Please keep in mind - what we have found is that since 2017, Republican reporting has gotten progressively worse and I can see no possible explanation to provide for such inconsistent data being present on the Secretary of State's website. This is data that is presented as being final and there is no disclaimer that the data is in the process of being audited or updated. The total amount of disparity equates to millions of dollars from 2017 and beyond.

The principle of balanced contributions and expenditures within intraparty transactions forms the cornerstone of transparent and fair electoral processes. In theory, for every expenditure a political party makes to a candidate, there should be a corresponding contribution listed from the party to the candidate. However, a critical examination of Ohio Secretary of State filings reveals a very troubling pattern of discrepancies. Not only do these filings fail to demonstrate parity between contributions and expenditures, but they also raise grave concerns regarding the accuracy and transparency of all campaign finance data provided by the Secretary of State. Furthermore, the disparity between the data available through the Secretary of State's FTP data and the reports that can be run on the Ohio Secretary of State website compounds these inconsistencies. A simple financial audit of available data exposes a troubling trend of increasing disparities, which have persisted since 2017. This disparity not only undermines the integrity of campaign finance reporting but also raises urgent questions about the efficacy of existing regulations and the need for greater monitoring of campaign finances and greater penalties for such stark inconsistencies.

Economist Jon Morrow

GROSS DISPARITIES IN OHIO SECRETARY OF STATE DATA CALLS INTO QUESTION THE ABILITY OF THE OFFICE TO AUDIT DATA

Gross disparities uncovered in the Ohio Secretary of State data should be troubling for all Ohioans. It not only calls into question the ability of the office to audit campaign finances - but leads one to question the efficacy of audits of Ohio's elections. As party leaders and candidates have always been fond of pointing to the Secretary of State audits and reporting when they are questioned about their finances as conclusive proof that nothing is amiss.

I can find no rational basis for why parity cannot be found between party expenditures to candidates and the contributions that candidates have claimed to receive. Below is a small sampling of the accounting irregularities that have been found that demonstrates that such inconsistencies are neither rare - nor inconsequential.

2023 FTP DATA FROM THE OHIO SECRETARY OF STATE WEBSITE

LINK TO SOS FTP DATA

SUMMARY OF RESULTS FOR STATEWIDE CANDIDATE AUDIT 2023

DAVE YOST - IRREGULARITIES

EXPENDITURES FROM THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATES FUND

THE CANDIDATE COMMITTEE SHOWS $0 IN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATES FUND IN 2023 - A DIFFERENCE OF $188,013,24

MIKE DEWINE - IRREGULARITIES

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATES FUND TO MIKE DEWINE FOR OHIO

THE CANDIDATE COMMITTEE SHOWS $4,203.81 IN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATES FUND IN 2023 - BUT THE PARTY SHOWS NO DONATIONS IN 2023 FROM THE STATE CANDIDATES FUND - A DIFFERENCE OF $4,203.81

JON HUSTED - IRREGULARITIES

EXPENDITURES AND CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATES FUND TO JON HUSTED FOR OHIO

THE CANDIDATE COMMITTEE REPORTED $192,855.17 IN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATES FUND IN 2023. THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATES FUND ONLY SHOWS $175,795.03 IN EXPENDITURES TO THE CANDIDATE COMMITTEE - A DIFFERENCE OF $17,060.14

FRANK LAROSE - IRREGULARITIES

EXPENDITURES FROM THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATES FUND TO LAROSE FOR OHIO

THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATE FUND SHOWS EXPENDITURES OF $222,672.59 TO LAROSE FOR OHIO - BUT LAROSE REPORTED $0 IN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE Ohio Republican Party STATE CANDIDATE FUND - A DIFFERENCE OF $222,672.59

ROBERT SPRAGUE - IRREGULARITIES

EXPENDITURES FROM THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATES FUND

THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATE FUND SHOWS EXPENDITURES OF $81,737.33.THE CANDIDATE COMMITTEE SHOWS $0 IN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATES FUND IN 2023 - A DIFFERENCE OF $81,737.33

KEITH FABER - IRREGULARITIES

EXPENDITURES FROM THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATES FUND TO FRIENDS OF FABER

THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATE FUND SHOWS EXPENDITURES OF $48,139.87 TO FRIENDS OF FABER - BUT FABER REPORTED $0 IN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CANDIDATE FUND - A DIFFERENCE OF $48,139.87

Clarification of Statements made by Former Chairmen of the Ohio Republican Party

In the interest of full disclosure - I am a Republican and have never been affiliated with any other party and I have been voting my entire life. I seek to have a vibrant and engaged Republican Party that dominates the political landscape and is representative of registered Republicans. To do so, it is my belief that the party must be run morally, ethically, and lawfully. ~ Jon Morrow

It is no secret that I have worked with members of the Ohio Republican State Central Committee to help guide them in their quest to produce a better Ohio Republican Party. Traditionally - there is tremendous angst from the establishment in reforming the party. Reformation almost always means a change within the power centers of a party and a critical eye being placed upon those trying to preserve those power centers. In the fight to make these changes and restore "political rights" to the people - very deceptive and disingenuous statements have been made by those in the establishment to circumvent further inspection.

We've seen time and again, that there is obviously something of great importance for the establishment to hide. This can be no more evident than the august push that the Republican Party has had in not allowing the members of its own committee to not examine and audit the finances.

Let's examine some of the statements made by former chairmen and why their statements should be considered suspect. These statements have been paraphrased

"The Ohio Republican Party had not been audited for 16 years prior to 2016 despite its bylaws requiring an annual audit and that the audit committee could employ a Certified Public Accountant to perform the Audit. Since 2017 the party has been audited annually by the audit committee"

First, let's remember that a GOOD audit is to be performed by an auditor that has no conflict of interest in reporting the results. This would necessarily mean that you would not want the Party Chairman to pick who is on the audit committee - as they have an interest to pick people on the audit committee that may report in such a way as to excuse the shortcomings of leadership. An audit committee should always be selected by the membership of the Central Committee and members on the audit committee should not have a conflict of interest.

Under Jane Timken's leadership, an audit was finally commissioned for the Ohio Republican Party, but with alarming irregularities. Timken bypassed proper procedures, appointing Clifton Larson Allen LLP (CLA), a firm with undeniable conflicts of interest. CLA handles not only Timken's personal finances but also those of her husband, Tim Timken's lobbying firm, McKinley Strategies. Notably, Jason Paduchik, McKinley Strategies' vice president, is the brother of Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Paduchik, constituting a clear ethical violation.

CLA abruptly withdrew from the audit, citing the need to prioritize other accounting matters, but evidence suggests ulterior motives. Emails reveal no evidence of committee harassment, contradicting claims made by Timken's camp. Additionally, Compass Pointe, an Indiana-based accounting firm, was engaged for an audit, but only delivered an "accounting procedures report," falling short of the comprehensive audit promised.

It's evident that the lack of financial oversight within the Ohio Republican Party is unacceptable.

While RightSide did do an audit, the type of audit they did is not typically any type of reassurance that financial reports to State Central Committee members are accurate or truthful - there is a tremendous difference between a compliance audit (low bar) and a financial audit (high bar). So what are the problems with "so-called" audits performed to date? Under article IV Section 6 of the 2017 bylaws - "The Audit Committee shall consist of three members. The Audit Committee shall examine the accounts of the Treasurer, for which purpose it shall have authority to employ a certified public accountant, and shall make an annual report to the Committee." The 2017 Audit employed Right Side Compliance for a compliance audit - not for a financial audit. While the Party passed the compliance audit - it is clear from the findings of the compliance audit that the party would never be able to pass a financial audit because the compliance audit found that its books were in such disarray that they were not financially auditable - they recommended a complete rebuild of the financials but warned that would be expensive and open the party up to fines from various regulatory agencies including the Federal Elections Commission. Why was this report not made public? We gather it was because it showed how badly in disarray the parties finances were.

Keep in mind, that RightSide Compliance does not reference any Certified Public Accountant or show any Certified Public Auditor being employed by their organization. Plus - Chairman Jane Timken has stated may times that it was her - that made the decision to employ the auditors - that would mean that she was on the audit committee making it impossible for their not to be an appearance of impropriety as she would have an impermissible influence over the audit - which is a conflict of interest.

Chairman Bob Paduchik did employ a very high-priced Certified Public Accountant firm from Indiana that he made very clear - answered to him. Again, a conflict of interest and an impermissible influence over any audit by the chairman makes any audit suspect and questionable. To our knowledge this firm did not perform an audit - they did an audit procedures report at the behest of the chairman. We also have to wonder why - with all the reputable audit firms in Ohio - that the chairman decided upon an Indiana firm to conduct his audit? Additionally, when members of the audit committee complained and others demanded to see what had been audited they were denied access. When the members sued - Paduchik and then Treasurer David Johnson spent - from what they claimed was over $200,000 - on law firm Bricker and Eckler (now Bricker Graydon) to keep members from seeing the finances. Even more ridiculous - is that this expense cannot be found in the filings of expenditures with the Ohio Secretary of State.

From any financial auditors perspective - you cannot be employed and answer to the person who you are auditing without compromising the integrity of the audit. It very much is akin to putting the fox in charge of the hen house. And from what the public can ascertain from Secretary of State information is that the finances of the party are not getting better - they are getting worse.

My recommendations would be to pay a Quickbooks Online professional to clean up the books and rebuild the last 8 years so that the books can be audited and so that accounting procedures can be established by the State Central Committee - this can be done for a reasonable price by a Republican vendor such Coffman Biz Solutions or an equivalent. Then I would suggest a small but professional and well respected CPA firm to audit the books for an audit committee selected by the State Central Committee and that reports to the audit committee - not the chairman. This way the party does not have to needlessly pay top dollar for out of state auditors to come in and waste donors money when a true audit can cost a fraction of the amount spent on items that are not financial audits. ~Jon Morrow