A group of Republicans filed articles of impeachment against Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine over what they say is his “abuse of power” during the coronavirus pandemic.
Republican State Representative John Becker, joined by Republican Representatives Candice Keller, Nino Vitale, and Paul Zeltwanger, announced Monday that he had filed the 12 articles of impeachment against DeWine. Becker initially drafted the articles of impeachment in August to “restore the rule of law,” Fox8 News reported. (RELATED: Republican Gov. Mike DeWine Tests Positive For Coronavirus)
“Governor DeWine’s mismanagement, malfeasance, misfeasance, abuse of power, and other crimes include, but are not limited to, meddling in the conduct of a presidential primary election, arbitrarily closing and placing curfews on certain businesses, while allowing other businesses to remain open,” a press release from Becker’s office that was sent to local media said. “He weaponized the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation to bully and harass businesses and the people; to enforce a statewide mask mandate and other controversial measures of dubious ‘value,’ making Ohio a hostile work environment.”
“Rather than hearing the cries of Ohioans, Governor DeWine continues to stifle those cries by finding more inventive ways to use masks to muffle the voices of the people,” Becker continued. “He continues to have callous disregard for the fact that his isolation policies have led to a shockingly high number of suicides, alarming rates of drug abuse, persistently high unemployment, and the forced abandonment of the elderly by their loved ones.”
When the articles were first drafted in August, DeWine said that his “priorities are to keep people safe and to get our economy moving faster.”
“If there are others in the legislature who want to spend their time drawing up resolutions and filing articles … I’d just say to them, ‘Have at it,'” DeWine said according to The Hill.
A majority of members in the House of Representatives must approve the articles of impeachment before they are sent to the Senate, where they must pass with a 2/3 majority in order to impeach the governor.