Democratic Ohio Secretary of State candidate fined $500 over minor campaign-finance violations

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Democratic councilwoman from suburban Cincinnati who’s operating for Ohio secretary of state has been discovered to have dedicated three minor campaign-finance violations, two associated to her briefly having an improper identify for her state marketing campaign committee.

The Ohio Elections Fee on Thursday fined Chelsea Clark $500, partially for having an improper committee identify, after which in a associated problem, having an improper disclosure in a marketing campaign advert.

When Clark initially fashioned her state marketing campaign committee on July 6, 2021, she known as it “Chelsea for Ohio.” Ohio regulation requires candidates to incorporate their final identify of their marketing campaign committees. “Chelsea for Ohio” then appeared in one in every of Clark’s marketing campaign movies, even after she modified her identify to “Chelsea Clark for Ohio” on July 7, 2021.

The fee additionally dinged Clark for accepting a $2,500 examine from a donor dated July 1, 2021, earlier than her marketing campaign committee had been formally fashioned.

Clark is difficult Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose in November’s election.

Phil Richter, director of the Ohio Elections Fee, stated a think about setting the $500 high quality was that Clark had been fined $250 beforehand by the fee for submitting late campaign-finance studies for her native marketing campaign committee in Forest Park in suburban Cincinnati.

A lawyer for Clark stated the violations had been unintentional errors that had been rapidly corrected.

The elections fee made its discovering in response to a grievance from Trevor Knapp, of Pickerington.

The secretary of state is Ohio’s prime elections official, and is partially answerable for accepting and reviewing campaign-finance studies, whereas the elections fee is answerable for implementing state campaign-finance regulation.

After Clark was fined, LaRose’s marketing campaign issued a press release criticizing her.

“It’s comprehensible that candidates and campaigns make errors, however Chelsea Clark is a continual offender of state election legal guidelines,” stated Adam Rapien, LaRose’s marketing campaign supervisor.

In response, Clark stated in an e-mail that LaRose is making an attempt to distract from the failures of the Ohio Redistricting Fee, of which LaRose is a member. Authorized points involving the fee have price taxpayers hundreds of thousands of {dollars}, together with in authorized charges, whereas delays in approving a brand new state legislative map might price an estimated $20 million, the price of holding a second major election just for these races.

“That is the form of politics that Ohioans are so sick of,” Clark stated.