Cupp's sterling narrative has detractors
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — There were some whispers among members of the Republican caucus that Bob Cupp should be the person to lead the Ohio House. It was 2018. The federal investigation into the previous House speaker had left the dais empty for months and the chamber at a standstill.
But Cupp, who has served in all three branches of state government, demurred. It wasn't the right time.
Fast forward two years and two House speakers, Cupp's moment had arrived. The conservative Republican and former Ohio Supreme Court justice was elected July 30 to lead the House in what the state Attorney General says will be "the greatest challenge of his career."
The House speaker remains one of the most powerful political posts in state government. The speaker has the ability to block or move legislation, in addition to helping determine how the state spends billions of dollars earmarked for health care, education, criminal justice and other government programs.
Cupp takes control of the House during an unprecedented moment of division and tribulation for the presidential battleground state, and therefore the nation, less than two months from Election Day. His predecessor, fellow GOP state Rep. Larry Householder, was indicted this summer on federal bribery charges in what prosecutors called the 'largest bribery, money-laundering scheme' in state history.
Cupp, a 69-year-old antiabortion, pro-gun rights conservative, took Householder's seat by one vote in the Gopcontrolled House, with every single Democrat and a few Republicans voting against him. All the other candidates to replace Householder were also white, Republican men.
Following Cupp's election, colleagues and supporters of him joined in an unofficial campaign, nominating him as "the last Boy Scout" in Ohio politics. He was praised as "an elder statesman," as "studious and diligent" and as having "unimpeachable character."
Even Cupp himself has added to the narrative of his simple life and how it won't change with the promotion.
"My wife will still make me take the garbage out every
Sunday night. Clean out the cat litter boxes and those kinds of things," Cupp told reporters upon being elected speaker. "I tell people if they think I'm more than I am, they should tell me because I don't want to be."
But there are other views of Cupp — including from an old opponent, former Democratic Justice William O'neill, who alleged years ago that Cupp violated his post's ethics in accepting campaign contributions from the same energy company that is now at the center of the federal investigation into his predecessor.
Householder and his four associates are accused of spending the money to boost themselves politically and personally, to stage often nasty campaigns to elect Householder loyalists, to buy votes for the bailout bill and to poison subsequent efforts to repeal it. All five men have pleaded not guilty.
The federal investigation of the second Ohio House speaker in two years threw the already divided chamber into further disarray.
But Cupp faces more than just an internal rift within his party and chamber. The new speaker comes in amid a pandemic that has left more than 4,000 Ohioans dead and hundreds of thousands unemployed across the state. There are tensions between and within the two parties around mail-in voting and ballot box access ahead of the election as gun violence challenges the state's major cities.
When asked why he accepted the nomination this time around, Cupp said this was part of the plan to "get the House back."
Yost, a fellow Republican and former colleague of Cupp's, said that the stakes were higher this time and that Cupp felt "a responsibility to the state to step in."
Many GOP House members tout Cupp as being the leader they need and a person who can bring unity to the House.
"I think that we all reverted to someone who would not play politics, who has a record of honor and integrity, a record of being thoughtful and pensive, a record of bringing people together," GOP state Rep. Niraj Antani said.
But the lawmaker is facing criticism, not only for his own financial ties with the same energy companies allegedly involved in the investigation that brought down his predecessor, but also for what one Democrat called "dragging his feet" in repealing the bailout legislation in the middle of it all.