COLUMBUS, Ohio — The rift within the Republican Party has grown wider at the statehouse. Embattled Republican Speaker Jason Stephens rejected rules changes proposed by the majority of his party and he did it with the help of Democrats.
Before the session began, Representative Derek Merrin told media outlets there was a vote where he was elected as the “Leader of the Republican Caucus.” He said he invited the entire House of Republicans to the voting session, but only his supporters attended.
During the session, the air was filled with tension as several of Merrin’s supporters kept trying to put forth their voices.
“You refuse to recognize his presence in this house of representatives, it’s completely uncalled for,” said Rep. Derek Merrin (R-District 42).
Merrin supporters kept trying to amend proposals; however, during the session, requests were being ignored and shut down. They kept calling on the House Speaker to decentralize his power and to let all voices be heard.
“The rules of the house are pretty uniform and go from session to session with some tweaking at appropriate times,” said Rep. Scott Oelslager (R-North Canton).
Tension kept arising on the House floor with opponents at one point, challenging the precise time the House convened.
“Rule two here is the presiding officer shall take the chair precisely at the hour and today was 2:03 pm it was not 2:00 p.m. the called time and I’m asking we recognize people’s schedules,” said Rep. Ron Ferguson (R-Wintersville).
“In November, I was elected not only to be Speaker, like the Leader of the Caucus. And what’s important here, the whole issue right now is the Speaker of the House is not the Leader of the Caucus,” Merrin said.
Once the voting began, Merrin supporters left the room and came back inside. The House adopted the House Rules Package. Despite Merrin and his supporters’ opposition, and leadership was officially appointed with the help of House Democrats. Minority leader Allison Russo told media outlets this legislative session will help start sessions for this year.
“The leadership roles didn’t change,” said Rep. Allison Russo. “There was not a redefinition of leadership roles in the house as far as my read of the rules.”
Reublican-Representative Josh Williams, who is a Merrin supporter, told Spectrum News he suggests even suing due to not being able to openly speak on the House floor.
“One of the rules that was passed now gives the Speaker and the Rules and Reference Committee broad authority to put any bill out of any committee at any time, and that shouldn’t be permitted, even after a petition to discharge a bill from a committee and bring it to the floor,” said Representative Williams (R-Oregon).
In addition to leadership roles, Rep. Bill Seitz will remain Majority Floor Leader, Representative Jon Cross will also take on the role of Assistant Majority Leader. Representative Jim Hoops was also named Majority Whip and Representative Sharon Ray will serve as Assistant Majority Whip.
