Gov. Mike DeWine has come out against Ohio’s death penalty. This week, the conservative Republican governor, who co-sponsored the bill that reinstated capital punishment in 1981, said Ohio should abolish it.
His reason for saying Ohio should stop executing people is that the death penalty is not a deterrent because it takes too long to put a condemned person to death.
When asked if he is now morally opposed to the death penalty, he was unclear. When asked if he would consider commuting the sentences of some or all of the 109 people now on Ohio’s death row, he declined to answer.
The governor’s decision was based on data, which he displayed on PowerPoint charts during his press conference.
He called on state lawmakers to abolish the death penalty or at least put it on the ballot for voters to decide.
That seems unlikely. Some Republican leaders blame DeWine for not allowing a single execution since he took office in 2019. He says that is because drug companies denied the state access to lethal injection drugs.
Regardless of the timing, the reasons why or where the debate goes from here, it was a remarkable decision for a former prosecutor, former state attorney general and former, and perhaps still tough-on-crime, politician to say the government of Ohio should no longer put people to death.
Joining us now to discuss the governor’s statement is Kevin Werner, executive director of the group Ohioans to Stop Executions.
Snollygoster of the week
Union workers for the City of Columbus have filed a grievance against the city for subcontracting some of their work to nonunion beings.
These workers clear brush and vegetation at a wastewater treatment plant in Columbus. The city contracted with a firm that will have nonunion workers clear the brush.
The nonunion workers do not even get paid, or at least they do not get paid in cash. They are goats.
The union, Local 1632 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, says hiring the goats violates its collective bargaining agreement.
The company that provides the goats says they get to areas that are tough for humans to reach, including places where it is dangerous to operate machinery.
I do not have a goat in this fight, but it is pretty shrewd for the union to pick on goats just being goats.