Two leaders of the Ohio Republican Party told The Ohio Star and The Star News Network Thursday that it is time for Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to get involved in reforming the Ohio GOP. “I don’t understand why Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the national Republican committee hasn’t looked into these issues, and gotten back to us, and backed us getting answers to our questions regarding the financial activities of the Ohio Republican Party,” said Mark A. Bainbridge, a member of the state party’s central committee, and one of five members of the central committee suing the state party, its Chairman Robert A. Paduchik and Treasurer David W. Johnson. Bainbridge, a certified public accountant, now in private practice, retired from Ernst & Young as a partner after three decades at the Big Four accounting firm, is at the forefront of exposing more than $3 million in accountable funds, including a $1.7 million write-off of retained earnings. The lawsuit asked the court to restore Bainbridge and others to their committee assignments after Paduchik summarily took them off those assignments, order an audit of the Ohio GOP books going back to 2017, and claw back funds Paduchik transferred to campaigns…
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