Mike DeWine took the oath of office as an elected official for his second term as governor and for likely the last time.
On this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss the event and what's on his governing bucket list. Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau reporter Andy Chow joins the show.
The DeWine Talent Show
This was the 13th time Mike DeWine took an oath as an elected official. 13 times. He's served as county prosecutor, in the Ohio Senate, in the U.S. House four times, as lieutenant governor, in the U.S. Senate twice, as the state attorney general twice... and now as Governor twice.
In his second inaugural address, DeWine reflected on the trials of the COVID pandemic and celebrated Ohio’s possible new Intel-fueled manufacturing boom. He said this is now "Ohio’s Time" and he played the role of Ohio’s human resources recruiter.
The second inauguration event had kids and grandkids singing, introducing, and playing the guitar. The Miami University Men's Glee Club and the Cedarville Firehouse Friends barbershop quartet performed.
The speech was heavy on cheerleading and less on laying out his agenda for the next four years.
The Third Caucus
There are two official caucuses each in the Ohio House and Ohio Senate. Each chamber has a Republican Caucus and a Democratic Caucus. They vary in size from term to term. Presently, Republicans vastly outnumber Democrats.
But now there is talk of a third caucus in the Ohio House, the Merrin Caucus. It's a group of 40 or so Republicans who felt another group of Republicans and Democrats robbed Rep. Derrick Merrin of his chance to be the speaker.
You likely have heard by now that all 32 Democrats teamed up with 22 rogue Republicans and voted for Jason Stephens over Derrick Merrin to be the speaker. And Merrin remains unpleased.
He met with his supporters privately this week. The 22 rogue Republicans were not invited. We don’t know what was said in that meeting, but they were trying to figure out how to get their big agenda items passed without the speaker in their corner.
Snollygoster of the week
The Columbus Dispatch reported this week that Dave Yost retired. He just won re-election as attorney general, but also filed his paperwork with the Ohio Public Retirement System that allows him to collect his pension and his salary.
It’s commonly referred to as "double dipping" and it’s all legal. Some 1,200 retired public employees earned at least $20,000 as public employees, according to the Legislative Service Commission.
If you have a suggestion for our Snollygoster of the Week award, a question or a comment, send them to snollygoster@wosu.org.