Former Stark County legislator appointed to committee that enforces campaign finance law

Christina Hagan has gone from being a candidate to helping enforce the state's campaign finance laws that apply to candidates.

The former state representative, a Republican who lives in Marlboro Township, said her first meeting as one of the seven members of the Ohio Elections Commission will be April 7.

Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Hagan to the commission on March 7 to serve until the end of 2026. She succeeds Republican Catherine Cunningham, whose five-year term had expired.

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Christina Hagan's appointment a first for Stark County

She represented the Ohio 50th District from 2011 to 2018. Hagan also ran unsuccessfully for Congress in the 16th Congressional District in 2018, losing to eventual Republican winner Anthony Gonzalez. And she failed in her bid to be elected as congressman for the 13th Congressional District as Democrat Tim Ryan was re-elected.

State law prohibits Elections Commission members from being candidates, making campaign contributions, serving on a campaign committee or party central committee or party executive committee.

Hagan appears to be the second Stark County resident ever to serve on the commission.

Former Canton councilman and former local United Steelworkers leader John Mroczkowski of Canton was a Democratic member of the commission from 2007 to 2011. At one point, he was the chairman.

The commission's executive director, Philip Richter, said the Ohio Elections Commission, with a budget of $630,000 a year and a full-time staff of two in Columbus, fields complaints that candidates have failed to file required accurate campaign finance reports by the legal deadlines, that candidates have failed to make the required disclosures on campaign materials and that donors have contributed more money to a state campaign than permitted.

"I of course will pursue the caseload with diligence and will apply all of my life experiences in doing the work before me on the commission," Hagan wrote in a text.

Richter said the commission no longer reviews complaints of misleading statements made about candidates in campaign materials. He said in 2015, the U.S. Sixth District Court of Appeals found that the state law prohibiting misleading campaign statements violated the First Amendment.

Commission's work

The commission by majority vote can fine candidates for violations or refer their case to a county prosecutor for prosecution.

Richter said the commission usually reviews about 600 to 1,000 cases a year. It dispenses with many of the cases after a preliminary review. He said due to the need to allow candidates or campaigns the time to respond to complaints against them, it can take 45 to 60 days for a preliminary review. Often, cases aren't resolved until after an election.

By law, the commission must have three Democrats, three Republicans and a nonpartisan seventh member that the six other members appoint. Members serve four-year terms.

Reasons for appointment not clear

Ohio House Speaker Robert Cupp and Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman in January submitted Hagan's name along with two others for one of the three Republican seats on the commission. DeWine selected Hagan over Bradley Smith of Licking County and Jon Charles Bennehoof of Delaware County. DeWine also appointed John Lyall of Delaware County to one of the Democratic seats on the commission.

Commission members earn $25,000 a year, plus reimbursement for expenses.

Meetings are about twice a month.

After the appointment, the Ohio Capital Journal reported that Hagan in her social media postings on Twitter suggested that she was receptive to unsubstantiated claims that voter fraud cost then-President Donald Trump re-election in 2020.

In response to the Capital Journal article, Hagan wrote, "I stand by statements that I have made. I won’t comment on editorializing newspaper writers. I will make decisions on cases brought before the elections commission based on facts presented in each case and the applicable laws and rules."

Spokesmen for Cupp and Huffman could not be reached for comment.

DeWine's spokesman, Dan Tierney, said that DeWine appointed Hagan in consultation with Cupp and Huffman. Tierney said DeWine's office was not commenting beyond that.

Tierney and Richter said that the Elections Commission has no role in reviewing allegations of voter fraud or how an election is conducted by a county Boards of Election.

Reach Robert at (330) 580-8327 or robert.wang@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @rwangREP.

Correction: Hagan is at least the second Stark County resident to serve on the commission after John Mroczkowski of Canton did so from 2007 to 2011. A prior version of this article failed to mention that Mroczkowski was apparently the first commission member from Stark Coun

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ex-Stark legislator, Hagan, appointed to Elections Commission