Ohio
Ohio Sec. of State LaRose has repeatedly abused the power of his office for extreme partisanship – Ohio Capital Journal
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose must think we were all born yesterday. The overtly partisan elections chief removed all doubt with voters this year about his willingness to play dirty in tipping the scales on free and fair elections. Yet he ludicrously sent out a tweet last week to remind Ohioans “that election officials are THE trusted sources for election information.”
LaRose was plugging an initiative of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) launched ahead of the 2024 election to have voters “always turn to state and local elections officials for reliable, timely information.” (#TrustedInfo2024.) “Get all your trusted information from my office,” LaRose tweeted blithely without any self-awareness of the distrust he has sown in his office with brazen partiality and prejudice.
Yet there he is, in a group photo with his fellow secretaries of state on the association’s website purporting to be an elections chief people should rely on for the straight scoop “in the age of mis-, dis-, and mal-information campaigns.” LaRose is an imposter in that picture. He dropped any pretense of being an impartial elections chief people could trust in two statewide elections in 2023. He abused the power of his office to promote a one-sided agenda.
But far from being contrite over the preferential treatment he gave anti-abortion extremists in ballot issues he campaigned for and soundly lost, the unapologetic LaRose is using his unethical conduct as a selling point in his U.S. Senate campaign. At a recent Republican Party candidate forum, according to a cleveland.com report, LaRose tried to ingratiate himself with a questioner by emphasizing his underhandedness in thwarting the abortion rights amendment.
Wrap your head around his reported admission of election sabotage to score political points. At the event, the top elections official in Ohio — whose primary duty is to impartially administrate above board state elections — confessed to collaborating with three prominent anti-abortion groups to alter the ballot language on the Nov. 7 referendum in order to defeat it.
Imagine the Republican uproar if a Democratic secretary of state did the same thing with prominent abortion rights groups to skew ballot language in their favor. What LaRose revealed in colluding with anti-Issue 1 lobbyists to massage the text of a ballot initiative to benefit their campaign was public corruption beyond the pale. The Republican officeholder, entrusted with preserving election integrity in Ohio as a neutral arbiter, bragged about accommodating anti-Issue 1 groups with ballot wording “they wanted” and thought “would be helpful to them.”
Maybe LaRose figured disclosure of his disgraceful scheme to fashion “helpful” ballot language for abortion opponents of Issue 1 would convince skeptics at the recent GOP affair of his good faith efforts to prevent passage of the abortion rights amendment. Maybe the Senate hopeful figured his blatantly biased and misleading summary of the abortion rights initiative, written in sync with the anti-Issue 1 campaign, would boost his anti-abortion bona fides with the audience.
But here on Earth 1, what the state elections chief pulled in his official capacity as chair of the Ohio Ballot Board (that determines what voters see on their ballots before casting them) was an outrageous breach of public trust. LaRose took a side in an election he was overseeing and corruptly manipulated the ballot language on behalf that side to win. That is about as reprehensible as it gets from a secretary of state elected not, as his spokesperson lamely proffered, “to represent the consversative values,” but to equitably serve all Ohio voters.
LaRose doesn’t seem to care how many ethical lines he crosses to snare a U.S. Senate seat. Under the auspices of a Secretary of State newsletter (paid for by taxpayers) he promoted his candidacy to replace incumbent Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown. At a cost of more than $600,000 LaRose surreptitiously transferred his entire department into a building that coincidentally houses his Senate campaign offices — which he conceded using for campaign activities presumably when he’s not masquerading as a nonpartisan referee of state elections.
At this writing, Ohio’s chief elections officer has still not complied with a federal law requiring candidates for U.S. House and Senate to file financial disclosure forms about their income and assets. LaRose is weeks past due on submitting the legally required financial information that might shed light on how a politician who portrays himself as an everyman of modest means could make a $250,000 loan to his campaign.
Yet the secretary of state appears increasingly emboldened to continue flouting the law, pandering to the political extreme and using his politically nonaligned office to side with an exceedingly unhinged and dangerous criminal defendant/ex-president who tried to overturn a democratic election by fraud and force. (Friday, LaRose signed on to a Colorado Supreme Court brief, with two other MAGA-pandering secretaries of state, taking umbrage with a lower court’s ruling that recognized the culpability of the Oval Office insurrectionist).
The same Ohio elections chief who once defended the integrity of the 2020 presidential election and called claims by Trump and Co. about rigged results harmful and unsupported by the evidence, has sold his soul to become a U.S. Senator. Yet ludicrously, LaRose asks us to trust him with the truth about the 2024 elections. We weren’t born yesterday.
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School funding plan hurts public students
As a Columbus resident, I care about my community.
The Columbus City Schools district serves 45,000 students; 50% are economically disadvantaged. Without amendments, House Bill 96 would cut state basic aid for Columbus public school students by $45 million and more for special education services. Funding is inadequate; the proposed budget makes this worse.
Unfunded state mandates like transportation policies and charter schools make it harder to improve Ohio’s public schools.
In violation of the Ohio Constitution, HB 96 shifts greater burden to local taxpayers.
Legislators should amend HB 96 to achieve the Fair School Funding Plan. The current budget bill cuts foundation-formula-based funding for public schools by $103.4 million and increases state funding for private school vouchers by $265.4 million over the next biennium. As many as 359 districts will lose funding. Prioritizing private schools over public schools harms 1.5 million public-school students and favors unaccountable private schools that currently enroll 181,000 students.
Phase in the Fair School Funding Plan using up-to-date cost estimates. Amend HB 96 to make school funding fair for all students.
Cheryl Roller, President, League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Columbus
Columbus City Council choices underwhelming
The current choices for candidates to the Columbus City Council are beyond disappointing. If this is the look that the Democratic Party is seeking, I’m no longer a willing participant of the party. They seem to be seeking the role to expand their resume, not to be a public servant. Very unfortunate for a state that has evolved to become “red.”
Emily Prieto, Columbus
Broadband, but for who?
The Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program is getting an overhaul, and it’s looking like a raw deal — especially for rural residents. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick wants to prioritize “lowest cost” internet access. That sounds great on paper, but in reality, it’s a mess. What’s worse, these changes open the door for Elon Musk’s Starlink to swoop in as a government vendor.
States have already spent time and money crafting plans based on the original BEAD guidelines, which focused on fiber-optic infrastructure — the gold standard for fast, reliable internet. Thanks to President Donald Trump’s executive order, states might have to scrap their plans and start over. That could mean delays of a year or more before anyone even sees a benefit. In the meantime, rural residents will be stuck waiting — again.
And what do they get for their patience? Maybe satellite internet, which is no match for fiber when it comes to speed, reliability and longevity. Critics are calling this move “penny wise, pound foolish,” and they’re not wrong. Satellites have short lifespans, limited capacity and require constant replacements. Fiber, on the other hand, is built to last and creates real jobs in rural communities — good, union jobs that don’t disappear after the system’s installed.
Sure, satellites might look cheaper upfront, but in the long run, rural residents could end up with worse service and higher costs. Meanwhile, Elon Musk gets a shiny new revenue stream. If this is what “streamlining” looks like, we don’t want it.
Barbara Kaplan, Peninsula
Crisis at Dohn Community High School: Financial troubles and staff layoffs
A chaotic start to the school year has left the parents, students and staff of a charter school in Cincinnati with more questions than answers.
After announcing it would be closing at the end of this school year, a struggling Cincinnati charter school will instead shut down next week.
The Dohn Community High School Board of Directors released a statement Friday, saying the school will close on Monday due to “insurmountable financial challenges stemming from the previous school year.”
The charter school serves mostly Black students who have behavioral problems, were expelled from other public schools or are otherwise on their last chance to get a high school diploma. The board agreed during an emergency meeting March 7 to sell its two buildings to Performance Academies, a Columbus-based charter school with a location in Mount Healthy, Dohn’s lawyer, Adam Brown, previously told The Enquirer. The idea was to use that money to cover the rest of the school year, before shuttering Dohn.
“Upon assuming leadership, the current administration took all measures to attempt to stabilize finances, restructure operations, and maintain the highest quality of education for our students,” Friday’s statement reads. “Unfortunately, despite these efforts, the financial burdens from the prior school year have proven too great to sustain operations.”
Interim Superintendent Bill Geraghty added in the release: “Despite our best efforts to overcome financial challenges, we have exhausted all viable options to keep the school open.”
School leadership is working to assist students and families in transitioning to new schools and to provide support for staff, the statement said. As for seniors who are set to graduate this spring, they will receive special attention to ensure they have opportunities to complete their education.
Further details regarding student placement and closure logistics will be shared in the coming days, according to the statement.
Dohn Community High School was founded in 2001 by local educator Kate Bower as a recovery-focused high school for students struggling with addiction, according to the statement. It was named after her sponsor, Blanche Dohn. “The school grew into a vital resource for the Cincinnati community,” and eventually began serving teen mothers, adult learners, and career and technical education students.
A year ago, Sonny Styles was the newcomer in Ohio State’s front six on defense.
Now he’s the only returning starter.
Styles could have followed the entire defensive line and linebacker Cody Simon to the NFL. But like those players did in 2024, Styles chose to return for his senior year.
“I just didn’t feel like I was ready to go yet,” he said Thursday after Ohio State’s sixth spring practice. “I feel like I didn’t reach my ceiling to where I wanted to be in terms of college. Obviously, when you leave here, you want to keep getting better, but I feel like I had more to do here.”
Styles will be a senior, but he’s still only 20 years old. He was supposed to be in OSU’s 2023 recruiting class until he decided to reclassify to the ’22 class. Because of his physical and mental maturity, it proved to be the right move.
Styles started at safety as a sophomore before moving to linebacker last year. He was instrumental in OSU’s run to the national championship. Styles was second on the team behind Cody Simon with 100 tackles, including 10 ½ for losses and six sacks, in OSU’s two-linebacker scheme.
With only safety Caleb Downs and cornerback Davison Igbinosun returning as starters, Styles is ready to lead.
“I think he’s the leader of the entire team,” linebackers coach James Laurinaitis said. “He handled himself really well through the entire winter workout period and all that.”
Told of Laurinaitis’ comment, Styles said, “I appreciate him saying that. I think we’ve got a lot of leaders on this team. I just try to carry myself the right way (by) the way I was raised and I’m just trying to instill some of those values in the younger guys. It’s easy to be a leader on this team. We’ve got so many great people.”
Styles, along with offensive lineman Austin Siereveld and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, earned Iron Buckeye status for their offseason conditioning work.
“The longer you’re here, the more you understand the importance of those kind of things,” Styles said. “What Iron Buckeye means is being able to bring your ‘A’ game each and every day despite how you may be feeling outside of this building, and being able to be the guy that someone can look at like, ‘Hey, he’s doing it the right way.’
“It’s not only just you can lift heavy or I can run fast. It’s your character. I’m showing up on time every day. I’m bringing energy every day. I have enthusiasm, I’m excited to be here. I’m pouring into others. I really appreciate that honor.”
Styles seems a lock to be named a captain this summer and it wouldn’t shock anyone if he’s named the “Block O” recipient.
“He’s a vocal guy, and it shows up on the field, too,” said linebacker Arvell Reese, who’s expected to start alongside Styles. “It’s hard to follow after a guy who says something and he’s not on their stuff. Sonny is one of those guys who’s on his stuff, so when he leads, everybody’s listening.”
Styles has filled out to 235 pounds on his 6-foot-4 frame. As to be expected, he’s also more comfortable as a linebacker.
“I feel like I’ve been playing the position for longer than a year, so that’s a good thing,” Styles said.
Buy Ohio State posters, books, gear from CFP title win
Styles cherishes being part of last year’s national championship team, but he, like the other Buckeyes, is ready to turn the page.
“You have to rebuild from step one,” he said. “We won the national championship last year and we can hold onto that forever, but we’ve got to create our own story and start from ground zero.
“I think we have something to prove. We’ve got a little chip on our shoulder.”
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Ohio State football beat writer Bill Rabinowitz can be reached at brabinowitz@dispatch.com or on Bluesky at @billrabinowitz.bsky.social.
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