The Ohio House has canceled its sessions while the Republican caucus works behind the scenes to figure out who will replace Speaker Cliff Rosenberger. He resigned in April amid an FBI inquiry into his associations with lobbyists. Democrats and the Republican leader of the Ohio Senate say they are not going to step into the fight.
Though the entire House will vote on a Speaker, House Pro Tem Kirk Schuring says Democratic votes have historically not been considered in caucus matters. Assistant minority leader Nick Celebrezze says even though a Democrat could not get elected Speaker while Republicans control the House, they’ll vote for one of their own instead of supporting any Republican.
“At this juncture, I don’t think we could support any Republican until we know what happened, what is going on with the FBI investigation," Celebrezze says.
The Ohio Senate held a voting session as scheduled this week. Republican Senate President Larry Obhof won’t weigh in on the speaker fight.
“Our intention is to do whatever we were planning to do anyway," Obhof explains.
There’s no word yet on what will happen to legislation that was supposed to be voted on in the House but wasn’t.
