Ohio reps remove House speaker with 90-0 vote
COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a historic, unanimous and bipartisan vote Thursday, the Ohio House ousted its Republican speaker as the chamber’s top leader following his indictment in an alleged $60 million bribery scheme.
Rep. Larry Householder is the first Ohio House speaker ever removed by the chamber, according to the Ohio History Connection. His nametag was unscrewed from the speaker’s dais shortly after the vote, but he still retains his seat in the GOP-led Legislature.
Republican lawmakers chose former state Supreme Court justice and current Rep. Bob Cupp to lead the House.
Remaining members of Householder’s leadership team said lawmakers didn’t take the decision lightly, “but it was clear that Mr. Householder is unable to effectively lead the House.”
Cupp called the vote “the most important thing” the House could do Thursday.
“There is no doubt that people feel betrayed, used, and it’s been a stain on the House, and people want to make sure we begin anew,” Cupp told reporters after the vote.
Householder and four associates were identified in a July 21 federal affidavit as allegedly taking part in a payto-play scheme involving corporate money secretly funneled to them for personal and political use in exchange for helping to pass House Bill 6 to financially bail out two Ohio nuclear plants.
Householder was one of the driving forces behind the legislation, which included a fee to every electricity bill in the state and directed over $150 million a year through 2026 to the plants near Cleveland and Toledo.
The House session Thursday morning took a matter of minutes, with 90 representatives voting in favor of vacating the office of the speaker. Nine didn’t vote, including Householder, who was not present.
Householder, his longtime adviser Jeffrey Longstreth, former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matt Borges and lobbyists Neil Clark and Juan Cespedes could each face up to 20 years in prison if they’re convicted for their alleged work to pass the bailout and block attempts to overturn it, according to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI.