Ohio House votes to install Robert Cupp as Speaker

COLUMBUS — Pledging to serve “honorably, fairly and humbly,” new House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, addressed the Ohio House of Representatives for the first time as its leader Thursday. It followed a two-man contest for the job that pitted Cupp, the former county commissioner, state senator, and justice of the state Supreme Court, against Jim Butler, R-Oakwood.

After several hours of discussions in private among House Republican members, Cupp emerged as the favorite candidate. His election was quick and without controversy.

In his opening remarks as Speaker, Cupp said, “It’s a privilege to lead this chamber. I’m sorry it’s in such difficult, trying and unprecedented times as this however.”

His election followed the removal of House Speaker Larry Household earlier in the day. The House vote on Householder’s firing as Speaker was 90-0 without discussion or debate.

Householder and four other targets of a federal bribery and racketeering investigation by the FBI were formally indicted Thursday. They are charged in connection with an illegal scheme to collect and spend millions of dollars. The indictment said the primary purpose of the scheme was to build Householder’s political power base.

EARLIER REPORT

The Ohio House voted unanimously, 90-0, to remove Larry Householder as Ohio House Speaker.

>>RELATED: Federal grand jury indicts ex-Ohio House Speaker Householder, 4 others on racketeering charges

The vote was held without debate or public discussion and was announced shortly before 10:30 a.m.

Householder’s removal as speaker comes after federal officials announced he and the four others arrested last week were indicted on racketeering charges, stemming from the bribery probe.

Also facing charges stemming from the investigation are former Ohio Republican Party chair and consultant Matthew Borges, Neil Clark, founder of Grant Street Consultants, Juan Cespedes, co-founder of The Oxley Group in Columbus, and Jeffrey Longstreth, adviser to Householder, were indicted on the racketeering charges stemming from the federal probe into the alleged $60 million bribery scheme, according to court documents made available Thursday.

Householder had presided over the House of Representatives mostly recently since Jan. 7, 2019 and before that from 2001 to 2004.

And Wednesday night, it was looking more and more like state Rep. Robert Cupp, R-Lima, will be the next speaker. His three Republican rivals for the job dropped out of the running and endorsed him for the top job in the House.

The vote to install Cupp could come immediately after the full House votes to oust Householder.

The feds are accusing Householder of directing a $60 million scheme to build his own power base and, in return, bail out the donors to a dark money campaign fund who run an energy company in northeast Ohio.

Longtime good government advocate Catherine Turcer of Common Cause Ohio said she was “both surprised and not surprised. There was so much smoke, there was clearly a fire.”

Turcer said it is time for state lawmakers to not only remove Householder from his post as speaker but to also pass reform legislation to prevent this kind of scandal from happening in the future. “It is really easy for people to think, ‘Oh, that’s the way politics works. It’s a dirty business’ but that is not the way that it should be. We the people are the government and we deserve better,” she said.

Several reform laws have already been introduced at the Statehouse. Gov. Mike DeWine has expressed support to pass a new law that adds transparency to the process and at the same time will survive legal challenges.

“My commitment to the people of Ohio is to do whatever we can to add more openness. And we will come back with a recommendation to the members of the General Assembly. And I’m sure the General Assembly is looking at things as well…as well they should be and we intend to work with the General Assembly on this,” DeWine said.

After the House moves to remove Householder from leadership, a new speaker will be named at some point. Householder will remain a member of the House for now. He has refused to resign, despite the federal investigation. He had been under investigation by the FBI once before in 2004 but no charges were filed against him.

The current schedule is for House members to return home after Thursday’s vote and continue summer break so they can run for re-election. They may not return to Columbus until September at the earliest and at the latest, not until after the Nov. 3 election.

Turcer said though they need to pass reform legislation now, at least to make public the donors to large campaign organizations that run political TV commercials.

“They should come back and it is complicated, but it is not that complicated to just require the disclosure of the source of funding for political ads,” she said.

Cox Media Group