COLUMBUS — When Rep. Derek Merrin raises his right hand to take the oath as Ohio's Speaker of the House, he will become one of the youngest to ever hold the gavel and the only one to ever represent part of Toledo.
He will be the first from the Toledo suburbs in more than half a century.
“As speaker, I'm going to work on policies that benefit the entire state of Ohio, but Lucas County and northwest Ohio have a special place in my heart,” he said. “I think from a public policy standpoint, northwest Ohio has many times been left out of discussions and not given its appropriate due.
“I'm very concerned about all corners of the state,” the three-term representative said. “The corners of the state that aren't within the three C's are struggling economically, and we've got to get policies in this state that benefit every single Ohioan in every region of this state.”
While Mr. Merrin has been successful in getting some of his funding and legislative priorities enacted, particularly through the state's two-year budgets, he will wield far greater power over the fashioning of the state's priorities over the next two years as speaker.
“Certainly, I now have the leverage to push certain projects in northwest Ohio — if the House believes those are appropriate ways to go...,” he said. “I'm going to make sure our region is at the table and doesn't get left behind. It's not about putting one region above the other. It's about making sure that all regions of the state — from Youngstown to the valley to northwest Ohio — are all treated fairly.”
Mr. Merrin, 36, was one of three contenders going into the recent leadership vote along with Reps. Jason Stephens (R., Kitts Hill) and Phil Plummer (R., Dayton). When no one emerged with enough votes on the first round, Mr. Plummer dropped out, threw his support to Mr. Merrin, and accepted a role as Mr. Merrin's number two, speaker pro tempore.
Mr. Merrin can serve just one two-year term at the podium before running up against term limits.
The promotion comes with a major pay bump. Mr. Merrin earns about $73,000 a year as a rank-and-file representative and committee chairman. That will jump to $98,214.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, a Democrat, knows that the city and Mr. Merrin — and legislative Republicans more generally — have sometimes found themselves on opposite sides of issues, particularly when it comes to interference with cities' home rule authority.
But the mayor said Mr. Merrin has been a strong ally on issues like land bank funding and abatement of dilapidated commercial properties.
“It's important to keep the lines of communication open,” he said. “When it comes to the state legislature, my first hope is that they do no harm. Derek believes in the role of state government as a force for good. There is no question that there are ideological differences, not just he and I personally but more broadly speaking between the cities of Ohio and the state legislature...
“Over the course of time, the legislature has taken more aggressive anti-city positions that have hurt Toledo,” Mr. Kapszukiewicz said. “Those differences are real, but they would have existed anyway no matter who was elected speaker.”
He said it can only help to have someone in the job who actually represents a piece of Toledo and with whom he already has a good working relationship.
“I want Toledo to be successful,” Mr. Merrin said. “I'm a Republican, and the city is run by Democrats, but we want the same thing. We want a strong economy. We want good roads. We want good public services. We want safe communities.
“We sometimes disagree on the best way to do that, but we want the same thing,” he said. “I think a lot of these local issues shouldn't be partisan issues. It's about what is the best solution.”
The last speaker to hail from the suburban Toledo area was Rep. Charles Kurfess, a Bowling Green Republican and later a Wood County judge, who served from 1967 to 1972.
Now 92, Mr. Kurfess served three terms as speaker and then three more as minority leader after Republicans lost the majority amid a failed bid to convince voters to repeal the state's newly enacted personal income tax.
“I do think that, just because of the fact that I was from northwest Ohio, many local issues may have come to my attention that in other parts of the state simply did not come to my attention,” he said. “...Just the fact that I was closer to and had relationships with other legislators in the House and Senate from northwest Ohio made some difference certainly to them. There's no question about that.”
He said the state income tax passed on his watch only after he insisted that it be coupled with local property tax relief.
“When the time comes for passage, the fact that the speaker likes it or wants it can certainly have an impact,” Mr. Kurfess said.
Mr. Merrin has vowed to pursue a “bold conservative agenda” with a reassertion of legislative power in state government. He has been reluctant to say what that will mean for the 135th General Assembly.
“I'm not a big fan of labels,” he said. “I'm a fan of solutions and practical issues that will solve problems. What you're going to see from the House is a bold effort to solve complex problems and a strong resistance to just kicking the can down the road.”
Over his more than six years in the House, he has pushed bills limiting access to abortion, making it easier to carry guns, making Ohio a right-to-work state when it comes to unionization, and prohibiting gender reassignment surgery or treatment to minors.
A product of the private Monclova Christian Academy, he has advocated expansion of school vouchers.
One area where he said he does intend to pursue changes is with the Local Government Fund, the formula-driven method through which the state shares tax revenue with local governments.
“I think there needs to be more revenue sharing from the state to help bolster our local governments,” Mr. Merrin said. “The formula hasn't been changed for a long time. It's very complicated. Different local governments are not getting the same amount of funding. It's not equal based on population.”
He declined to say whether the changes would take the level of funding to where it was before then Gov. John Kasich slashed it by half more than a decade ago to help wipe out an $8 billion budget shortfall and underwrite an income tax cut.
For Greg Lawson, research fellow for the conservative Buckeye Institute think tank, a “bold conservative agenda” could mean some “fairly big” changes in tax policy. Whether that is in the area of the personal income tax or commercial activities tax remains to be seen.
“I don't know if we're talking about a home run or a triple, but I think it's going to be bigger than hitting a single,” he said.
He pointed to successful legislation that Mr. Merrin championed to provide greater transparency for taxpayers when voting on property tax levies and more gas tax transparency at the pump.
“Rep. Merrin, to his credit, took by the horns some hot and somewhat wonky tax policy over the years,” Mr. Lawson said. “He looked under the hood and into the weeds.”
Ohio’s current legislative leaders are both Lima Republicans — Speaker Bob Cupp and Senate President Matt Huffman. Mr. Huffman will continue in his role during Mr. Merrin's tenure.
A native of Long Island in New York, Mr. Merrin's family moved to the Toledo area when he was 13. His political career began at age 19 before he could legally drink.
He served two years on Waterville City Council and then became Ohio's youngest mayor when elected to that post at 21.
First appointed to a House vacancy in late 2016, Mr. Merrin recently won re-election to a fourth full term of his own in a new 42nd District that had been redrawn to pull part of South Toledo into what previously had been a largely suburban and rural district. He won with a healthy 54 percent of the vote despite the fact that, on the paper, the new district slightly favored Democrats.
Most recently, he has chaired the influential House Ways and Means Committee, which among other things, specializes in tax-related policy. He succeeded in passing legislation that did away with sales taxes on prescription eyewear. He came up short when he went to bat for the insurance arm of ProMedica back home when it lost a lucrative Medicaid managed-care contract.
A real estate investor, Mr. Merrin holds a master's degree in public administration from Bowling Green State University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Toledo.
As ranking Democrat on Mr. Merrin's committee, it has not been unusual to see Rep. Lisa Sobecki (D., Toledo) rise on the House floor to directly challenge him on things she saw as directly undercutting schools' ability to raise money and the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority.
“Derek is very driven on policy. I give him that,” she said. “Speaker is going to be a different role. You have to be responsive to all...I think Rep. Merrin will need to brush up a little on his communication skills.”
Her next role will be as Lucas County commissioner.
Randy Gardner, of Bowling Green, Gov. Mike DeWine's chancellor of higher education, rose as high as the number-two leadership slot in both the House and Senate during his lengthy tenure there. He said several House members told him they were committed to a civil and collegial selection of the next speaker.
“That isn't always a case in legislative leadership contests...,” he said. “It's generally a good sign for the legislature when there is a healthy respect for each other.”
Former Speaker Larry Householder, now facing federal trial for racketeering for allegedly leading a $61 million bribery scheme, had to broker a deal with minority Democrats to take back the podium in 2019.
“You're going to see less political gamesmanship,” Mr. Merrin said.
First Published December 4, 2022, 12:30 p.m.
