State Representative Marilyn John (R-Shelby) voiced her outrage at the recent selection of the Ohio Speaker of the House of Representatives at a meeting of the Richland County Ohio Republican Party on Monday.
Earlier this month, lawmakers elected moderate Republican Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) as the new Speaker of the Ohio House to succeed State Representative Bob Cupp (R-Lima). The choice came despite the Republican Caucus‘ previous selection in November of State Representative Derek Merrin (R-Moncolva) as the new speaker.
Republicans chose Merrin over Stephens and State Representative Phil Plummer (R-Dayton) as their candidate for speaker in a meeting held behind closed doors shortly after the fall elections. After gaining the support of Plummer, who dropped out of the race, Merrin, backed by conservative organizations in the state, emerged as an unexpected victor.
Republicans in charge of the House could have chosen a speaker without any Democratic votes, but in recent weeks, there was dissent among GOP members on Merrin’s support.
Although the GOP caucus voted for Merrin as Speaker of the House in December, Stephens fought in collaboration with the Democrats to collect votes and garner a win.
“My trust in Columbus is very low. A deal was made. Democrats elected the speaker of the House,” John said.
Twenty-two of the 67 Republicans present for the vote chose Stephens. The rest, including John, voted for Merrin.
Nevertheless, even though Republicans outnumber Democrats in the House two to one, Stephens won by a margin of 54 to 43 due to the support of 32 Democrats.
“Twenty-two felt that they knew better than 45 of us. What happened is an assault on the Ohio House of Representatives,” John said.
Stephens, who is reportedly promising to halt conservative agendas and behave as a moderate, is now one of the most important and powerful leaders in the state.
In Ohio, the Speaker of the House of Representatives has the authority to veto or advance any measure, assign bills to committees, and influence state spending and policy.
“The Ohio House is weaker than we have been before. We are divided. I feel my vote didn’t count,” John said.
John also highlighted that she was “very proud” of her decision to vote for Merrin.
She described the selection procedure, stating that three candidates are chosen by secret ballot. The House members vote again after dropping the candidate who received the fewest votes.
“We feel the majority should elect their own speaker,” John said.
Democratic Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said that with the division of GOP members on Merrin’s support, all 32 Democrats took the opportunity to vote in unison to back someone they thought would more closely align with the issues important to their parties, such as redistricting, school funding, workers rights, and infrastructure projects.
“There was clearly division on the other side, and they needed our votes. We took the opportunity to make sure that we were going to be working with a speaker who we felt like, at the end of the day, would work with us on the issues we could agree on,” Russo said.
According to John, although he says he didn’t Stephens did make a deal with the Democrats for their support.
She noted that he killed a piece of her legislation House Bill (HB) 290, the “Backpack Bill,” which would give parents more options and choices regarding their children’s education.
John also said that Stephens led the charge to kill House Joint Resolution 6 to make it more difficult for outside lobby groups to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot.
She also alleges that he has admitted to discussing redistricting with members of the Democratic Party.
“He is going to say he didn’t but he did. It’s been verified by Allison Russo the minority leader,” John said.
Other conservatives in the Republican Party have shown their disapproval by censuring the 22 lawmakers for voting with Democrats to choose the new Speaker of the Ohio House, saying they had disregarded their obligations to the party and the public.
“If we don’t make a statement right now, we’re really submitting the state of Ohio into the hands of a Democratic Party that wants to take the state back to blue,” GOP state central committee member Arthur McGuire said.
According to John, although it has been a difficult week, she will continue to represent her district to the best of her abilities, and she “was happy to get back to Richland County.”
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Background Photo “Ohio State House of Chambers” by Antony-22. CC BY-SA 4.0.
