Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose last week taped a campaign interview that apparently took place in the building where he is moving his taxpayer-funded state offices. LaRose did not answer questions, but the background to the interview seemed to rule out the possibility that it was conducted in any other building.
It’s unclear whether LaRose’s remote interview with right-wing provocateur Steve Bannon was filmed in the offices of his campaign lawyers or on the floor where LaRose will administer Ohio elections, including his own. But since LaRose has said he doesn’t have a headquarters for his U.S. Senate campaign, the interview has raised questions about whether he plans to run for office from the same taxpayer-funded space from which he’ll run elections or from another one several floors away.
LaRose posted about his appearance on Bannon’s show on his verified government account on Portal X (formerly Twitter) on September 29.
LaRose did not respond to repeated questions from the Capital Journal about the move. But it would be inappropriate for him to engage in campaign activities at a building in downtown Columbus, said Mia Lewis of Common Cause Ohio, because it is significant to keep the work of running a fair election separate from the work of trying to win one.
“You have to separate campaigning from government,” she said. “When those things start to blur, it becomes harder for voters to trust elected officials.”
Suspicious move
The situation has already raised questions about appearances and decency.
LaRose is the state’s top elections administrator while also running for one of the state’s biggest political prizes — a seat in the U.S. Senate. Last month, WCMH Channel 4 reported that LaRose was moving the secretary of state’s office to the same building He registered with the Federal Election Commission in connection with his Senate campaign.
LaRose’s campaign lawyers are with the firm BakerHostetler and are located atop the building, which sits along the scenic Scioto Mile at 200 Civic Center Drive. Meanwhile, the secretary of state’s office will be several floors below once the move is complete next month.
Ethics experts said that co-housing the two could at least provide appearance of abnormalitiesand, at worst, it could prompt LaRose and his team to campaign for the Senate elections using taxpayer funds to ensure free and fair elections.
Late last month, LaRose told a warm reporter — IHeartRadio Brandon Boxer — that he didn’t have a campaign office and that it was just a coincidence that his campaign lawyers are five floors above where the secretary of state’s office is moving. LaRose added that he didn’t know that his state office and his campaign lawyers would be building together when the decision to move was made.
“I don’t have a campaign office,” LaRose said. “There just happens to be a law firm five floors above us that filed the paperwork, so they used their address on my Federal Elections Commission filings. That’s the dumbest nonstory ever.”
Boxer repeated LaRose’s contention that the move is a good thing for taxpayers because rent at the recent headquarters is $11,000 less per year than at the Broad Street headquarters, where the Secretary of State has served for 20 years.
“We actually save over $11,000,” Boxer said.
To which LaRose responded, “This will be a good deal for the taxpayers, but also for the 130 hard-working public employees who come to work for us every day.”
That ignores the $600,000 it will cost to move. The rent savings won’t cover that. until 2077.
Storytelling background
More importantly, LaRose and his team failed to answer repeated questions about whether he participated in interviews or other campaign activities in the building — a question that becomes even more relevant if LaRose does not have a campaign office.
Last week, LaRose conducted an interview with Bannon that blurs not only the ethical lines but also those between journalism and propaganda.
Donald Trump’s former advisor was accused last year on accusations by New York state that he defrauded people into thinking they were giving money to build a wall on the southern border. Bannon was federally indicted on similar charges in 2020 but was pardoned by Trump.
In Bannon InterviewLaRose sits in front of a window overlooking the northwest bend of the Scioto River. Just off LaRose’s left shoulder is a six-story former government office building at 145 S. Front St. Next door is Moyer Judicial Centerwhich houses the Ohio Supreme Court. And behind it is Leveque’s Towera highlight of the Columbus skyline since its completion in 1927.
Earlier this week, visitors were not allowed beyond the lobby of the building at 200 Civic Center Drive. But the parking deck adjacent to the north side of the building is between it and the three buildings apparent in the background of LaRose’s interview. The view from this location would seem to indicate clearly that LaRose conducted his interview in the building at 200 S. Civic Center Drive. Not only does the deck overlook the three buildings apparent just off LaRose’s shoulder, but the height of the BakerHostetler building would have made such a view challenging from buildings farther down the Scioto.
It is unclear where in the building LaRose may have recorded the interview.
It appeared to be on a floor slightly higher than the six-story former state office building. But it was tough to tell whether the angle was consistent with the seventh-floor space he told Boxer would be occupied by the Secretary of State’s office, or with the Baker and Hostetler apartment on the 12th floor, registered to the FEC, LaRose, or some other part of the building.
Campaign
It’s abundantly clear that LaRose intended to operate the Bannon interview to boost his chances in the GOP primary, where he hopes to win the nomination and face Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown next year.
LaRose hasn’t talked much about the secretary of state’s case, but he did mention a Trump supporter who denies the election Mike Lindell as “one of America’s greatest entrepreneurs.”
Then LaRose — who touts his commitment to election integrity — once again sought support from Trump, who called him in December last year “end” the US Constitution so he could steal the presidential election he lost in 2020.
LaRose told Bannon’s audience: “As a veteran of the fight, I know you want to go into battle with a leader who is fearless and feared. Donald Trump is both of those things, and that’s why I was proud to endorse him and I look forward to campaigning with him as we defeat Sherrod Brown here in Ohio and put (Trump) back in the White House.”
LaRose added that he would be “the first Green Beret to serve in the United States Senate. I will be the man who defeats Sherrod Brown once and for all.”
If that bit of politics wasn’t clear enough, Bannon’s show featured a full-screen image of LaRose campaign websitewith a red “DONATE” button in the upper left corner.
Depending on where LaRose taped the interview, this could constitute a violation. Section 3517.092 of the Ohio Revised Codewhich speaks, “No public employee may solicit a gift from any person while he is performing his official duties or while he is in those parts of a public building where official business is being conducted or is being carried on.”
Proper boundaries
Lewis of Common Cause said the mere fact that it is likely that LaRose could have taped his interview with Bannon in a space rented from the state is reason enough to place the state elections administrator in a different building than the one where LaRose’s campaign is registered.
“Good fences make good neighbors,” she said. “You put up barriers to make sure that no one is tempted to take that shortcut. If your office as secretary of state is downtown and you have to go somewhere else to do your campaign work, well, there’s a reason for that. It’s about making sure that you’re not cutting corners. How easy and tempting will it be to cut corners when your office is right up there or right down there.”
Even before his campaign controversy, LaRose had been criticized for being highly political while neutrally administering Ohio’s elections.
Among his controversies was the fact that LaRose was a member of the Republican-dominated apportionment commission. who ignored the seven orders from the Ohio Supreme Court to draw legislative and congressional districts that would not be so divided; he led misleading campaign to make it much harder for voters to initiate amendments to the state constitution and led the Ohio Ballot Board in writing descriptions of a proposed abortion rights amendment that were loaded with content such as: changing the word “fetus” to “unborn child.”
“This man is our secretary of state,” Lewis said. “He should be running Ohio elections. And yet he seems to spend an incredible amount of time putting his thumb on the scale of one issue or another — openly campaigning for one outcome or the other.”
She added: “Now he’s running for office himself, and the fact that he doesn’t see that it’s at least inappropriate for you to be acting as secretary of state while you’re campaigning for the Senate in this same building at the same time. How are the people of Ohio supposed to trust you when you have such a hard time putting your constituents first?”
