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Ohioans See Through Frank LaRose’s Attempt to Put Special Interests First

April 20, 2023

Columbus, OH — As Republicans in the Ohio Legislature push through a constitutional amendment to effectively kill citizen-led ballot initiatives, here’s every time Frank LaRose has been called out by Ohioans and the media for putting special interests first.
 
The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Senate Republicans OK August election, plan to make it harder to change constitution
Haley BeMiller
April 19, 2023

  • Democrats called the measure undemocratic and arrogant and believe it will erode the ability of Ohioans to make their voices heard. Critics have also noted that Republicans, including Secretary of State Frank LaRose, advocated for the law to limit August elections because of cost and low turnout.

Ohio Capital Journal: In GOP flip, August special election will return
Susan Tebben
April 20, 2023

  • Less than half a year after proclaiming August elections to be too expensive for the turnout they attract, the Senate Republican majority expanded the use of a special election this year, complete with $20 million in funding.
  • Speaking in opposition for SB 92, state Sen. William DeMora, D-Columbus, quoted Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose who spoke in support of reducing August special election usage last year, when he said they “aren’t good for taxpayers, election officials, voters or the civic health of our state.”
  • “(SB 92) is so bad that (LaRose) Secretary LaRose couldn’t even find the time to come and testify about it in committee,” DeMora said.

Associated Press: Ohio GOP advances making constitutional changes tougher
Julie Carr Smyth
April 19, 2023

  • The star witness on behalf of eliminating most August special elections was Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who blasted them as low-turnout drains on election board budgets that are bad for the state and for democracy. But LaRose now says he favors this particular August election, which he calls an exceptional circumstance.

Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio SOS gives yet another reason to make it a lot harder for voters to amend Constitution
Marty Schladen
April 14, 2023

  • Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Wednesday offered another rationale for making it much more difficult for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution. Now he’s saying it’s needed to fight a possible power grab like one that grew out of a massive bribery and money-laundering scandal.
  • But LaRose didn’t mention in his op-ed that his name came up repeatedly in a criminal trial related to the scandal and that he appeared to be in close communication with some of its central figures.
  • Nor did his office respond when asked whether LaRose ever spoke out against the corrupt utility bailout before the FBI started arresting people in July 2020.

Cleveland.com: HJR 1 would blast away constitutional amendment rights Ohio citizens have had for 111 years: editorial
Editorial Board
April 5, 2023

  • In January, August special elections were seen as unneeded, costly exercises by Ohio cynic-in-chief Frank LaRose, who as Ohio secretary of state is Ohio’s chief elections officer. LaRose was full of praise in January when Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 458 into law. The bill, into which all manner of major electoral changes, including photo voter IDs and tighter absentee-ballot deadlines, had been crammed, started out life — and is titled — “Eliminate August special elections except for US House nomination.”
  • LaRose had applauded that part of the law, in particular, calling August special elections “a costly, low-turnout, and unnecessary election for our county [elections] boards to administer.”
  • Now, he and others can hardly wait to hold another August special election, courtesy of $20 million of our tax dollars (if Senate Bill 92, which is now pending in a Senate committee, or another measure authorizing this passes, of course).

The Columbus Dispatch: LTE: ‘Sneaky’ Frank LaRose
Dave Schwendenman, Columbus
April 4, 2023

  • Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose doesn’t want to have August elections where ‘sneaky local’ officials use the traditionally small turnouts to favor their chances of success, but it’s A-OK for sneaky state officials to use the same low turnout August election to push through their 60% amendment to the constitution as regards citizen initiatives?
  • If Frank LaRose wants to hold this to vote in August, why not make passage of it dependent upon the same 60% margin he wants for the November vote on women’s rights? And what’s with throwing shade on local officials and of all things sewage issues?  

The Columbus Dispatch: Thomas Suddes: Power hungry LaRose, Huffman think you are stupid or have amnesia
Thomas Suddes
April 2, 2023

  • Three months ago, virtually all Republicans in the General Assembly and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a suburban Columbus Republican, the state’s chief election officer, favored abolishing August special elections as provided by House Bill 458, a measure the legislature passed in December and Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed in January.
  • What’s changed since then is growing GOP fear the voter-proposed November abortion rights amendment has momentum. (What hasn’t changed is LaRose’s hunger for 2024’s Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate for the seat now held by Cleveland Democrat Sherrod Brown, himself secretary of state from 1983 through 1990.) 

Akron Beacon Journal: Hypocrisy thrives with Ohio Republicans, LaRose
Editorial Board
March 31, 2023

  • Ohio Republicans love to talk about special interests as a shadowy force of out-of-state operatives hellbent on disrupting our state with liberal ideas.
  • Perhaps they’re really describing themselves, albeit with a hyper-conservative agenda we believe most Ohioans oppose.
  • The only special interests we see are Statehouse Republicans trying to make the difficult process of citizens amending the state’s constitution even harder.  

The Columbus Dispatch: Our view: Desperate Ohio lawmakers ready to slap voters in the face to stop abortion vote
Editorial Board
March 30, 2023

  • A word sums up an effort led by Secretary of State Frank LaRose, Senate President Matt Huffman, State Rep. Brian Stewart and others to steal a power Ohioans have enjoyed since 1912: undemocratic.
  • As with the 2022 Ohio redistricting battle, Huffman, LaRose and other Republicans want to change the rules to get what they want.
  • Turnout in special elections is traditionally low even when important issues are on the ballot. Just last year LaRose said as much when he supported a new law that says local governments and school districts can only hold August elections when there is a fiscal emergency.
  • LaRose, Huffman and the rest want to stack the deck against Ohio voters.

The Columbus Dispatch: LTE: Frank LaRose and his hypocrisy
Richard S. Donahey, Columbus
March 30, 2023

  • The Dispatch has been carefully tracking the Republican Party’s latest attempt to manipulate and control the election process. In the March 29 Dispatch.com article “Ohio secretary of state defends possible August election after pushing to limit them,” the hypocrisy of Frank LaRose, Ohio’s Secretary of State, screams out at the electorate as if he is trying to fool someone. 

WOUB: After supporting the elimination of August elections, Ohio’s Secretary of State now says sometimes they’re ok
Karen Kasler
March 29, 2023

  • Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose is suggesting he’s on board with an August election for voters to decide on a GOP-backed plan he supports to make it harder to amend the state constitution – even though three months ago he testified in favor of the law that got rid of August special election.

Cleveland.com: Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose objected to August elections, but not to change Ohio Constitution
Laura Hancock
March 28, 2023

  • Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the state’s chief elections officer, said Tuesday he supported a bill last year that generally ended August elections because he believes municipalities, local school districts, local sewer districts and others schedule them “to have a sneaky levy when nobody’s paying attention.”
  • However, LaRose isn’t objecting to an August special election that would make it harder to amend the Ohio Constitution and possibly scuttle a statewide vote in November on a proposed constitutional amendment enshrining abortion rights. 

The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio secretary of state defends possible August election after pushing to limit them
Haley BeMiller
March 28, 2023

  • Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Tuesday defended a potential August election for the effort to make it harder to amend the state constitution − just months after advocating to limit those elections.

The Chronicle-Telegram: Don’t hold special elections in August
Editorial Board
March 24, 2023

  • It seems as if just last year Ohio legislators passed a law largely eliminating special elections in August.
  • Oh, wait, it was last year.
  • The near elimination of such elections was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise disappointing Republican-backed bill that imposed strict photo ID requirements on voters and eliminated early in-person voting on the day before Election Day.
  • Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, celebrated when GOP Gov. Mike DeWine signed it into law in January. In a news release LaRose’s office even highlighted the law’s near elimination of those elections, except when a political subdivision or school district was in a state of fiscal emergency. 

The Columbus Dispatch: LTE: Why does majority rule upset Frank LaRose so very much
Thomas W. Billing, Springfield
April 15, 2023

  • I have some questions for Frank LaRose after reading his April 12 column, “Corrupt mastermind’s plot shows frailty of our state’s constitution,” and they start with: why does a simple majority upset you in voting on state constitutional amendments? 
  • What happened to majority rule?