politician who portrays himself as an everyman of modest means could make a $250,000 loan to his campaign.
- The same Ohio elections chief who once defended the integrity of the 2020 presidential election and called claims by Trump and Co. about rigged results harmful and unsupported by the evidence, has sold his soul to become a U.S. Senator.
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