Uncategorized

WVXU: “More weirdness in Ohio’s GOP Senate race”

Columbus, OH – In a new column for WVXU, Howard Wilkson today highlighted the latest infightinging in Ohio’s “increasingly nasty” Senate slugfest while Bernie Moreno and Frank LaRose dodge questions about their *questionable* donations (or in LaRose’s case, a “myster[ious]” $250,000 self loan.)

Read more: 

WVXU: Analysis: George Santos, a filing deadline spat and more weirdness in Ohio’s GOP Senate race

Howard Wilkinson

December 6, 2023

• [George] Santos has made a video thanking Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, the Cleveland-area luxury car dealer, for maxing out on campaign contributions to the serial fabulist’s 2022 congressional campaign.

• In the meantime, another Senate candidate, Frank LaRose, seems to be playing a game of hide-the-pea to avoid explaining just where a self-described “thousandaire” got the wherewithal to loan his campaign $250,000.

• [His primary opponents] are pushing LaRose hard to file the Senate personal finances statement required of all candidates — a statement that is nowhere to be seen more than 100 days after the original deadline.

• The clock is ticking on the LaRose campaign to file the personal financial statement, which may or may not shed light on how an elected official like LaRose, who makes $124,176 per year, can afford to lend his senate campaign a quarter of a million dollars.

• “Every day that passes, LaRose makes it clearer that he doesn’t believe the rules apply to him,” an Ohio Democratic Party release said Tuesday.

• [Moreno’s donation to Santos is] something the Moreno campaign apparently doesn’t want to talk about. A request for comment from the Moreno campaign has gone unanswered.

###

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.  

Read more: 

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. 

###

Columbus, OH – Bernie Moreno is silent after his best bud George Santos thanked him for maxing out to his congressional campaign yesterday. Moreno and Santos’ blossoming friendship also caught the attention of primary opponent Frank LaRose, who called the best buds “shady businessmen” and called Moreno “the second coming of George Santos.” 

Watch Santos Thank Moreno Here

George Santos: “Hey! I just wanted to stop by and say thank you to Bernie Moreno from Ohio for when I ran for U.S. Congress in 2022 for maxing out to my campaign. Unfortunately, you know, it ended, it’s over, but I want to say thank you very much for that donation and for all the support. And I hope in the future I can come back and be part of the game again. Bye!”

Read/watch more:

CNN: “Ohio Democrats posted on X that they too bought a Cameo from Santos, having the former congressman record a message thanking Ohio GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno for “maxing out” on donations to Santos’ campaign in 2022…CNN has reached out to Moreno’s campaign for comment.”

POLITICO Playbook: 

Political Wire:

CNN: George Santos Thanks Bernie Moreno for Maxing Out to His Campaign

Melanie Zanona: “The Ohio Democratic Party also commissioned a video and they had Santos thank Bernie Moreno – he’s a Republican candidate for Senate – for maxing out to Santos’ congressional campaign in 2022.”

###

After Mocking His Opponents for Their Wealth and “Myster[iously]” Self-Funding $250,000, LaRose Refuses to Follow The Rules, Disclose Personal Finances

Columbus, OH – Frank LaRose  is twenty-one days past his deadline to file his personal financial disclosure with the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee – and over 100 days past the initial August deadline – yet LaRose is still refusing to follow the rules, refusing to disclose his financial assets, and refusing to answer outstanding questions about his “highly unusual” $250,000 loan to himself. Every day that passes, LaRose makes it clearer that he doesn’t believe the rules apply to him. 

Here is what Ohioans are reading while LaRose refuses to follow the rules:

• Mother Jones: “Frank LaRose is responsible for overseeing state election laws. But as he seeks the Republican nomination for a US Senate seat in 2024, LaRose has not complied with a federal law requiring US House and Senate candidates to submit information about their income and assets.”

• Cleveland.com: “Secretary of State Frank LaRose has gently mocked his wealthy opponents in March’s Republican Senate primary election by referring to himself as a humble ‘thousandaire.’ But the public will have to wait for details that could shed more light on LaRose’s financial situation, as a federal deadline for a mandatory financial disclosure passed Tuesday without a report from LaRose.

• Ohio Capital Journal: “Despite that 90-day reprieve, LaRose has yet to file. The Ohio Capital Journal reached out to his campaign to see if the report has been filed but not yet posted or if the campaign has requested a further extension. The campaign did not respond…LaRose’s failure to file thus far is particularly notable given a $250,000 personal loan he made to his campaign in September.”

• Heartland Signal: “Candidates are required to publicly disclose their finances within 30 days of announcing their candidacy. LaRose announced his run for Senate on July 17 and subsequently asked for an extension on his filing on Aug 9. Despite an extra 90 days, LaRose again blew past his deadline on Nov. 14.”

• Ohio Capital Journal: “LaRose’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for more information about the source of his loan, but it seems like a substantial sum given his current state salary income.” 

• Tribune Chronicle: “I questioned how LaRose could come up with $250,000 out of his pocket for his Senate campaign. But Ben Kindel, his campaign spokesman, didn’t respond to my numerous inquiries.” 

###

Columbus, OH – Today, George Santos thanked Bernie Moreno for maxing out to his congressional campaign last year. Despite being expelled from Congress last week, George knows he can count on Bernie Moreno! 

Watch Here

George Santos: “Hey! I just wanted to stop by and say thank you to Bernie Moreno from Ohio for when I ran for U.S. Congress in 2022 for maxing out to my campaign. Unfortunately, you know, it ended, it’s over, but I want to say thank you very much for that donation and for all the support. And I hope in the future I can come back and be part of the game again. Bye!”

###