A trio of appeals court judges say Ohio House Republicans’ fight over who controls the campaign coffers isn’t their problem.
“Courts are not hall monitors duty-bound to intervene in every political squabble,” wrote 10th District Court of Appeals Judge David Leland, who is also a former Democratic lawmaker.
The dispute is over who controls Ohio House Republicans’ campaign funds − a fight brewing since Kitts Hill Republican Jason Stephens won the speaker’s gavel in January 2023. Stephens won the job with help from House Democrats and without the backing of the majority of House Republicans.
Stephens’ detractors sued to gain control of House GOP coffers, saying they represented the interests of House Republicans better than Stephens. And in June, Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Mark Serrott ruled that Stephens was no longer in charge of House GOP campaign funds. Instead, Dayton Rep. Phil Plummer took over.
On Thursday, the 10th District Court of Appeals dismissed that lawsuit, ruling that judges couldn’t decide political issues like infighting over campaign spending.
“The statute is entirely neutral” on whether Stephens or his opponents have a better claim to control the Ohio House Republican Alliance coffers, Leland wrote in a decision joined by 10th District Judges Michael C. Mentel and Carly M. Edelstein.
But that didn’t stop the infighting. On Thursday, Stephens and Plummer both asserted a right to control the Ohio House Republican Alliance.
“The speaker of the House has always led the campaign committee of the majority party,” Stephens wrote in a statement. “Now that there is certainty, as Republicans, it is time to come together. I look forward to working statewide to retain and expand the House Majority, elect Donald J. Trump and JD Vance, elect Bernie Moreno to the U.S. Senate, defeat Issue 1 and elect Republicans up and down the ticket.”
But Plummer said he wasn’t turning over the campaign committee because the majority of House Republicans backed him. “There’s no order for me to give anything back to Jason Stephens and I won’t.”
While Plummer and Reps. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, and Ron Ferguson, R-Wintersville, disagree with the appeals court decision, they say it has no practical effect on who controls the campaign coffers.
Still, Ferguson said he plans to appeal the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court “because closure on this matter is important.”
Read the decision here:
Jessie Balmert covers state government and politics for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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Publish date : 2024-09-04 13:00:00
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