Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder has spent $950,000 in campaign money on legal fees since his July arrest
COLUMBUS -- "Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder has spent nearly $950,000 from his campaign account on legal fees since his arrest in July on a federal corruption charge, according to the campaign-finance report he filed with the state on Thursday.
Nearly all of that money -- $920,000-- went to two law firms that are aiding in his criminal legal defense. Two experts in state campaign-finance law called the spending questionable, since the Ohio Elections Commission, which interprets and enforces election law in Ohio, repeatedly has found that spending campaign money on a candidate’s criminal defense is illegal under state law.
Maggie Sheehan, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican who is the state’s top elections official, said: 'Yet again, it appears that the former speaker’s campaign flagrantly disregards state law and will result in another referral to the Ohio Elections Commission.'"
-- Andrew Tobias, cleveland.com