Ohio House Speaker dodges ouster

A year-and-a-half in the making, Wednesday’s attempt to unseat Stephens came in the form of a multi-person outburst which saw a handful Republican lawmakers — including local Reps. Bernie Willis, R-Springfield; Rodney Creech, R-West Alexandria; and Jena Powell, R-Arcanum — rise and demand that Stephens entertain a motion to vacate.

The motion was intended to call a vote to take Stephens out of leadership. Despite their outcries, Stephens did not acknowledge the lawmakers.

Under House rules, a motion can only be official if it was recognized by the speaker, which gives Stephens the ultimate — albeit awkward for all involved — power of simply ignoring whomever he wants.

The only defector to be recognized was Rep. Ron Ferguson, R-Wintersville, who sat silent throughout the outburst but rose to call a point of order. He insisted that Stephens was breaking House rules by not acknowledging the motions. In response, Stephens asserted that no members technically brought the motion, and therefore things should proceed as normal.

The rest of session continued as if nothing happened.

It’s not clear how many Republicans would vote to get rid of Stephens. According to Stephens’ rival Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Butler Twp., who helped plan Wednesday’s revolt, it would require 50 votes to reach the majority threshold necessary to vacate his seat.

But it is clear that Stephens’ recent move to strip various committee chairs (including Plummer) from their posts as punishment for donating to their colleague’s GOP primary opponents has riled a faction of the GOP caucus that has long been a thorn in his side.

Plummer especially seems to have taken last week’s chair removals to heart. In the time since, he’s promised an ethics complaint; called for the state to bring criminal action against Stephens, if applicable; orchestrated Wednesday’s attempted removal of Stephens; and urged his colleagues to call for Stephens’ resignation.

“The guy’s not a Republican, he shouldn’t be running a Republican caucus here,” Plummer told the Dayton Daily News after Wednesday’s House session. “He should run the Democrat caucus.”

Plummer, who himself made a failed bid for speaker at the start of this general assembly, said Stephens’ tactics on Wednesday were par for the course.

“He just ignores all of us. We can’t speak on the floor. It’s pretty pathetic that he’s afraid to even take the vote,” he said.

Willis, a freshman legislator from Clark County, was one of Wednesday’s most aggrieved. He left session early once it became clear that nothing was going to come of his faction’s attempts.

“It is his style and demonstrated method to not recognize anyone who isn’t on his script and is saying something he doesn’t want to hear,” Willis said in a text message. “He is supposed to work for the body, like any chairman, and is always subject to a vote of no confidence by the body.”

Willis told the Dayton Daily News that it was “obvious” that Stephens doesn’t think he’d survive a referendum on the House floor. He believes the best recourse going forward is for Stephens to voluntarily resign.

Wednesday’s proceedings also irked Preble County’s Creech and Warren County Rep. Scott Lipps, R-Franklin, who along with Plummer represent three of the six chairs removed by Stephens last week.

Both jeered and booed Stephens after session. Lipps loudly shouted, “shame!” Creech came up to the podium before Stephens spoke with reporters to confront him and to sarcastically commend him for his consistency.

When it came time for reporters to ask about the day’s events, Stephens’ communications team held a short gaggle.

“It’s been no secret how some of our members feel about our speakership,” Stephens said. “I’ll just go back to: We have worked really hard to bring people in, we have allowed people to do a lot of really good things, and we’ve done a lot of good things in this legislature. There’s a lot of folks who feel really good about what we’re doing. It’s really a lot of noise, and it’s unfortunate, but I will say we are definitely getting work done in spite of the noise.”

Plummer said he expects to try again soon.

“That was kind of just a trial run for us,” Plummer said, adding that he believes momentum is on his side.

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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.