Rep. Plummer, GOP allies sue Ohio House speaker over control of party campaign funds

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The months-long schism among Ohio House Republicans has turned litigious, with state Rep. Derek Merrin and two allies suing Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens and others over control of the House GOP’s campaign fund.

The lawsuit, filed Saturday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, takes the infighting within the House GOP to a new level. Merrin along with state Reps. Phil Plummer of Dayton and Ron Ferguson of Jefferson County are seeking nearly $400,000 in reimbursements and damages from Stephens, of Lawrence County, and state Rep. Jeff LaRe of Pickaway County, Stephens’ pick to head the Ohio House Republican Alliance (OHRA), the caucus’ campaign arm.

The suit also asks that the court order Merrin and Plummer to be put in charge of OHRA, which campaign-finance data shows had close to $1.1 million in its bank account as of the end of June.

The House GOP’s campaign account coffers typically swell to millions of dollars during campaign season — money which is then distributed to help candidates at the discretion of the lawmakers who control it.

If Stephens loses that control, that could bolster the chances of Senate President Matt Huffman to challenge Stephens for the speaker’s gavel in 2025, which is widely expected to happen. Huffman cannot run again for the Senate because of term limits and is expected to pursue a House seat. Already, several of the 22 House Republicans who voted for Stephens as speaker this session have drawn primary opponents, as well as been the subject of a six-figure negative ad campaign by Americans for Prosperity’s Ohio chapter.

Stephens was elected speaker last January after striking a deal with Democrats, even though nearly two-thirds of his caucus voted for Merrin. That led Stephens to control OHRA’s bank account and hold a caucus credit card in his name, which he showed to several reporters in late January.

However, the three Republican plaintiffs argue in their legal complaint that while Stephens was elected speaker, the pro-Merrin majority of 67 House Republicans met soon after the speaker’s vote and elected him caucus chair, a newly created position. During that same meeting, which Stephens and his supporters didn’t attend, Plummer was elected OHRA chair and Merrin as vice chair.

Merrin, Plummer and Ferguson point to an Ohio law stating that “each legislative campaign fund shall be administered and controlled in a manner designated by the caucus” to argue that the court should give Plummer and Merrin “sole authority” over OHRA and its finances.

In April, the two sides negotiated a deal under which Plummer and LaRe would co-chair OHRA. Under that agreement, all expenditures needed to first be approved by both LaRe and Plummer, according to the lawsuit.

But in the months that followed, the lawsuit stated, Stephens and his allies “immediately reneged” on that deal and unilaterally began hiring staff, retaining vendors, and talking with House candidates without Plummer’s involvement or approval.

In addition to asking the court to strip Stephens and LaRe of their control over OHRA, the lawsuit also requests a judicial order requiring the two to personally reimburse the $284,153.94 that OHRA reported spending during the first six months of 2023, as well as more than $100,000 in damages, plus attorney’s fees and costs.

The suit also names OHRA Treasurer J. Matthew Yuskewich and his Columbus tax firm as defendants, though it seeks no money from either.

Lisa Ferguson, a Jefferson County court judge and Ron Ferguson’s mother, is the attorney for her son and the other two plaintiffs in the case. In late September, she sent letters to each of the defendants threatening legal action against Stephens and LaRe if they didn’t surrender control of the OHRA campaign fund and that she would report Yuskewich to the Accountancy Board of Ohio if he continued issuing caucus campaign checks on the orders of anyone but Merrin or Plummer.

In a statement, Lisa Ferguson said the legal complaint “speaks for itself” and that the plaintiffs “will not discuss pending litigation in the media at this time.”

In a joint statement, Stephens and LaRe called the lawsuit “nothing more than the desperate antics of a handful of self-promoting individuals.” While Stephens and his supporters were involved in things like passing a new state legislative redistricting plan and passing a new two-year state budget, they said, “the only thing they (the plaintiffs) have managed to do is to file this lawsuit.

“Their actions amount to nothing but a petty distraction from the real work being done to support the well-being of their fellow Ohioans and the Republican Party they claim to represent,” Stephens and LaRe stated.

Don’t expect to see the figures in this case in a courtroom anytime soon. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott has set a trial assignment date of Oct. 21, 2024, if the suit isn’t resolved by then.

Jeremy Pelzer covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.

©2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit cleveland.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

About the Author