Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose thought it was a good idea to both oversee Ohio’s U.S. Senate elections as the state’s chief elections official and run part of his campaign for the seat in the same building. But the arrangement, which LaRose has not explained much, raises earnest questions about potential conflicts of interest and other ethical issues, an expert said last week.
As secretary of state, LaRose is Ohio’s top elections administrator, a job his ability to do impartially has been questioned for several reasons.
- He was a member of the Republican-dominated apportionment committee. who ignored the seven orders from the Ohio Supreme Court to draw legislative and congressional electoral districts pursuant to anti-gerrymandering amendments to the state constitution.
- This year he led misleading campaign to make it much more tough for voters to initiate and pass amendments to the state constitution.
- The campaign failed, but shortly after those efforts failed, LaRose led the Ohio Ballot Board in writing descriptions of the proposed abortion rights amendment in a content-laden manner, such as: changing the word “fetus” to “unborn child.”
- And as he seeks the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate next year, LaRose has thrown his full support behind former President Donald Trump, who is facing criminal charges in two jurisdictions. tried to steal the 2020 presidential election..
And the fact is, LaRose is running for the U.S. Senate at the same time he’s managing an election.
Last week, WCMH Channel 4 broke the news that LaRose was I want to move the Secretary of State’s office from the building at 180 E. Broad Street, where it had been located for nearly 20 years. The office was moved, the station reported, to a building at 200 Civic Center Drive.
This is the same address LaRose provided during his campaign when he announced his candidacy for Senate. Federal Election Commission.
LaRose’s office did not respond to questions from the Capital Journal.
As WCMH reports, LaRose informed the Ohio Controlling Board of the need to move “due to ongoing infrastructure and staff safety issues, as well as the need to improve operational efficiency,” but the article pointed out that the building at 200 Civic Center Drive is farther from downtown, the Statehouse and two major state office buildings than three other locations that were also considered.
And this week, LaRose offered another justification that is far-fetched. He claimed that the move save taxpayers moneyWCMH reported.
The up-to-date lease is reportedly $11,000 cheaper per year than the current one, but the move is expected to cost $600,000. Based on those numbers, the move won’t pay for itself until 2077.
Meanwhile, placing Ohio’s elections office in the same building that houses part of LaRose’s campaign operations raises earnest questions about whether state elections administrators will appear impartial in the heat of the primary — or in a general election against Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown.
LaRose campaign website lists 145 E. Rich St., Suite 100A as its address, while the Baker Hostetler law firm is located at the same address listed in LaRose’s FEC campaign filings — 200 Civic Center Drive, Suite 1200. However, LaRose’s office did not respond to questions from WCMH or the Capital Journal about whether LaRose has or will give interviews, raise funds or conduct other campaign activities at the building, which will also house the secretary of state’s office.
Delaney Marsco is a senior ethics counsel at the Campaign Legal Center. She said LaRose should be careful now that he’s serving as the state’s top elections official and running for Senate.
“The idea that he’s running for Senate at the same time that he’s secretary of state should make him a little more cautious about how he uses his time, how he uses his staff’s time,” she said, adding that the situation is becoming more tender because LaRose is moving his state office to a building that houses aspects of his campaign. “That’s where my ethical red flags would go off. … There’s a real concern about mixing the official business that he’s supposed to be doing on behalf of all Ohioans with the work that he’s doing as a Senate candidate.”
Last month, after LaRose’s attempt to make it nearly impossible to introduce a constitutional amendment through voter initiative failed, the Ohio Libertarian Party he filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. He was charged with violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits the apply of federal resources for political activities. For example, prohibits members of Congress from raising funds in their congressional offices.
In a statement announcing the complaint, the Libertarian Party said LaRose violated the Hatch Act because “receiving federal election funds while simultaneously using his office to influence the election.”
How likely it is that the Secretary of State’s Office would violate the Hatch Act by co-locating LaRose’s Senate campaign in the same building is unclear, Marsco said. A violation would require that Secretary of State employees whose roles are at least partially funded by federal funds assist LaRose’s campaign while they are at work, she said.
Despite this, Ohio state law prohibits government employees from raising money for political purposes while on the joband there are other restrictions on the apply of official resources for political purposes. The reasons for such rules are clear, Marsco said.
“In any elected or appointed position where you have to serve the public interest, we have to make sure that you are actually serving the public interest,” she said. “A public official has an obligation to make those decisions and act ethically and even avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.”
Meanwhile, answers about the validity of LaRose’s stated reasons for moving are difficult to come by. LaRose’s application to the Board of Control stated that the move was justified because “the proposed facility offers numerous improvements over the Office’s current location, including secure parking for full-time employees, a more functional workspace and staffing layout, and partially furnished offices with approximately $1.5 million in equipment that will become the property of the Office of the Secretary of State, significantly reducing the need to move or purchase furniture in connection with the move. These improvements will enhance the Office’s ability to recruit and retain the high-quality workforce that Ohioans have come to expect from government services.”
It’s unclear how this relates to the building the Secretary of State is leaving.
It is owned by Terra Funding — Continental Plaza LLC, according to records with the Secretary of State’s office. Its registered agent, Corporation Service Company, did not respond to questions.
Stephen M. Griffith Jr. also did not respond to a request for comment. He is a Cincinnati-based attorney listed as the registered agent for the landlord at 200 Civic Center Drive — CC 13 LLC. One question he was asked was about the rent citizens would pay for the secretary of state’s office in the building, compared with the rent paid for Suite 1200, the address LaRose’s campaign has registered with the FEC.
Such questions could have been avoided if LaRose had chosen a different location, said Marsco, an ethics counsel at the Campaign Legal Center.
“Listen, I went to law school in Columbus, I’m from northern Ohio,” she said. “There’s no shortage of office space in the city.”
