Thirteen elected Republicans in one of the counties in the district of former Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) have asked Householder's successor and majority Republicans to remove him from his seat.
The Licking County authors are clear with this line from their letter to Speaker Bob Cupp (R-Lima): “We ask that you and your colleagues exercise your constitutional authority and take immediate action to expel Mr. Householder from his seat in the legislature.”
The group writes that the House Republican caucus has had "sufficient time" to consider Householder’s situation since he was arrested and indicted in a $60 million federal pay-to-play scheme nearly eight months ago. And they add: “the people of eastern and southern Licking County deserve to have adequate representation in Columbus”.
The letter signed by Licking County Republican Party Chair Jeanne Bolton, former GOP chair Neil Carson, GOP County Central Committee Chair Richard Salvage, GOP Executive Committee member Beth Yocum, Licking County Commissioners Tim Bubb and Rick Black, Sheriff Randy Thorp, Auditor Mike Smith, Recorder Bryan Long, Treasurer Roy VanAtta, Clerk of Courts Olivia Parkinson, Engineer Jared Knerr and Newark Mayor Jeff Hall.
Householder was ousted as Speaker in July but re-elected last fall when he faced only write-in candidates.
Cupp said last year Householder could be expelled only once for a specific cause. But since the new session began in January, Cupp has repeatedly told reporters that he’s been talking to the caucus about Householder but no decision on his situation has been made. Cupp has also said the honorable thing for Householder to do would be to resign.
Householder has no committee assignments, but recently proposed two bills. One would give more power to county commissioners over county board of health orders. The other is a proposal to ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment giving lawmakers more power over a governors emergency orders, which is similar to a bill that passed the House and Senate this week.
A similar letter was sent to Cupp last month from elected Republicans from Coshocton County, which is also in Householder’s district.
Copyright 2021 The Statehouse News Bureau