UPDATED 12:05 pm
On the morning of Monday August 24, members of the Ohio House of Representatives released the draft of their articles of impeachment exhibiting charges levied against Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R).
Representatives supporting the filing are John Becker (R-Union Township, Clermont County), Nino Vitale (R-Urbana), Candice Keller (R-Middletown), and Paul Zeltwanger (R-Mason).
The filing will be followed by impeachment proceedings in the House during which representatives will hear testimony regarding the alleged offenses. The House would need a simple majority vote to impeach Governor DeWine to move the matter on to a trial in the Ohio Senate.
Article 2, Section 24 of the Ohio Constitution outlines who is liable to impeachment, and punishment:
The governor, judges, and all state officers, may be impeached for any misdemeanor in office; but judgment shall not extend further than removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office under the authority of this state. The party impeached, whether convicted or not, shall be liable to indictment, trial, and judgment, according to law.
Impeachment of an elected official is comparable to an indictment in criminal law – it is the statement of charges against the official, not a guilty verdict.
Representative Becker said in a press release:
Governor DeWine has violated the Ohio and United States Constitutions, as well as multiple sections of the Ohio Revised Code. Among his abuses of power, he meddled in the conduct of a presidential primary election and arbitrarily closed certain businesses, while allowing other businesses to remain open. He later instituted a statewide mask mandate, implementing that requirement as a condition of employment, making Ohio a hostile work environment. The mandate also extended to congregants at places of worship, forcing citizens to choose between worshipping their God and worshipping at the altar of unbridled government. Many Ohioans find the mask mandate offensive, degrading, humiliating, and insulting. There is also evidence that masks can be hazardous to one’s health. Gov. DeWine doubled down when he expanded the mandate to our school-age children, who are less susceptible to COVID-19.
Representative Becker – the champion of the impeachment effort – continued “[T]he public can easily find and contact their State Representative at ImpeachDeWine.com. The contact form contains sample language for constituents to send to their respective State Representatives to ask them to sign onto the legislation as co-sponsors.”
The website is here: https://impeachdewine.webs.com.
Both the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate contain a majority of Republicans, which makes articles of impeachment against a Republican governor uncommon – impeachment in the house and a conviction in the Senate would be even more rare.
In an interview with The Ohio Star, Representative Nino Vitale echoed his comments from his morning Facebook announcement “articles of impeachment do not go far enough for me. While it’s a good step, Dictator DeWine needs to be charged and tried for crimes against humanity, in my opinion.”
House Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes (D-Akron) was contacted by The Star but her reaction had not been received at the time this article published.
The Star reached out to Governor DeWine for comment – his Press Secretary Dan Tierney said “Governor DeWine is focused on saving lives during the pandemic. He is focused on helping the economy and getting Ohioans back to work. That is what he is focused on. Not this.”
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Jack Windsor is Managing Editor and an Investigative Reporter at The Ohio Star. Windsor is also an Investigative Reporter at WMFD-TV. Follow Jack on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
He, along with others, are listening to people who have been proven wrong about such things time and time again, going back decades.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuzPrhnaiYE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YpfJgVZ5ow
There’s no such thing as “The Science.”
They keep hammering the ‘but muh 200,000 deaths’ when just a couple weeks ago, the CDC changed the official numbers to just over 9000 covid deaths (down from 154,000) and that the recovery rate among 0-19 = 99.997% – they should be at fault complete for posting such a false narrative. So, when 200,000 people in the US die annually from a combination of going to the hospital (and dying from something other than what they went there for) and bad prescriptions from doctors, it’s nothing that needs to be looked at or addressed, but this pandemic, we need to lockdown everyone! Thing is the MD powers that be, can’t tell the difference between a motorcycle death and a covid-19 death. Fake death rates of covid-19, vs real deaths from hospital and doctor care. The CDC, Anthony Fauci, and John Hopkins have zero credibility.
Happy to disappoint you Forsythe since we’re not willing to throw our right away just to feel safe… the powers at be can wear mask whenever they feel like it and be as close to anyone, but the rest of us have to wear them and keep away from others… it’s abuse of power.
FIRST: Repeal the governor’s “emergency powers” to “invoke restrictions” – like his fellow draconian Democrat governors.
SECOND: File a civil lawsuit to end ALL covid restrictions that violate the civil liberties of Ohioans under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights!
THIRD: Proceed with impeachment.
I used to think Ohioans were common-sense people, but judging from these comments, I have obviously been duped into just thinking my neighbors, etc., were reasonable people who did not drink political kool-aid. Judging from these comments, I should now believe about 80% of Ohioans are people who never went to school (talking about elementary school here, not college!), never learned anything about science, about medical issues, etc. Viewing a health issue as if it is a political issue is the dumbest and most dangerous thing that can happen and it is what is happening in this country and this state right now. It is a VIRUS – we must deal with it and we must deal with it in a way that it makes as few people as possible end up dead! You are nothing but selfish know-nothings who apparently don’t know any better than to spew all this politicized crap. Oust people from a political party because they DARE to try to save your friends and neighbors from catching this or dying from it? Do you have any idea how totally STUPID that makes you?! And how SHALLOW?? Do you really like showing how DUMB you are to the whole world? I guess you must, but you are so on the wrong side of history right now that I almost feel sorry for you if you ever wake up to reality.
I speak directly to Governor Mike Dewine. Why would you allow protestors out on the street, even encourage them to cause destruction and mayhem on the streets of Columbus? I feel you have been selective in allowing protestors ‘rioters’ to congregate, destroy businesses, destroy public property and statues! While at the same time tell churches not to gather for worship! I feel you are a hypocrite and followed the wrong lead with Dr. Acton. Dr. Acton is NOT a practicing physician. In order to help optimize the response you need practical advice and not just from one discipline. The virus has effects on businesses, schools, mental health, and yes hospitals. I work in health care and very much want to know more about the virus. However getting accurate results from questionable testing methods cannot be used. By limiting small business and restrictions placed by your administration you have effectively cut Ohio citizens in the knees. Your decisions have cost lives, livelihoods and destroyed many Ohioans way of life. The panic YOU induced and poor to false information you spread is horrible! Honestly you should be ashamed of your response. For this reason and many more, i would vote for your impeachment from this office and prevention to hold office in the future.
You guys are covidiots. I expect that as many as 50% of recovered patients will end up with lifelong sequelae. You need to mask and distance so you don’t get it.
About time we get that dousche bah out of office I’m so over this mask crap you go into a store and half of the people aren’t wearing mask I would like to say get him out of the office besides that businesses being closed come on its another type of the flu . Every year we loose loved ones to the.flu
Governor Dewine acted in a manner that was appropriate for the information he had available to him to protect Ohioians and preserve the medical needs and resources. Anyone know the saying hindsight better than foresight.
This man is a great leader, compassionate human being, a trusted leader and conscientious individual whom is a God fearing respectful man. He has helped my husband and I and friends when he was Attorney General and I will stand by him.
I disagree he should be impeached.
Oust him. Hr is an idiot that has put Ohio in the worst condition evef. He , single handedly has ruined peoples lives, businesses and done nothing but stir a racial seperation of this state.
You people are insane. We are living in unprecedented times right now and he handled EVERYTHING with the best of intentions. You know, to save your lives. He should be rewarded for his actions, not punished.
NO MASKS!!! NO SOCIAL DISTANCING!!! Is that the way it’s going to be if Biden & Harris get the Presidential Offices…. Orders given to Americans to do such, but not followed by them??? Wake up American’s!! Them becoming Pres. & Vice is ALL about them n their criminal counter parts. It’s not for the better of America!!
I hope yjey do impeach dewine makes me wonder how much was or is still getting paid from the left to tell us how to live n he don’t even follow the rules himself he is a rip off to the great state of Ohio get rid of him to me he is a POS
DeWine has always acted like he was a Democrat, Totally!
About time we get this RINO out of office.
I appreciate the moving forward in impeaching our Gov. DeWine and exposing his corruption. I am also glad Candice Keller is my Representative! I hope we can move cash on this before end of session. Thank you for standing for Ohio and our Constitution ❤️
Its about time.. All republican lawmakers should get behind this. the ones who do not should be outed from the Republican Party.
The world is in a severe health crisis now and I don’t think we should judge the governor’s decisions in the same way we would for every day business. It takes a strong leader to guide us through this terrible health threat and I think we should be thanking Gov. DeWine for his willingness to do so and open himself up to such terrible criticism as this. We need someone to direct us in a unified effort to fight off this virus; Gov. DeWine is Ohio’s leader and the logical person to do that. Jack Windsor has been super critical since this pandemic began; trying to impress us with his very lengthy questions during the governor’s press conferences and I expect something like this from him!
This is a good thing. This whole false flag simulation of a pandemic that does not have the numbers anywhere near pandemic level needs to be scrubbed immediately and the state get back to operating as normal.