Editorial Board Calls On LaRose to “Do Better” After His “Shadow Campaign” Raises Ethics Concerns
June 1, 2023
After reporting from The Columbus Dispatch raised ethics concerns about LaRose’s “shadow campaign” for Ohio’s Senate seat, the Tribune Chronicle Editorial Board yesterday slammed LaRose for “confusing” Ohioans and called on him to “do better.”
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Tribune Chronicle: LaRose should do better than be legal just by a technicality
Editorial Board
May 31, 2023
- Perhaps LaRose’s campaign should steer a little further away from “isn’t really illegal.”
- “I’ve been horrified by it and thinking that LaRose is using his office in this way, taking advantage of his position,” Bill Joiner said. “It was an attempt to mislead me.”
- To any thinking Ohioan, LaRose is campaigning out of his office. But according to the letter of the law, what he did is legal (for now).
- Surely the knowledge voters were worried and confused by his mailing will be all the reminder needed that once his campaign is official, LaRose must keep his efforts as far above board as possible.
The Columbus Dispatch: Secretary of State Frank LaRose uses election integrity group to aid US Senate ambitions
Haley BeMiller
May 31, 2023
- But some campaign finance experts say the arrangement allows the secretary of state to raise limitless funds in the dark while promoting a potential U.S. Senate bid.
- LaRose told a Republican donor in April that he was raising money for a super PAC, according to a voicemail obtained by the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau. In the same breath, he laid out his intention to run in the GOP Senate primary and pitched the donor on why he’d be the best choice.
- “As you know, there are two other candidates. Both are nice guys, but clearly neither of them have the strength to beat a guy like Brown,” LaRose said in the voicemail. “All the metrics show that I’m the guy that can do that.”
- Still, critics believe LaRose, as the state’s chief election official, should be held to a higher standard. And Catherine Turcer, executive director for Common Cause Ohio, worries Ohio politicians haven’t learned from the racketeering conviction of former House Speaker Larry Householder.