ICYMI: Frank LaRose Is Still A Phony
April 29, 2022
For Immediate Release:
Friday, April 29, 2022
Frank LaRose Is Still A Phony
“Perhaps standards change when your own political future is on the line.”
Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, Frank LaRose is so desperate to lose a Senate race in 2024 that he will do anything to remain relevant in the radical Republican Party, while jeopardizing election integrity for all Ohioans. This morning, the Columbus Dispatch is taking LaRose to task, showing his flip flops on everything ranging from Donald Trump to election security, once again proving that LaRose is only looking out for himself.
“Trump also asserted with no basis that ‘our elections are a laughing stock’ around the world and lied: ‘They used COVID in order to cheat in the election by sending millions and millions and millions of fake ballots all over the place’ and Democrats ‘want those mail-in ballots where they can cheat like hell,’ writes Darrel Rowland for the Dispatch.
“Apparently, none of that met LaRose’s criteria as ‘loose talk about fraud” or ‘claiming we don’t count votes’ or ‘allegations of attempts to cheat or to steal an election.’ Perhaps standards change when your own political future is on the line,” concluded Rowland.
“Ohio simply cannot trust Frank LaRose to look out for anyone but himself. LaRose is a political phony who will gladly sell Ohioans down the river all so he can lose a Senate race in two years,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.
Read more on how LaRose is trying to manipulate Ohio voters here and below
- Indeed, early in his tenure he pledged to call out false assertions and misinformation about voting and elections, regardless of party. He backed that up by criticizing dubious statements by President Donald Trump and then-Ohio GOP Chair Jane Timken, as well as then-Democratic Chair David Pepper and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.
- In February 2020 he said it is “deeply irresponsible” to share conspiracy theories about the integrity of elections. “Nobody’s immune from what I just said, that It is irresponsible to fear monger about elections administration.”
- More recently, LaRose has sharply criticized a Democratic elections bill in Congress and challenged statements by President Joe Biden. In December, LaRose called on the president to apologize for a “misleading” statement: “Scaring voters by claiming we don’t count votes is highly irresponsible. Even worse, it further degrades trust in our democracy.”
- But during the 2020 presidential campaign, LaRose grew quieter with his GOP critiques as Trump’s unfounded claims grew louder about “massive fraud” associated with the upcoming election, especially with mail-in voting – used reliably without serious problems in Ohio for years. And there was stone-cold silence from LaRose after Trump’s falsehood-filled April 23 rally at the Delaware County fairgrounds.
- A sampling of some of the former president’s false statements from the rally:
- In assertions that already have been widely discredited, Trump called the 2020 vote “a fake, phony election” and falsely claimed “they found corruption in the 2020 election, the likes of which nobody has ever seen.”
- He did not tell the truth when he said: “The truth is I ran twice, I won twice,” nor when he claimed, “The fact is the election was rigged and stolen, and now our country is being destroyed.”
- Trump also asserted with no basis that “our elections are a laughing stock” around the world and lied: “They used COVID in order to cheat in the election by sending millions and millions and millions of fake ballots all over the place” and Democrats “want those mail-in ballots where they can cheat like hell.”
- Apparently, none of that met LaRose’s criteria as “loose talk about fraud” or “claiming we don’t count votes” or “allegations of attempts to cheat or to steal an election.”
- Perhaps standards change when your own political future is on the line.
- The only people LaRose criticized after the Trump rally were Democrats.
- Which of Trump’s voting proposals does LaRose support? He won’t say.
- A little more than five months into his first year as secretary of state, LaRose told a June 2019 elections officials meeting in Columbus that he wouldn’t be endorsing anyone in the 2020 presidential election.
- Fast-forward to the political whirlwind last weekend. Trump endorsed LaRose in an email at 1:45 p.m. Saturday, and at 4:43 p.m. the campaign of Trump’s newly announced favorite in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race, J.D. Vance, announced that LaRose had endorsed Vance. Hours later, Trump verbally endorsed both men in his fairground’s speech.
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