Dear Republican Colleague,

While everyone charged with a crime is entitled to the presumption of innocence, no one is entitled to
be Speaker of the House. That is a choice freely made by the members, and in the very near future,
whether by resignation or through action by the House, we believe there will be a vacancy in the
speakership and we will all be faced with a decision on who should be our new Speaker.
As we do that, we need to be honest with ourselves and recognize that all has not been well inside the
Republican Caucus for some time. Householder was not the only recent Speaker to misuse the office or
to disrespect, bully, or even threaten members who in good conscience dissented from one or another
policy decision or leadership vote.
Surely, we must all understand in our hearts that continuing the factionalism, no matter which faction
wins, will only lead to further grievance and further in-fighting. This should not the normal way
legislative bodies function. And it is not the solution to our current problems.
But sadly, there is already a rush to declare “us” and “them” camps and treat the Speakership as a prize
for one faction to take away from the other.
We cannot expect to keep the Republican majority intact this year if we continue to be factionalized.
The Ohio House was already a top target for national Democrat donors, and the newest scandal will only
make us—all of us—bigger targets. We cannot expect to survive another November election like 2018,
where instead of together defending our Republican candidates, each faction funded friendly candidates
and ignored or undermined unfriendly ones. We had several good candidates lose in 2018 who should
have won. But this time, if we remain divided, even more of us will lose.
Building and restoring unity is not just important so our members can win reelection, our nonincumbent candidates can be elected, and we can stay in the majority. Even more important, we must
defend and advance our Republican principles that have put us in the majority. And we must help
govern Ohio in very difficult times for State and Nation. Not to mention how our infighting makes it
harder for our Republican ticket—starting with our President--to win in Ohio.
We hope you will join us in drafting Bob Cupp to run for Speaker.
Now more than ever, we need a leader who can help us all to rise above factions and restore unity. We
need a leader who will treat us all with respect and fairness, be an honest broker and lead the Caucus by
consensus in making important decisions rather than dictate outcomes. We need Bob Cupp.
This letter is not being sent because Bob asked us or anyone to support him. He did not. A group of us
asked him to run.
We asked Bob for one thing only, and he agreed: To help rebuild trust and unity, a pledge of equal
representation in leadership for each of today’s factions, and to work faithfully with all members both in
governing and in support of their campaigns—so that over the next term we can become one team
again.
You all know Bob as a third-term member of the House, and as a former Justice of the Supreme Court
and sixteen-year State Senator. Bob’s peers in the Senate trusted him to serve as the second-highest

 ranking officer of the Senate, President pro tempore. He also served as a County Commissioner and
appellate judge, starting his career as a municipal prosecutor.
We are not asking you to vote for your closest ally in politics or policy. We are asking you to vote for a
leader you can trust, who will treat every one of us fairly, with courtesy and respect. Who we can trust
to speak for us to the Governor, the Senate, and to the Democrats. Who will elevate by his conduct and
leadership the reputation of the House of Representatives.
We would not be supporting Bob if we believed his intention in office would be to make every decision.
We know he has no personal ambition for power or for higher office. In fact, as we said previously, we
had to ask him to run for Speaker.
There is a time and place for ambition. Ambition can be healthy. But in this time of many crises, for the
good of the Caucus, the Ohio House of Representatives, and the people of our great State, ambition is
not our greatest need. We need a Leader who can bring all of us together. That person is Bob Cupp.
In the next few days, we will be in touch with all of you to hear your thoughts and to ask your support.
Please join us.

Gary Scherer

Phil Plummer