The Ohio Republican Party’s vice chairman announced Tuesday in an email to all members of the state party’s executive council and the central committee that he intends to block an endorsement of Secretary of State Frank LaRose at Friday’s central committee meeting at Lewis Center’s Nationwide Conference Center.
“Dear Fellow Ohio State Republican Central & Executive Committee members: At our state committee meeting Friday, I plan to move to block the endorsement of Frank LaRose,” wrote Bryan C. Williams, who is also the chairman of the Summit County Republican.
“By endorsing Frank LaRose and his liberal record for reelection, we render our party, and this committee’s purpose and commitment to Republican principles, meaningless,” Williams said.
“The outcome of the 2020 Ohio elections were legitimate in spite of Frank LaRose, not because of him. Our Republican legislative majority stood up against LaRose to shore up the integrity of our elections,” he said.
“Do not make a mockery of our cherished party’s endorsement,” he said.
The vice chairman said LaRose had not earned the right to the party’s endorsement.
“Deny Frank LaRose the Ohio Republican Party endorsement which he has repeatedly failed to earn over these past four years,” Williams said. “When we do, we will not only be protecting the integrity of our Republican party, but we will also increase trust in future Ohio elections as well.”
Williams gave his reasons with incredible detail.
- “LaRose illegally ordered boards of elections to cancel the March 3, 2020 primary election. Already prohibited by Ohio’s Constitution, our Republican legislature doubled down and outlawed the cancellation of elections by the Secretary of State in the Ohio Revised Code.”
- “LaRose took $1.3 million from Mark Zuckerberg’s Democrat ‘Get Out the Vote’ fund and encouraged county boards of election to do the same. At least 43 did. Our Republican legislature has since outlawed this practice.”
- “LaRose supported the installation of ‘unmanned’ countywide absentee voter drop boxes, which are a proven tool for Democrat ballot harvesting. (Our Republican legislature outlawed this plan.)”
- LaRose attempted to use public funds to pay for return absentee ballot postage. (Our Republican legislature blocked him from doing so.)
- “LaRose wanted to mail every registered voter an absentee ballot, including hundreds of thousands on the voter rolls who no longer reside at the addresses in the voter registration system. (Our Republican legislature outlawed the plan.)”
- “LaRose’s judgment is so misguided our Republican legislature passed a law barring him from entering legal settlement agreements on election-related lawsuits without prior approval of the legislature (HB 110.)”
- “LaRose was a board member of a kids’ voting organization created by liberal activists which promoted ‘Critical Race Theory.’ He abruptly resigned last year once his membership was publicized.”
- “LaRose continues to oppose a state-issued, citizen-only photo identification requirement for voting. (Public polling consistently shows bi-partisan majority support, including a supermajority of Republicans.)”
- “LaRose used his office to settle a political score. (Our Ohio Supreme Court unanimously overruled LaRose, holding that he had abused the discretion of his office.)”
- “Six times the Republican legislative majority, along with Governor DeWine, passed legislation to stop Frank LaRose.”
A spokesman for the LaRose campaign told The Ohio Star Williams was not in his right mind.
“Bryan’s pathological weird obsession with the Secretary has been more than a decade in the making and his claims are demonstrably untrue, yet his fixation on the Secretary continues to cloud his judgement both within the Republican Party and on the Summit County Board of Elections. Our party and the voters of Summit County deserve far better,” the spokesman said.
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Neil W. McCabe is the national political editor of The Star News Network. Send him news tips: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @neilwmccabe2.
Photo “Frank LaRose” by Frank LaRose.
