Frank LaRose Is a Flip-Flopping Phony
April 18, 2022
For Immediate Release:
Monday, April 18, 2022
Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Columbus Dispatch did a deep dive on Frank LaRose, once again highlighting that voters never know which Frank LaRose they’re going to get. On issues ranging from redistricting to election fraud to impeaching a Supreme Court Chief Justice, the only thing that we know about Frank LaRose for sure is that he’s a political phony with no principles who’ll do or say anything to help himself.
“[A]s he faces a primary challenge from the right this year, LaRose has danced around impeaching Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, blamed Democrats for primary election chaos and taken an increasingly pessimistic view on legislative mapmaking,” writes Laura Bischoff of the Dispatch.
“Each time LaRose speaks out of both sides of his mouth, it’s clear the only Ohioan he’s looking out for is himself. Instead of doing his job and standing up for Ohio voters, he’s laser-focused on running a losing Senate campaign in two years,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.
Read more about when and where LaRose changed his stance here and below:
- But as he faces a primary challenge from the right this year, LaRose has danced around impeaching Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, blamed Democrats for primary election chaos and taken an increasingly pessimistic view on legislative mapmaking.
- LaRose tried to strike a statesman-like tone in August as he faced one of the most politically charged assignments of his career – craft congressional and state legislative district maps that abide by new rules in the Ohio Constitution.
- But at every turn, the Ohio Redistricting Commission, of which LaRose is a member, failed to reach a bipartisan agreement. Delays, disagreements and court challenges on the maps have created chaos, uncertainty and forced Ohio to have two primary elections.
- Six months after LaRose called for statesmanship, Ohio’s chief elections official threw up his hands in frustration, blamed the Supreme Court and said he wouldn’t oppose impeaching O’Connor.
- Following the 2020 election, LaRose praised Donald Trump’s decisive win in Ohio but conceded that Joe Biden won the presidency. “Under the rules in place, President Biden won,” LaRose said in December 2020.
- In an April 2022 interview when asked if Biden won, LaRose said the Democrat got 270 electoral votes, which was accepted by Congress and Biden is commander in chief.
- In 2019, when he referred for investigation 77 cases of potential voter fraud, LaRose said voter fraud and suppression are both “exceedingly rare and certainly not as systemic as some claim.”
- Then in 2022, after sending 62 cases of illegal voting to investigators, LaRose took a more alarmist tone. On Feb. 3, LaRose tweeted: “The alleged voter fraud uncovered by my office and referred for prosecution this week is ONLY THE BEGINNING. This is one of MANY investigations.”
- Forty-two ballots represent 0.0007% of the 5.9 million ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election in Ohio. LaRose said his Feb. 3 tweet was in response to a CNN report on the referral of potential voter fraud that painted it as a non-issue.