Ohio Reps File Articles Of Impeachment, Accuse DeWine Of 'Abuse Of Power'

Republican state representatives have filed a dozen Articles of Impeachment against Gov. Mike DeWine, contending that he abused his power during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“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,” State Rep. John Becker said a statement. “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.”

State Rep. Becker filed the articles. Representatives Nino Vitale, Candice Keller and Paul Zeltwanger joined him.

Becker's office accused DeWine, who is also a Republican, of "mismanagement, malfeasance, misfeasance, abuse of power, and other crimes" in a press release.

“With deaths and hospitalizations from COVID-19 flattened, the Governor continues to press his boot on the throat of Ohio’s economy,” Becker previously said in a statement. “Due to the unilateral actions of Governor DeWine, a growing number of businesses have failed and continue to fail. Millions of frustrated, exasperated, and suffering Ohioans are relying on the General Assembly to take control and end their government-driven affliction.”

DeWine responded to the Articles of Impeachment when asked about it in a press conference Monday (November 30), WBNS reported.

"I'd like for them to go in and talk to some nurses, who are frontline nurses, who are dealing with people who are dying," he said. "I'd like for them to go talk to some family members — maybe a family that didn't believe that this could happen. Now, at Christmas, there will be one less person at their table or more. So, at some point this foolishness has got to stop."

Becker previously explained that impeaching DeWine would require a majority vote from the state House of Representatives, and the Senate would have to garner a two-thirds vote to convict and remove DeWIne.

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