{"id":2275526,"date":"2024-06-21T23:26:01","date_gmt":"2024-06-22T03:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ohio-speaker-loses-control-of-campaign-spending-authority-in-latest-gop-drama\/"},"modified":"2024-06-21T23:27:43","modified_gmt":"2024-06-22T03:27:43","slug":"ohio-speaker-loses-control-of-campaign-spending-authority-in-latest-gop-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ohio-speaker-loses-control-of-campaign-spending-authority-in-latest-gop-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio speaker stripped of campaign spending power amid GOP turmoil"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fohio-speaker-loses-control-of-campaign-spending-authority-in-latest-gop-drama%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2275526&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/donald-trump-ends-negotiations-with-nancy-pelosi-on-coronavirus-relief\/\" title=\"Donald Trump Ends Negotiations with Nancy Pelosi on Coronavirus Relief\">judge<\/a> in Ohio ruled that state House Speaker Jason Stephens does not have control over the\u2062 GOP caucus\u2019s campaign fund. The victory \u2062was awarded to Stephens&#8217; colleague and rival, Representative Derek Merrin, following\u2063 a lawsuit filed\u2064 by Merrin to control $1\u200b million of the Ohio House Republican Alliance\u2062 funds, intended for supporting\u200c state Republican lawmakers. Merrin argued that a majority of the caucus supported\u2064 him as\u200d the chairman, a claim validated by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott. The \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-rules-trump-company-will-not-have-to-pay-michael-cohens-legal-bills\/\" title=\"Judge Rules Trump Company Will Not Have to Pay Michael Cohen's Legal Bills\">judge stated<\/a> that since Stephens lacks majority support within the caucus and would\u2063 not convene a meeting, intervention was necessary to\u2064 resolve the issue, emphasizing the untenable nature of the stalemate. Despite ruling against him, Stephens plans to appeal the decision, citing concerns over \u2062the precedent it may\u200d set for\u200b control over campaign funds. This ruling surfaces \u200camidst ongoing conflicts between Stephens\u200b and Merrin, who have been vying for\u200d influence since their fight to become the state House speaker, a battle Stephens won with\u2062 significant Democratic support.\u2064 Legal experts noted that Ohio law does \u200dnot mandate the \u200dspeaker and caucus\u2064 leader \u200dto be the same person.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p>A judge ruled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ohio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Ohio<\/a> House Speaker Jason Stephens does not have authority over the GOP caucus\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/campaign\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">campaign<\/a> fund, handing a win to the speaker\u2019s colleague and rival, state Rep. Derek Merrin.<\/p>\n<p>Last October, Merrin filed a lawsuit against his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/republicans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Republican\">Republican<\/a> colleague in a bid to control $1 million in campaign funds. The campaign fund, called the Ohio House Republican Alliance, supports campaigns for state Republican lawmakers. In his lawsuit, Merrin alleged a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-republicans-to-hold-leadership-elections-amid-infighting-over-top-posts\/\" title=\"House Republicans to Hold Leadership Elections Amid Infighting Over Top Posts\">closed-door vote<\/a> by the majority of the House GOP caucus made him the chairman of the alliance last year. Consequently, Merrin said he should be in charge of the campaign funds. <\/p>\n<p>Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott agreed. Serrott said in his ruling on Friday that Merrin holds the majority of support from his caucus and consequently should control the campaign\u2019s checkbook. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens speaks to members of the media. (AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe speaker does not have a majority of the caucus,\u201d Serrott said. \u201cThe speaker is never going to call a meeting [of the caucus]. Why would he? He doesn\u2019t have a majority vote. \u2026 We\u2019re at a stalemate. The court has to do something or it will never get resolved. \u2026 That\u2019s untenable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stephens said that as a speaker, he maintains control of the alliance fund and vowed to appeal the decision \u201cswiftly.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is imperative for the integrity of the institution of the Ohio House of Representatives that control of the campaign committee not be able to be leveraged against the highest elected official in the House on a whim,\u201d Stephens said in a statement. \u201cThe decision potentially sets a concerning precedent that any member at any time can call a vote that undermines the control of the campaign funds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Legal experts told the <em>Associated Press<\/em> that Ohio law does not necessarily require the speaker and caucus leader to be the same person. <\/p>\n<p>Stephens and Merrin have been at odds ever since battling each other to be speaker in the state House. In January 2023, Merrin lost the fight, while Stephens received more votes from Democrats than Republicans to clinch the victory. After his loss, Merrin urged his Republican colleagues in the House to weaken the speaker\u2019s power by changing House rules. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Merrin isn\u2019t the only lawmaker Stephens is sparring with. Last fall, the speaker rejected efforts from fellow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/gop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GOP<\/a> lawmakers to strip the court\u2019s power to protect the voter-passed measure to enshrine abortion access into the Ohio Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>More drama went down with Ohio Republicans last September. State Republican Rep. Bob Young <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2441123\/ohio-state-representative-resigns-over-arrests-in-domestic-violence-cases\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">wrote a letter<\/a> to Stephens saying he would step down after being arrested twice in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/domestic-violence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">domestic violence<\/a> case. His announcement came after Gov. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mike-dewine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mike DeWine<\/a> (R-OH), Stephens, and more than 30 Ohio House GOP members joined <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/democrats\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Democrats<\/a> in calling for his resignation.<\/p>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1664596\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1664596\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A judge decided that Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens cannot control the GOP caucus&#8217;s campaign fund, favoring his rival, state Rep. Derek Merrin. Merrin sued Stephens last October, aiming to manage $1 million in campaign funds. This ruling marks a significant victory for Merrin in the ongoing dispute<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3142,"featured_media":2275527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Jason-Stephens-Ohio.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548,538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2275526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Jason-Stephens-Ohio.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2275526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2275527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2275526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2275526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2275526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}