Secretary of state's new office location is 'incidental,' LaRose says

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is responding after NBC4 reported his office is moving to the same address listed for his U.S. Senate campaign.

LaRose's new office, the same address filed for his Senate campaign under the Federal Election Commission, is costing $600,000 from taxpayers to ready the space for the move. However, the new building's rent is $11,000 cheaper per year.

On Tuesday, LaRose told NBC4 his campaign lawyers being in the same building as his new official state office is purely coincidental.

"We're actually going to save taxpayers’ dollars. This was unanimously approved by the controlling board months ago, to say that somehow this affiliation, the choice of building, has something to do with the law firm that filed my FEC paperwork is just silly," he said. "It happens to be in the same building that our new office is going to be in. But that is completely incidental to the fact that this is the best choice for wherever we are moving our office."

NBC4 has asked his campaign to confirm whether LaRose has done any campaign interviews from that address. They have not responded.