Ohio Elections Commission fines Clark County GOP $1K

Nov. 22—(Editor's note: Setys Kelly has been removed from the Clark County Board of Elections website as being a central committee member. This story has been updated.)

The Ohio Elections Commission fined the Clark County Republican Party $1,000 for missing documentation in its Board of Elections filings.

Laura Rosenberger, who has been the county party chair during a controversial period, blamed the former treasurer and vowed to recoup the money.

Setys Kelly, former party treasurer, said she filed documents several times over the course of three years and there were no issues until earlier this year when Rosenberger brought up some "inconsistencies." Kelly said the OEC found documents with issues such as missing zip codes, incorrect math and an incorrectly categorized $900 expense she said was due to information given to her by Rosenberger.

Kelly said she did not include receipts with her filings, which she said she had handed over to the party when she resigned as treasurer, but she is not sure where these went. She said she took photos or videos of these receipts, which she told the OEC.

"There's no money missing," Kelly said.

In a press release, Rosenberger said the fine was due to Kelly's "incompetence, negligence and outright ignorance of the law."

"The party will be taking necessary action to recoup these fines and losses that have damaged the image and reputation of the Party," Rosenberger said in the release.

Kelly said Rosenberger "continues to attack me on a daily basis," sending texts and emails to Republicans all over the state.

Kelly has been the subject of scrutiny by Rosenberger, who has said that Kelly is no longer a party member at all. Kelly is still listed as a party member of the county Board of Elections website.

The former treasurer resigned, alleging requests from Rosenberger to carry out fraudulent activities.

On Nov. 2, nearly three dozen GOP members voted overwhelmingly to oust Rosenberger and other central and executive committee leaders, installing a new team. Rosenberger has called the meeting a failed coup attempt and she does not recognize the validity of the votes, saying she is still the party chairperson.

"So nothing they did Nov. 2 has an effect on the current leadership. We are still the officers and will remain as officers until our natural terms end," Rosenberger said previously.

Those in the meeting elected Jeannette Chu as the chairperson of the executive committee and Jim Stickford as the chairperson of the central committee.

Kelly said the party is working on moving forward and focusing on the community.

"We're a new party now; we have new leadership," Kelly said. "We have people that have great plans to help the community and to work hard to make sure that people know that Republicans really care about people, not just winning an election."