The state’s chief elections officer said he stands by his comments made at a GOP gathering over the weekend when he was asked if his fellow Republican, Ohio Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, should be impeached over redistricting.
The Ohio Capital Journal got ahold of audio of Secretary of State Frank LaRose who said O’Connor hasn’t upheld her oath of office and if she were impeached as some Republican lawmakers have called for, he “certainly wouldn’t oppose it.”
In an interview with the Statehouse News Bureau Monday morning, LaRose said he stands by those comments.
“Someone asked me the question and I answered it honestly. I have concerns that the court has delved very deeply into politics and is starting to do things that are really not in the Constitution, like ordering us to have hired out-of-state independent map makers and some of these other things," LaRose said. "That's up to the legislature to decide. All I said was that I would be fine with it.”
O’Connor and the court’s three Democrats have struck down the three legislative maps and a congressional map approved by LaRose and other Republicans on the redistricting commission. All the maps were ruled unconstitutionally gerrymandered. The court's three other Republicans have upheld those district maps, which have all given Republicans an advantage.
One of the other Republicans, Gov. Mike DeWine, has said impeaching O’Connor is “not a good idea.”
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