Who controls the House GOP‘s campaign funds is still the source of contention between the factions supporting the Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) and State Representative Derek Merrin (R-Monclova).
The majority of GOP members selected Merrin last month to serve as the formal chairman of the House Republican Caucus and vice-chair of its campaign arm, giving him authority over the group’s spending.
Additionally, lawmakers elected State Representative Phil Plummer (R-Dayton) to serve alongside Merrin as vice-chair of the Ohio House Republican Caucus and as the chair of the Ohio House Republican Alliance (OHRA) campaign committee.
Usually, the majority caucus chair would be the same person chosen to lead the 99-member House, but lawmakers controversially elected Stephens as speaker to succeed State Representative Bob Cupp (R-Lima).
The choice came despite the Republican Caucus‘ previous selection in November of Merrin as the new speaker.
Although the GOP caucus voted for Merrin as Speaker of the House in December, Stephen fought in collaboration with the Democrats to collect votes and garner a win.
Stephens won the speakership over Merrin 54-43, with 22 Republicans and votes from all 32 Democrats.
According to Merrin, somehow, the Democrats were able to choose the Speaker of the House regardless of a 67-seat Republican majority.
“What happened here today is self-explanatory by the vote totals. The Democrats have chosen who the speaker of the House will be,” Merrin said.
Since the speaker election, both Merrin and Stephens have disagreed over who the true leader of the House Republican Caucus is, with both claiming that they hold the position and both claiming they control the campaign finances.
According to Ohio law on caucus campaign funding, each state political party shall have only one legislative campaign fund for each house of the General Assembly. Each such fund shall be separate from any other funds or accounts of that state party. A legislative campaign fund is authorized to receive contributions and make expenditures for the primary purpose of furthering the election of candidates who are members of that political party to the house of the General Assembly with which that legislative campaign fund is associated. Each legislative campaign fund shall be administered and controlled in a manner designated by the caucus.
Ohio law defines a caucus as members of the same political party.
Stephens received 22 Republican votes as Speaker from a 67-member caucus. It was 32 Democrats who handed the speaker’s gavel to Stephens.
The Ohio Republican Party censured Stephens and his GOP supporters last month for that maneuver. His leadership is despite the Republican Party, not because of the Republican Party.
Stephens cannot lawfully touch the $3 million that the Republican Alliance has set aside for electoral campaigning without a majority vote inside the GOP. However, Stephens needs to modify the banking arrangements as the Speaker often leads the House caucus.
Control over the funds allocated for the mailers and television ads politicians need to run and win in Ohio politics is a source of real power.
Stephens has said as a speaker, he is the head of the House Republican caucus and that his name is on the campaign account. However, Plummer said that only indicates the temporary control Stephens had before the majority of republicans elected him (Plummer) as campaign chair.
According to Plummer, as campaign chair, he controls the money, but he wants to talk to Stephens and his leadership team to find common ground.
“I’ve contacted an attorney, and I’ve given him a letter describing the process that we used to select myself as a chair of OHRA. I’m going to meet with a couple of Jason’s people to sit down and try to negotiate a landing spot for this problem. Unlike them, they didn’t leave us a seat at the table. But we’re willing to negotiate because we should all be under the same tent at the end of the day,” Plummer said.
But Plummer said he’ll go to court if he has to.
“Until he wants to work with us and not be a dictator, things are going to be rocky for a while,” Plummer said.
– – –
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]
Photo “Jason Stephens” by State Representative Jason Stephens. Photo “Derek Merrin” by Ohio House of Representatives. Background Photo “Courtroom” by Carol M. Highsmith.
