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Frank LaRose Still Owes Ohioans Answers After Latest Scandal Surfaces

September 11, 2023

Taxpayers Footing Steep Bill to Move LaRose’s Secretary of State Office to Campaign HQ

Columbus, OH – Frank LaRose still owes Ohioans answers about his latest scandal after a report showed he is moving the Ohio Secretary of State Office to the same building as his Senate Campaign headquarters, costing Ohio taxpayers over half a million dollars. The Ohio Secretary of State office has been in the same location for decades – until LaRose started running for U.S. Senate.

As details about LaRose’s latest scandal are exposed, he must answer:

  1. You claim the lease was set to expire – but was there no offer to renew it? Was the proposed rent less expensive than the overall cost of moving the entire Secretary of State’s office to a new building?
  2. What was the process for deciding that you wanted to move the Secretary of State’s office from where it’s been for over 20 years?  And given how many buildings are located in Columbus, how do you explain the fact that you decided to put it in the same building your campaign is working out of?
  3. Will you release the full details of your monthly lease for your campaign?  How much is your campaign paying per square foot compared to what the state is paying to be in the same building?
  4. Was your campaign lease negotiated before or after you began to consider moving the Secretary of State’s office?
  5. Have you put a process in place to ensure it is clear when you are at work as Secretary of State versus when you are at work campaigning for Senate? Will you commit now to release weekly schedules so Ohioans know how you’re spending your time?

Read / Watch More:

WATCH HERE

WCMH: “[LaRose’s] staffers say they considered three other buildings. NBC4 asked why none of those were chosen, but we have not heard back.”

WCMH: Secretary of state moves offices for the first time in nearly two decades

Natalie Fahmy

September 7, 2023

  • The secretary of state is moving offices for the first time in nearly two decades – at least. A spokesperson for the secretary of state said the search for a new building was prompted because their current lease is ending.
  • Right now, the office is on 180 E. Broad Street, but they are making a move to a new building on Civic Center Drive. It is the same address that Secretary of State Frank Larose (R-Ohio) lists for his U.S. Senate campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission.
  • The move to the new building will cost $400,000 up front, in taxpayer dollars, to “to prepare and ready the space for the Office of the Secretary of State.” Plus, an additional $200,000 over the next two years for that same purpose.

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