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Two Republicans take the oath of office this week.

One got the job last year.

The other had to fight to get there.

And the latest on the House speaker battle.

All this week in the state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of Ohio.

I'm Karen Kasler.

One Republican leader was sworn in to standing ovations this week while two other GOP leaders took charge of fractured groups.

Governor Mike DeWine took what is likely to be his final oath of office this week.

First, he was sworn in officially for a second term as governor at his home in Cedarville on Sunday, two days after his 76th birthday.

The next day, he was in the center of the statehouse rotunda for his ceremonial swearing in.

Both were performed by his son.

Newly reelected Ohio's Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine.

In his inaugural dress, DeWine called on out-of-staters to consider moving to Ohio for its quality of life low business taxes, art and theater, state parks and higher education, and said state leaders must focus on quality child care, infrastructure and Internet and mental illness and addiction treatment.

We will remember that what is important is not our dreams, but what is important is that we create the environment in the state of Ohio, where each Ohioan has the opportunity to pursue their dream.

Over the next four years, we will be.

Guided by the same core principles and the same core values that have steered us in the past.

DeWine signed five executive orders on Sunday.

One prohibited the use of TikTok or other foreign owned platforms, apps or websites on state electronic devices.

Another added nursing mother to the state's policy on anti-discrimination.

And DeWine also created an office in the Ohio Department of Insurance to help with access to mental health and addiction services.

Just before the inaugural weekend got underway, DeWine also signed two controversial leftover lame duck bills.

One would speed up the process of permitting oil and gas drilling on state lands and in state parks.

He also signed the bill requiring voters to show photo ID, allowing just one ballot drop box per county.

Shortening both the window to request early ballots and the period in which they have to arrive at boards of elections to be counted, among other things.

Almost immediately, a lawsuit was filed by a group representing unions and unhoused Ohioans.

Earlier on Friday, the Ohio Republican Party elected its fourth party chair in six years, Alex Triana, to fill, who was elected and resigned as Hamilton County GOP chair.

Trail to fellow fended off three challengers, including party vice chair Brian Williams, who had tried to challenge previous chair Bob Perdue after the August primary.

But Wilczek resigned in November, just after the Republican Party swept the statewide offices and preserved supermajorities in the state House and Senate.

At that meeting, the party's state central committee voted to censure the 22 Republican House members who voted for Jason Stevens as speaker over Derek Marin, who had been chosen speaker in a closed door GOP caucus meeting in November.

The Ohio Republican Party's resolution said the Stevens vote, quote, dishonors the historic brand of the Republican Party and, quote, misrepresents the Republican voters who cast ballots for them to better understand how Jason Stevens became speaker over Derek Marin.

I extended invitations to Speaker Stevens and several of his supporters to join me on the show.

Those invitations were either politely rejected or completely ignored, though some of those I reached out to were doing interviews last week, and Stevens made brief comments to the media on the day he was elected speaker.

Stevens is the fifth Ohio House speaker since 2018 and nominating him on the House floor before Marin was nominated.

Representative Brett Hillier called him, quote, a true uniter and statesman and said a vote for Stevens was not an emotional vote, but a logical one based on what he called the fracturing of this body over the last several years.

This nomination for speaker is different than in years past.

It is based on tempered restraint and reflection on how best to unite a deeply divided house.

The people's work is best done when buy in and debate from all viewpoints and constituencies across our diverse state.

We need a speaker that is willing to listen to everyone, even those who have a different perspectiv predicament.

We need a speaker that will truly reach out to members of this body to unite us in fighting for our bodies.

Priorities.

The Office of Speaker is more than just a title or popularity contest.

The position of Speaker requires a delicate balance of tact, fairness, compromise, mediation, the ability to play devil's advocate and a degree of managerial background to instruct, teach and lead staff that truly make this institution run.

Representative Sarah Carruthers said she knows Stevens is the right person for speaker and she called him honest, trustworthy and a true family man.

He is a man of his word values, integrity and honesty.

Jason understands that in order to earn someone's respect, she must be able to give it.

He is selfless.

I have seen him dedicate his time to lift his colleagues and deliver for the people of the great state of Ohio.

He often says his top priority is helping other people succeed.

I have seen it and he means it.

I don't believe I've ever heard Jason say a nasty word about anybody now that I think of it.

We have a unique opportunity today to ensure stability for the People's House with a speaker who's who places others before himself.

Stevens got 22 Republican votes and all 32 Democratic House votes.

Marin got 43 Republican votes.

Two Republicans were absent and did not vote.

This week, marin and his supporters met for a closed door discussion on their next steps.

I'm the leader of the House Republicans.

Jason Stevens is the speaker of the house.

He's been duly elected by a few Republicans and all the Democrats and we give respect to him.

I congratulate Jason Stevens on becoming the speaker of the Ohio House.

I look forward to and I know we all do look forward to working with Jason Jason Stevens.

We would encourage him to work with the Republican majority of the House and not with Democrats.

The group then filed their resolution to require at least 60% voter approval for all constitutional amendments.

And this time the plan also requires signatures from all 88 counties, not 44, and cuts the ten day period to gather more signatures.

If the initial drive falls short, that would have to pass the House and the Senate by February 1st to get on to the May ballot.

While Stevens supporters who were giving interviews last week have shut down interviews with reporters this week, Mayor and supporters are talking.

One of those in that meeting was Western Ohio pastor and Republican representative Gary Click.

He says Stevens lied to him in saying he would not challenge Marin.

And he says some of Stevens supporters lied to him as well.

Here's part of our conversation just after that.

Meeting, the spirit in the room.

First of all, we all just commended Derrick and the whole leadership team that we chose and caucus.

They're all All-Stars, as far as I'm concerned.

They're wonderful people and they deserve our respect and our loyalty.

People have been wondering, is there going to be a coup against the coup?

And there's not.

I've said oftentimes, you know, you have to work with what you have instead of what you wish you had or what you think you deserve or even what you ought to have.

So this is what we have.

So we're not we're not trying to be obstructionist.

In fact, what we want to make sure is that the super minority party of the 22, that they're not obstructionists.

We promised our constituents conservative legislation.

We all promised that on the campaign trail.

That's how we got a supermajority and, you know, they they had to kind of sell their soul in a sense to the Democrat Party, and they're beholden to Alison Russo.

If she doesn't like some, she's got to control over the speaker right now.

And we just want to make sure that we don't get sold down the street.

We want to advance, you know, what was formerly known as HDR six.

You saw that.

We saw the 60% voter approval for.

Correct?

Correct.

We want to get that across.

We have time to do that.

The question is, you know, he says he didn't sell us out on that.

He tells me he's not going to support it.

But then the rumor is they're out whipping people for I don't know what to expect.

So I think it'd be a good faith effort to bring unity back to the caucus if they would stop canceling session.

Let's have a session and let's go in and let's have committee.

Let's.

Let's vote this thing out.

Let's get it done.

That would be a great show of unity, because it seems disingenuous that they divide the caucus and then call for unity.

That's disingenuous.

I want to see a real call for unity.

And if you don't really call for unity, you're going to show respect to the 45 and not the we're going to run everything.

We should just do things as a team.

Well, but having a separate meeting like that without the speaker there.

Does that bring unity?

I mean, you're all Republicans.

Are you all working together or are there two different factions?

So I think what we have to do is is get some direction and what is the direction moving forward?

I was looking for that to be honest, because you've watched and been very harsh, you know, and and so what's the attitude of the leadership we want?

First of all, I want to give again time to grieve, time to heal from his own personal loss.

But then, okay, what what do we let's not just everyone go down his own way and what do we do?

And, you know, Representative Marion was the first one.

And then if Jason Stephen puts out something that's good in the Southland, he's going to be the first one to support it.

So he set that tone.

We kind of had to have a little family conference and that to say, okay, what do we do?

Because there's a there's temptation to be an obstructionist.

There's temptation to go along, to get along.

And there's temptation just let's just fight for what we believe in.

And I think we needed that family conference to say, okay, let's come together, let's work with them where we can.

But let's also make sure that the majority of the values of our caucus don't get left in the dust.

So this wasn't a third caucus being formed.

Was it?

I don't know.

We'll have to see how that goes.

I mean, technically, Derek is the leader of our caucus.

He was elected as the leader of our caucus, you know, back when we had that caucus vote.

But he says he recognizes Stephen's as the speaker.

He does.

And quite honestly.

Well, that's a good question, because quite honestly, I'm not calling him Speaker Stephen's before because I feel like it was illegitimately done.

But, you know, Derek set the pace today.

He called him Speaker Stephen's, so I'll call him Speaker Stephen.

Is part of this also some concern about who controls the Ohio House Republican Alliance campaign account, which has about $3.3 million in it?

And where does that money go and who has control of is that part of the whole debate?

I think that yeah, that is a part of that is a part of the question because, you know, that money belongs to the caucus and the caucus should control that.

And the caucus is the majority of the caucus is with Representative Baron.

And so there's 45 solid there.

There's 22 on the other side.

And I think honestly, I think it would be very considerate of Speaker Stevens to reach out to Derek and Representative Marin and say, okay, let's do this together as a team and work that out and give Derek some authority in that field.

And quite honestly, we're the majority of the caucus.

We're in control and we get to say on those things.

So I know those things are going to have to be ironed out.

But, you know, Speaker Stevens can fight against us or we can send an olive branch and say, I want to work with the 45.

I know I've only got 22 and you're 45, but I get the speaker's gavel.

But let's work together.

Both Representative Marion and Representative Speaker Stevens are both Representative Merritt and Speaker Stevens are conservatives.

Can gets confused.

There are conservatives though both of these gentlemen are conservative.

So what are you worried about that's not going to get moved.

Forward so conservatives don't make deals with Democrats.

So I.

Know bipartisanship.

That's a whole different story because, you know, I've seen bipartisan bills, but you don't sell out your colleagues to the Democrats.

I have bipartisan bills.

I work with some great Democrats on the other side that I love.

I consider them my friends, but I don't give them the keys to the house and they give them the keys to the house.

They sold out some legislation is what I believe, and I would be happy to be proven wrong.

That would prove me wrong and I'll be the happiest man in the world.

But based on my conversations, they made deals on HDR six, you know, they killed that in lame duck.

That was a down payment for the Democrats.

It was like the dowry on the wedding, you know.

And so I'm concerned that they sold us out.

He's already told me he's going to be softer on redistricting.

I mean, he told me that face to face in our hour long meeting that was very civil, very cordial, but also very direct.

You know, I tend to say what I'm thinking.

I try to be nice.

And, you know, once you know, I honestly, I think I stepped over the line at one point with someone and I apologize to them for doing that.

And I removed my post because I you know, as a pastor, I'm hold to a higher standard than most people and I should be.

And I had friends remind me of that.

So I tried to take action and apologize.

So a lot of this remains to be seen, I guess.

I think it does.

And I think a lot of it remains to be seen.

How is Speaker Stevens and our speaker pro tem?

How how are they going to respond us?

I just had a cot and speaker pro-tem, you know, on the way up the stairs to come here.

We have.

Oh.

Yes, I totally agree.

I'm sorry.

I should have said that, but I caught him on the way up here.

We had a very nice discussion.

You know, I and I told him I've always respected him.

I don't respect what he did.

I voted against him in other circumstances.

I would not have, but that day I was a no on everything.

I mean, I was I was just this is my protest.

I'm a no on everything.

Matter of fact, I didn't even know all that we had to vote on.

They said the Pledge of Allegiance I had read it's like, No, I can't vote no on that.

I get the green button.

Some of the staff said, Well, you don't want to pay us.

I said, Don't worry, I'm the only no vote.

You'll get paid.

But it was just it was me expressing my great desire to see this satisfaction, what I believe was a betrayal.

Merryn was backed by some influential conservative Christian groups.

They say the vote for Stevens was a betrayal of Merryn, who they also note was spending time with his father in hospice before his death on December 29th.

Aaron Beyer heads up the center for Christian Virtue, a conservative policy group that's backed the universal private school voucher bill known as the backpack bill, as well as bills to ban trans athletes from competing in girls sports and further restrictions on abortion.

Here's part of our conversation.

Representative Jay Edwards told my colleague Joe Ingles last week that Marianne did not reach out to the caucus after the vote where he was named speaker elect.

By the caucus.

There was not unity, there was not division within the caucus.

Is it fair to say that those who voted for Stevens betrayed Maren?

Because that's been the way we've been hearing the conversation.

You know, the bottom line is when you go into a caucus vote, you commit to when you come out, whoever the caucus votes, you you go with them.

That didn't happen this time.

And that's really concerning, especially because typically when you make a move like this, you know, it's because something was traded away.

And that's the thing that's not clear right now that a lot of folks, myself included, are concerned about, which was what was the cost of power?

You know, what was what was traded away?

Because if you look at Jason Stevens and Derrick Merritt on their voting records, you'll see pretty similar voting records.

Right.

They both have been pretty conservative throughout their tenure down here.

So what was it that made Alison Russo and a number of very progressive, very liberal members go with Jason?

What was traded away?

That's not clear, right now, and that's the things we're trying to find out.

Now, you even said yourself that Stevens is conservative, that he and Marin had similar voting records, and Rousseau has even said, we know what we're getting here with Speaker Stevens.

So what makes you think that, say the universal voucher bill, the backpack bill that you just referenced, you've pushed for?

Yeah.

What makes you think that that bill is not going to go anywhere?

Oh, we don't think it's necessarily not going to go anywhere.

Now, we're still very much obstinate, optimistic when you actually go and and whip the members, count the members.

There's still strong support for the backpack bill in the state House.

Right.

So we're not saying any of these bills are necessarily dead as of right now.

We're still very optimistic, but we just don't know what the cost was for what what political move was just done.

And that's what's you know, honestly, it's not even what people say right now.

It's actions speak louder than words down here.

Right.

That ultimately somebody has to push red or green.

And what's going to happen on that big board?

And that's the question that's still out there.

And the same would be for the 60% constitutional amendment proposal.

These were priorities.

The Democrats said they were concerned about education.

They were concerned about that amendment.

No, absolutely.

And you take something like that, that's a huge deal for the state.

You look at how we've gotten casino gambling.

You look at how folks have tried to legalize drugs in the state and you look at even the abortion issue and even things like minimum wage and taxation.

There's tons of issues that are that our constitution is up for sale right now.

If you have enough money, you can collect signatures and all you have to do is get to 50% to permanently amend our state constitution.

Was that traded away?

Was was the ability to protect our state constitution from outside interests traded away in order for someone to get power?

We don't know right now.

It's going to be up to Jason Stevens and all his friends that are saying they didn't trade away these things to prove it, because right now, words don't really line up with what we're seeing elsewhere.

Do you think Speaker Stevens should resign as speaker or do you think those who backed Marron for speaker should just move on?

I think ultimately members need to focus on the issues.

That that's the thing we are talking to everyone about is drive the issues forward.

You were elected here to do something, right.

And so if you were if you traded away these things so that you could get power, that's a major issue.

And I think that will actually get exposed pretty quickly because at the end of the day, bills either move or they don't.

And that's going to be the question for these folks.

I think there is a huge loss of trust right now because of the way this went when folks gave a commitment in a caucus vote that is going to resonate for a long time.

And I think ultimately a lot of folks are concerned about what was the cost that you had to pay in order to get power.

You talk about people changing that vote that they committed to and caucus.

Don't people get a chance to change their minds if they have experienced something, heard something?

The situations have changed.

Sure.

But again, that's that's not the way typically the way that things have operated down here and that and not even just because, you know, folks aren't allowed to change their minds, but because you make a commitment to your colleagues about the way you're going to operate and and a commitment that's really based, again, around shared values.

That's why you caucus together is because you have shared values on issues.

And when you break that trust and it's not clear why it was broken, that's a real concern for a lot of folks.

And again, especially when there's such major issues at stake, because ultimately with a move like this, if it's not clear what was traded away, the people that are winning are the people that are very much opposed to the values we care most about.

Right.

That are very much pro-abortion, are very much against the backpack bill.

There are the folks that are are laughing at this right now.

Right.

And when when you have folks that have when you have a state house that has a majority of conservatives and you have these types of things happening that raise so many questions, it really it really is a real reason for concern.

It should be noted that Democratic and progressive activists refer to as an anti-choice, anti LGBTQ anti-union extremist group.

The Ohio Christian Alliance said it was concerned about what it says Stevens guaranteed Russo and minority Democrats and that it's naive to think there wasn't a deal.

Though Russo has said there was no grand deal, but only what she called discussion and areas of agreement.

I talked with Chris Long, the president of the Ohio Christian Alliance, about the things he's concerned won't move forward under Speaker Stevens.

Here's part of our conversation.

Obviously, school choice, additional pro-life legislation, the 60% threshold which many Ohioans believe it's time to lock down our Constitution, not allow it to be open for bid of anyone with a money interest coming in to our state and with a simple majority being able to amend the Constitution and that's saying something from our organization.

We've been involved with a lot of ballot initiatives over the years and constitutional amendments.

And when we were able to convince enough of our fellow citizens, they do pass them by large majority.

In fact, the Marriage Amendment 24 passed by nearly 62%.

So a 60% threshold is not beyond the pale of what we should be requiring here in Ohio following the federal federal template of what we do in a process to change or amend our Constitution.

So, Mr. Stevens not for that.

He's made that clear.

Whether he'll allow that vote to come to the floor in the next month remains to be unseen.

I think that's going to be the first test of what we see as far as his agenda going forward.

Yeah, indeed.

It has to pass the Ohio House and Senate by February 1st to get on to the ballot for voters to approve.

I notice that you've called him Mr. Stevens several times and not Speaker Stevens.

Do you think Speaker Stevens, Jason Stevens should resign as speaker or do you think that the people who backed Marin should just get on with the business of the house?

Right now?

We do see it as an illegitimate speakership.

It violated the laws and principles of what the House had long held.

You would not see this on the Democratic side.

They always hang together.

And yet when we see this kind of vision on the Republican side, we say, oh, well, that's just oh, that's just mind.

Well, obviously, their party didn't think so.

And it was very impassioned.

By the way, the speech by one of the members who stood up, an African-American member of the Central Committee, he gave an impassioned speech.

And that's why the Central Committee voted to rebuke or censure these 22.

In fact, that may carry over back home as well as many county chairs are considering the same.

So the 22, they're really out there hanging in the wind right now.

So and for good reason because they went against protocol, they went against principle and basically carrying out their vote.

So I think there's again, this will play out over the next two years.

Do you think Stevens should resign as speaker?

I think that the members of the of the House will make a determination as to his future, how successful his speakership will be.

So that remains to be unseen.

Actually, he's been pretty quiet for someone who wanted to be speaker so bad.

Yet he's been quiet.

He hasn't really reached out to people just a few, quite honestly.

And so you'd think if he really wants to be speaker, in fact, what I talk to a lot of people, they said, you know, I've never talked to you, I've never met him before.

So he's really an unknown to many people.

So that's why it's hard to say.

Speaker Stevens You know, when we really don't know who this man is and finally.

There are those who might wonder why the Ohio Christian Alliance cares about this and this speaker drama.

Why are you involved in discussions over the leader of the Ohio House and whether that's even a good thing for a Christian organization to be involved in state government in this level?

Well, again, we're a public policy organization.

Christians will have their voice in government like any other constituency or interest group.

We need to defend our religious liberties and our freedoms of speech.

And so that's why we have a seated government.

Some people may not like that, but we've been here a while, we've been doing it well, and that we're going to continue.

While Maren and his supporters are talking and meeting.

It's unclear what's happening with the Stevens backers, how session that was scheduled for this week was canceled on January 5th.

And so far, there's no announcement of a House session schedule or committee chairs.

Again, invitations to be on the show were extended to Speaker Jason Stevens, Minority Leader Alison Rousseau and others who supported Stevens for speaker.

All were declined politely but firmly or we received no response.

We hope to talk to them in future shows, and that's it for this week.

And my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau of Ohio Public Radio and Television.

Thanks for watching.

Please check out our Web site at state news dot org and follow us and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

And please join us again next time for the state of Ohio.

Support for the statewide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from Medical Mutual, providing more than 1.4 million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at med mutual dot com slash Ohio by the law offices of Porter Wright, Morris and Arthur LLP now with eight locations across the country, Porter Wright is a legal partner with a new perspective to the business community.

More at Porter Wright dot com and from the Ohio Education Association representing 124,000 members who work to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online at OHEA.org.