Frank LaRose misses Senate financial disclosure deadline, despite extension and $50,000 fine threat

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) has still not filed his financial disclosures for his U.S. Senate campaign.

Candidates are required to publicly disclose their finances within 30 days of announcing their candidacy. LaRose announced his run for Senate on July 17 and subsequently asked for an extension on his filing on Aug 9. Despite an extra 90 days, LaRose again blew past his deadline on Nov. 14.

Filing late will garner LaRose a $200 fine, while not filing at all will tack him with a $50,000 penalty. LaRose’s opponents Bernie Moreno and Matt Dolan have already sent in their financial disclosures, as well as Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) who holds the seat LaRose is vying for. 

Reporting from the Ohio Capital Journal’s Nick Evans suggests that although late filings are not uncommon, LaRose flirting with the $50,000 fine is notable given other filings suggesting that he could not afford the $250,000 loan he gave to his own campaign.

This is the latest controversy in a series of setbacks for LaRose’s brief campaign. Less than three weeks after LaRose announced his campaign, Ohio voters rejected the Issue 1 ballot measure which would have increased the passage threshold of future measures from 50% to 60%. LaRose made himself the face of the initiative in the name of denying reproductive rights. Had Issue 1 passed in August, the recreational marijuana and reproductive rights amendments would not have been passed last week.

When he was a state senator, LaRose sponsored a bill in 2016 to make campaign financial reports more easily accessible via state databases. And as secretary of state, he has repeatedly pushed strict election law adherence.