Dave Yost

Dave Yost was born in Ohio. Yost earned a bachelor's degree from The Ohio State University in 1984 and a J.D. from Capital University in 1991.[2] Yost's career experience includes working as a journalist, attorney, and county auditor.[3][4]

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I fight against evil, against the abuse of power, and for the rule of law.

During my life, I've been a prosecutor and a musician, an auditor and a writer, a husband and a dad and a grandad. I've practiced law in the private sector and had to make a payroll.

The rule of law means the same rules for everybody, rich and poor, foolish or wise. I've been in court to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink, to hold accountable corrupt politicians and corrupt corporations. I've prosecuted murderers and rapists and child molesters. I've pushed back in court against Washington when politicians there tried to exercise power that they did not have – and won.

As Ohio Auditor of State (2011-2019), my public corruption investigations resulted in more than 170 criminal convictions of officials from both political parties, and identified more than $260 million in potential taxpayer savings.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Protecting the unprotectedUpholding the rule of lawDefending the Constitution

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Criminal Justice: The first and most important function of government is community safety. Safe streets only come from good policing and fair, predictable punishment for wrongdoers in the courts.

My team has made Ohio a national leader in the fight against human trafficking, re-imagining a law enforcement focus on the buyers rather than the sellers of sex, who are often survivors of trafficking. We've worked to update Ohio's laws and create new legal tools to that end.

Federalism means that most experiments in policy happen in the states, with minimal national consequences for bad ideas. Federalism allows blue states and red states to live as their people wish, without improper interference from a president or Congress of the opposite party.

The attorney general often sets policy priorities for law enforcement. For example, a state's attorney general may decide to dedicate extra resources to combat human trafficking. Are there certain areas of law enforcement that you would emphasize?

The attorney general’s office has devoted $15 million for police training this year. We have funded, trained and expanded new technology in drug testing, putting portable drug-testing units in cruisers. We've provided millions of dollars to fund bullet-proof vests for law enforcement officers and much more.

Maybe the most important role of the attorney general for law enforcement is to support law enforcement publicly and vocally. When an individual officer goes off the rails, the officer should be held accountable. But the attorney general should regularly and vocally speak up for the men and women who protect us honorably and professionally at the risk of physical harm or death.

A state's attorney general has many responsibilities. Which of those do you personally consider the most important?

That's a bit like asking a parent which of their many responsibilities is most important. The answer is, you must attend to them all.

But just as a parent might say that their most important responsibility is to love their children, an attorney general's most important job is to advocate for and protect Ohio and the rule of law. A myriad of actions is contained in those words.

Attorneys general can represent their states in legal conflicts with the federal government. Do you consider this an important part of an attorney general's responsibilities?

Yes. The federal government does do some things we need done as a country: national defense, coining money, interstate commerce. Imagine the chaos if each of these things were handled by the states!

But the federal government has only the powers it was given by the states; all other powers remain with the states, or the people. It is the attorney general's job to use the courts to keep the federal government in its own lane. My client is the people of Ohio.

To that end, I ask three questions of each case:

3. What is the evidence? Can we make the case?

Campaign website

Yost's campaign website stated the following:

Protecting Ohioans

Auditor Yost’s office was instrumental in making it a criminal penalty for public officials to knowingly use public funds for political campaigns.

Yost championed a constitutional amendment to ban special interest monopolies from taking over Ohio law.

Auditor Yost testified before Congress on his office’s investigation into the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) with the goal of ensuring Ohio’s tax dollars are used properly.

He made recommendations on how to monitor, identify, and combat fraud in real time, including on the Ohio Stops Fraud mobile application.

Yost’s office has increased fraud detection and prevention training programs to help local officials detect and deter theft.

The Fiscal Integrity Act became law in 2015 to better prepare your local fiscal officers and to be able to remove fiscal officers that don’t perform their duties.

Saving Your Tax Dollars

Dave Yost worked with the Ohio General Assembly to pass new laws requiring performance audits of state agencies and higher education institutions.

More than $260 million in potential savings have been found by Dave Yost through performance audits.

Auditor Dave Yost launched skinnyohio.org to provide local governments with tools to boost efficiency, cut costs, and better serve their citizens while saving tax dollars.

Auditor Yost renegotiated his office’s lease and saved Ohio taxpayers more than $1 million.

Fighting for our Children

Auditor Yost unraveled the knot of the Columbus City Schools data scrubbing scandal. Columbus Schools were manipulating data to falsely show parents that the school system was doing better than it truly was.

Yost’s investigation into Columbus Schools led to a statewide audit of student attendance data and discovered several school districts were scrubbing student data.

Dave Yost helped pass landmark charter school reforms to strengthen accountability, provide much needed transparency, and rid charter schools of conflicts of interest.[5]

—Dave Yost for Ohio[6]

Campaign advertisements

The following is an example of an ad from Yost's 2018 election campaign.

"Dave Yost for Attorney General" - Yost campaign ad, released September 28, 2018