Republicans' overturning of DeWine's health-order veto puts Ohioans at risk

If there were a Guinness Book of Irresponsibility, Ohio General Assembly Republicans have again earned themselves special mention.

No, we’re not talking about school funding, although last month marked the 24th anniversary of the state Supreme Court’s school-funding reform order – which the legislature has yet to obey.

Nor are we talking about the $700 million that Ohio electricity customers will pay to bail out two coal-fueled power plants, including one in Indiana. That coal-plant bailout remains the law of Ohio, despite the partial repeal of House Bill 6, the scandalous 2019 pro-utility bill that spawned federal corruption indictments.

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As someone else has shrewdly observed, the still-the-law parts of HB 6 mean Ohioans arguably are paying people in Indiana to waft the Indiana coal plant’s smoke toward Ohio.

Despite all of that, what really is at issue here is the stupid and potentially lethal decision by Republican legislators to overturn Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of Substitute Senate Bill 22.

SB 22’s legalese sounds innocent enough: The bill would “establish legislative oversight of certain orders and rules issued by the executive branch.”

More:Column: House Bill 6 is an even bigger scam than Ohioans might think

In fact, SB 22 will let the legislature’s 132 members – in practice, the legislature’s 89 Republican members – second-guess, and override, any measures that DeWine takes to save Ohio lives by fighting the COVID-19 virus. The virus has killed nearly 19,000 Ohioans.

True, Ohio’s governors are hardly infallible. Still, a governor has the 1,110 employee-plus state Health Department advising him or her. And a governor can get anyone at Ohio’s seven medical schools (six, allopathic, a seventh, osteopathic) on the phone. In contrast, a med-school professor likely assumes that any call from a state senator or representative is a fund-raising call and, naturally, ducks it.

Still, 23 of the state Senate’s 25 Republicans (all except GOP Sens. Stephanie Kunze, of Hilliard, and Matt Dolan, of Chagrin Falls) voted to override DeWine’s veto. (An override requires 20 Senate votes.)

In Ohio’s House, 62 of the 64 Republicans voted to override the veto. Voting against the override was Rep. Andrea White, a Kettering Republican, and 34 House Democrats. (Two House members were absent: Rep. Adam Miller, a Columbus Democrat, and Rep. Nino Vitale, an Urbana Republican.)

More:Column: Dump HB 6 -- for the bailout and the lousy energy policy

Plainly stated, the veto override of Senate Bill 22 by General Assembly Republicans imperils Ohioans’ lives and could contribute to the deaths of some. 

Understandably, Ohioans – and, for that matter, people everywhere in the United States – chafe at the restrictions that COVID-19 has forced DeWine to impose. Public impatience is bound to grow as the number of vaccinated people rises. That might prompt Ohioans to drop their guard. If they are doing that now, it could be contributing to a reported uptick in new Ohio COVID-19 cases. 

Yes, the General Assembly has come a way – if not a long way – since 1975. That’s when the late Hugh McDiarmid, a celebrated Statehouse correspondent for the (Dayton) Journal Herald, described some of Ohio’s state legislators as “pig farmers and assorted other rustics and bumpkins.”

Still, while at least two physicians are General Assembly members, no Ohioan familiar with the legislature’s antics would let state senators and representatives be collectively responsible for her or his health.

Moreover, of the 99 House members, almost 20 members – one in five – “won” their seats in 2020 without an opponent. That is, those House members didn’t have to answer to anybody last year. Depending on how their districts are re-drawn, they might not have to answer to anybody in 2022, either. 

In contrast, although 2022’s statewide election is, politically speaking, a long way off, DeWine’s stewardship of the state will be judged by millions of Ohioans if, as expected, he seeks a second term.

COVID-19 isn’t the only factor stoking the revolt by GOP legislators against Ohio’s Republican governor. In part it’s a reaction to Republican then-Gov. John Kasich’s success in managing the General Assembly. In part it’s a reaction to public irritation over COVID-19 restrictions.

More:Ohio lawmakers override Gov. Mike DeWine's veto of health order bill

But reduced to essentials, the override of DeWine’s SB 22 veto won’t hurt him. It will risk the health of Ohioans, though. And that’s unconscionable.

Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University.

tsuddes@gmail.com