THREAD

I tweeted earlier today about a conversation w the SOS Constituency Director about the decision to ban more than one drop box per county. In that conversation, he said he was “unaware” of any written legal opinion on which LaRose relied.

Then I received this tweet..

1/ https://twitter.com/seclarosecomms/status/1294392615178309634

As you’ll see, it purports to send several paragraphs from the “opinion” I asked for.

But it is not that.

What I asked for, and what @nickieantonio and @SenSWilliams asked for in their own letter, was the written legal opinion LaRose relied on to justify a major decision

2/

This is an especially important question because, bizarrely, he had asked for a formal opinion from the AG, halted any progress on drop boxes for more than 3 weeks, then w only days before he was going to receive that opinion, withdrew the request.

3/

So without that opinion, the logical question is....what written opinion did he rely on for making his public pronouncement that he was required to ban all but one drop box per county?

Certainly, a major decision must be based on a thoughtful opinion the SOS received

4/

So they sent me that above tweet with two pages attached as being that “opinion”.

But on close examination, that is not a legal opinion at all.

Those are simply excerpts from a letter FROM LaRose (not a lawyer) TODAY responding to @SenSWilliams and @nickieantonio ‘s letter

5/

So rather than an actual legal opinion by a lawyer, they are pointing to excerpts from public correspondence sent TODAY, by LaRose, a non-lawyer, as the “legal opinion” LaRose used to justify his major decision several days ago

6/

(This reminds me of the other day, where the only legal support they could point to for their decision was a series of misinformed tweets by an out of state journalist. (The first tweet alone misstated Ohio law)

No, that is not a legal opinion either.)

7/

So now we know:

1) they withdrew their request for a formal AG opinion we all would’ve seen
2) a top staffer said he was not aware of any other written legal opinion
3) the day of this decision they point to a reporter’s tweets,

and now, worst of all...

8/

They point to a letter FROM LaRose (responding to two Senators’ request for the written legal opinion he based his decision on) as the legal opinion itself.

This would be laughable if it weren’t so serious—y’know, safe voting amid a pandemic.

9/

And to be clear, the argument in today’s letter from LaRose would fail a first-year law class. It makes no sense, saying nothing germane to the issue.

It even focuses on the wrong phrase, and does so with an egregious typo (“directive” instead of “director”)

10/

For a letter that actually explains why LaRose has authority to expand drop boxes, which focuses on the central phrase at issue and explains how HB 197 didn’t change a thing, read our letter to the AG.

10/

Bottom line: LaRose made a monumental decision, impacting the conduct of the entire election as well as the safety of voters, by claiming a strong legal position but without having done the most basic legal due diligence. (A reasoned legal opinion informing that decision)

11/

He now claims he lacked authority without, apparently, obtaining any legal opinion written to him establishing that conclusion.

And now, both letters he has sent addressing his purported lack of legal authority to add drop boxes have been deeply flawed.

12/

And called out on this disturbing and groundless decision, his team tweets out paragraphs as part of “the opinion” that are actually from a letter HE sent today.

Folks, this is a deadly serious matter. But this is a decision that was made in a non-serious way, now being..

13/

...defended in an even less serious way.

Here’s the good news.

LaRose still has time to do the right thing. He can get it right at a key moment in Ohio history.

We will give him credit when he reverses course and does the right thing on this and other decisions.

14/

But until he does, Monday morning, start calling his office again and demand that he reverse this shameful decision that has no basis in Ohio law.

And for all of our sakes, especially LaRose himself, beg his team to stop digging a deeper hole.

END