COLUMBUS, Ohio - “They have betrayed every conservative voter, activist and organization that has worked to establish and defend conservative principles — betrayed them for 30 pieces of silver.”
That’s what a Capitol Square insider said to the Ohio Press Network (OPN) about the Columbus lobbyists and conniving lawmakers who worked to get Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) elected speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives for the 135th General Assembly Tuesday.
RELATED: Ohio House Republicans pitching reps on both sides to obstruct election of conservative speaker
Stephens, an insurance salesman and former county commissioner and auditor from Lawrence County, was appointed to the General Assembly by former Speaker Larry Householder in 2019 to fill a vacancy left by Ryan Smith. Smith resigned after he lost the GOP speaker’s race to Householder in a similar fashion to the way events unfolded in Columbus last week.
The Stephens win was an upset over Derek Merrin (R-Monclova), the lawmaker a majority of Republicans chose and unanimously committed to back during the official House proceedings.
A point of contention for many lawmakers who spoke with OPN involves a commitment the 22 GOP representatives who voted for Stephens made behind closed doors back on November 16. After Merrin won the party nomination that day, the group unanimously agreed: All Republican state representatives would vote for Merrin on January 3 — the date of the official floor vote.
Stephens and his 21 lackeys breached that promise — an unforgivable offense to some Republicans who talked with OPN. Several pointed out that even though Householder lobbied for support from Democrats to win the speaker’s chair in 2019, his opponent was not supported through a caucus vote as was the case with Merrin.
The acts were so out of line that on Friday the Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee voted to censure the 22 individuals for breaking their oaths and colluding with Democrats.
Stephens could have won only with the support of Democrats and by broken promises, and that’s what happened. In fact, a majority of Stephens’ support came from the left — only 22 votes came from his own party, while 32 came from Democrats.
Forty-five Republicans voted for Merrin who would have won the gavel had it not been for the cabal that was working behind the scenes to whip votes for Stephens, a group over a dozen lawmakers allege included Reps. Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville), Jon Cross (R-Kenton), Al Cutrona (R-Canfield), Jeff LaRe (R-Violet Twp), Sara Carruthers (R-Hamilton) and D.J. Swearengin (R-Huron).
“The Dems must have wanted Stephens over Merrin,” Cross told OPN when asked what deals were made to get all 32 Democrats to cast their votes for the Republican — something many insiders said members of the left-wing party would never do again after they conspired in 2018 to elect underdog Larry Householder to the speaker’s chair.
Householder was arrested in 2020 by federal agents and charged in a $60 million bribery scandal. The scheme involved FirstEnergy, dark-money groups and a plan that funneled money to candidates for office that agents claim helped Householder obtain the speakership, pass House Bill 6 — which provided legal and financial advantages for the energy company — and ensure that it didn’t get repealed. His trial is set to begin this month.
“The speaker vote is all 99 members,” Cross concluded.
“There were no deals,” parroted Edwards when asked the same question.
“No deals,” Cutrona echoed in a phone interview Wednesday and in an on-air interview with Cleveland talk radio host Bob Frantz. Cutrona’s interview with Frantz can be heard below.
“I believe there was a deal. As far as what that deal entails, we’re going to find out in the next three to four months based on what’s on the floor and what’s in the budget,” Rep. Thomas Hall (R-Madison Twp) told OPN.
Hall continued, “You’ll never convince me there wasn’t a deal. [House Minority Leader] Allision Russo (R-Upper Arlington) was quoted in several articles. You don’t get 32 solid votes without there being something offered and something given in exchange.”
“Speaker Stephens told me that it would be illegal and unethical to discuss legislation and use it as a bargaining chip in a deal,” Edwards said.
Russo admitted that Stephens needed Democrats to pull off the coup d’état. “They needed our votes and we took the opportunity to make sure that we were going to be working with the speaker who we felt at the end of the day would work with us on the issues we could agree on.”
Hudson Democrat Rep. Casey Weinstein, a progressive, pro-abortion lawmaker posted to Facebook soon after the House vote: “My FIRST vote of the 135th General Assembly was to join a bipartisan coalition to kick out an extreme Speaker-Elect and elect a moderate one. We are now heading toward sane, bipartisan government. That’s exactly what Ohioans want and deserve.”
OPN reached out to Weinstein and asked him to define “extreme” in the context to which he referred to Merrin. In a message, Weinstein said, “Extreme to me means the most radical ‘MAGA’ voices who care nothing for bipartisanship or for the majority of Ohioans who sent us here to work together to deliver results for them. A Merrin speakership was going to empower the most extreme voices in the GOP caucus, including those who want to gut funding for our public schools, further restrict women’s rights, including abortion rights, and increase attacks on marginalized communities; it would have given enormous power to anti-vaxx and ‘both sides of the holocaust’ extremists.”
OPN asked Weinstein a follow-up question about his comments on restricting women’s rights:
“Are you saying you support Save Women's Sports Act (only allowing biological females to compete against other biological females in sports)? And that you oppose Biden Title IX administrative interpretations that try to extend women's and girls' rights — breaching the direct language of the 1972 act — to sexual orientation and gender identity?
Weinstein did not respond to that follow-up question or others.
“Anyone who tells you this is about ideology, they’re lying,” said the Capitol Square insider. “Merrin was the change agent; he upset the power structure in Columbus. That’s why the Democrats went in on it. The ideology thing is a red herring.”
According to him what the conspirators behind the Stephens speakership gave up is conservatives’ “worst nightmare.” That nightmare includes: House Joint Resolution 6 (HJR 6), redistricting, the Backpack Bill and more.
Abortion and protecting the Ohio Constitution
The Capitol Square insider continued, “If they truly kill HJR 6, I know for a fact the left is currently working on ballot language [to amend the Constitution of the State of Ohio] like laws in Michigan and New Mexico. That would put abortion in Ohio somewhere in the 24-week range with all kinds of loopholes; it may even include transexual language and the ‘physical and mental health of the mother,’ which, will basically equate to ‘I’m sad; I want to have an abortion.’”
“Abortion on demand will become law,” Rep. Scott Wiggam (R-Wooster) told OPN.
HJR 6 was introduced by Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) in partnership with Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R). Under the proposal ballot issues would need to reach a 60% threshold instead of a simple majority.
“The Ohio Constitution is supposed to serve as a framework of our state government, not as a tool for special interests,” LaRose said. “If you have a good idea and feel it deserves to be within the framework of our government, it should require the same standard for passage that we see in both our United States Constitution and here in our own state legislature. Requiring a broad consensus majority of at least 60% for passing a petition-based constitutional amendment provides a good-government solution to promote compromise.”
According to a Statehouse insider, if the ballot initiative gets killed, the left-wing lawmakers and activists will craft an amendment that will pass. “I’ve seen the numbers — at 60% it won’t pass but at 50% it will. That will be at the feet of Stephens, these co-conspirators.”
Education choice
Nixing the Backpack Bill would eliminate school choice and the ability of parents to carry forward perks and money to another school of their choosing for their child(ren). School choice is particularly relevant as Ohio parents have dealt with unnecessary masking mandates and are now forced to deal with transgender activism in the wake of Biden Title IX changes that Ohio schools are leaning on to allow students to socially transition from their biological sex to a preferred one without parental consent.
But according to Edwards, it’s foolish to assume that Stewart was a supporter of the Backpack Bill because Stewart is from a rural part of the Buckeye State, and according to the Nelsonville lawmaker, parents there and in other like-areas don’t have schools to choose from, making the bill a moot point. When asked whether Stephens is a speaker for the whole state and not just rural Ohio, Edwards said yes but that doesn’t mean that the Backpack Bill was part of a deal.
Redistricting
“When you hear Allision Russo say she’s excited about redistricting, that tells you all you need to know,” said the insider. According to him, the agreement is that Stephens will work in favor of an independent third-party group to do the map drawing for the Ohio Redistricting Commission to determine U.S. congressional districts and those that make up the Ohio House and Senate. “But those groups are not independent, they’re liberal and will benefit Democrats,” the insider said.
Budget, cultural wars and an ongoing relationship
"Part of the deal they struck is allowing Democrats to be more involved in the budget than they have in years past, making it easier for them to cram more in,” Rep Ron Ferguson (R-Wintersville) told OPN. “The cultural war things stand more of an uphill climb than they would with a Merrin speakership according to Democrats I’ve talked with.”
Ferguson continued, “The other thing Democrats said to me was that the Democrat leadership team has expressed to their caucus that this isn’t the end of the deal it’s the beginning of a longer-term partnership that will be more favorable to initiatives from left.”
***
“Stephens raised a lot of money and gave it away to curry favor,” the Capitol Square informant pointed out. According to TransparencyUSA.org, Stephens raised over $618,000 and spent $587,000.
Some of the recipients of the Stephens dollars whipped votes for him, others pulled the lever for him, including Bob Young (R-Green), Swearingen, Gail Pavliga (R-Portage Co), Mike Loychick (R-Bazetta), Carruthers, Tracy Richardson (R-Marysville), Cutrona and Brett Hillyer (R-Uhrichsville).
Stephens gave away money to other Republican lawmakers who didn’t support his coup — at least publicly with a vote. The speaker also gave $200,000 to the GOP House Republican Alliance fund that was distributed to candidates for their general election races.
“Yes, Stephens and others were involved but this happened outside the Statehouse,” the insider said. “You’ll hear the names in weeks ahead, but they’re lobbyists and some of the same people who backed Householder. There’s a lot of pride and hubris but it’s also about power. It’s about money. Everything else is an attempted distraction.”
Bipartisanship is something that Democrats at the federal level prize to get legislation on the law books. However, it’s not something that they often extend to Republicans.
In 2023, Republicans have a 67 to 32 seat majority in the Ohio House and outnumber the progressives in the Senate 26-7. The GOP has a supermajority and does not need a single vote to pass legislation. Add to the fact that Gov. Mike DeWine is, at least in name and party affiliation, also a Republican as are all executive level office holders.
“What bothers me is that this sets a new precedent. If you don’t win the caucus vote, it doesn’t matter. Ohioans gave us a 67-member majority [in the House] for a reason. They trusted us to give us an overwhelming majority in the House, Senate and statewide. I’ll be damned if we’re going to have to cut deals with the other side to get deals done,” said Hall.
Reasons or excuses to do what was already in motion?
Edwards said Merrin began pitching Democrats first and that Stephens simply followed suit, with the decision to vote for Stephens coming down to ideology and not deals.
But lawmakers who support Merrin refute Edwards, claiming Merrin heard about the coup and was reactionary. The Capitol Square insider says Stephens was planning well before the November Republican vote.
“You can believe one of the 22 representatives censured by the Ohio Republican Party that broke their word to their colleagues, or you can believe the truth. The censured 22 claim Derek didn’t return calls, wasn’t organized, didn’t have support and was pitching Democrats, too. All lies of course,” Ferguson said.
He continued, “Derek was getting ready to be speaker and having conversations with everyone about those responsibilities and had things in order even though his dad was in hospice care over the holidays and died just before session started — but Stephens’ supporters won’t tell you that. They are using every excuse in the book to try to cover over the fact that they were going to go forward and try to get Rep. Stephens to be speaker no matter what; even if it means selling out to Democrats.”
Jena Powell (R-Arcanum) told OPN in a phone interview, “[Merrin] had already set the calendar for sessions, was assembling the leadership team and communicating with representatives about their desired committee assignments. He was well organized and extremely prepared.”
The full list of Republicans who broke their promises and voted for Stephens includes:
Jason Stephens, Cindy Abrams (Harrison), Monica Robb Blasdel (Columbiana County), Sara P. Carruthers, Jon Cross, Al Cutrona, Jay Edwards, Haraz N. Ghanbari (Perrysburg), Brett Hudson Hillyer (Uhrichsville), Don Jones (Freeport), Jeff LaRe, Mike Loychick, Kevin D. Miller (Newark), Scott Oelslanger (North Canton), Tom Patton (Strongsville), Gail K. Pavliga, Bob Peterson (Washington Court House), Tracey Richardson (Marysville), Bill Seitz (Cincinnati), D.J. Swearingen and Bob Young.
In a call with OPN Representative Scott Lipps (R-Cincinnati) said team Stephens assigned a representative most familiar with the representative the cabal was attempting to flip for Stephens and had the lawmakers call and cajole Merrin supporters – likely using committee leadership promises, other favors or commitments and in some cases fear to influence.
Lipps said the conspirators contacted Hall, seen as a rising star in the GOP, and reminded him how effective he had been in his first term as a lawmaker – cosponsoring five bills and one resolution – but passive-aggressively warned that if he were on the losing side of this scrum that his advancement in the party may stall.
OPN asked Hall about the fearmongering. “That is correct,” Hall responded. “The only thing I ever wanted was a speaker to believe in what I wanted to accomplish to move this state forward.”
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