Welcome to the Friday, July 24, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. Ohio House Speaker charged with racketeering
2. Illinois Gov. Pritzker has contributed $56.5 million to campaign behind graduated income tax ballot measure
3. What’s the Tea?

Ohio House Speaker charged with racketeering

Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives Larry Householder (R) was arrested July 21 on federal charges of racketeering. Federal authorities alleged that Householder accepted more than $60 million in bribes. The charges state that Householder organized support of legislation to bail out two northern Ohio nuclear plants belonging to an unnamed energy company in exchange for financial support from the company in his campaign for House Speaker. Cleveland.com reported that Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and officials from both parties have publicly called on Householder to resign.

The Ohio House of Representatives has 99 members and the speaker is selected by a vote of all members. Householder was elected as speaker in January 2019 by a coalition of 26 Republicans and 26 Democrats. Thirty-four Republicans, who hold a 61-38 majority in the chamber, voted for then-incumbent House Speaker Ryan Smith (R). No Democrat ran for the position. 

Jeremy Pelzer of The Plain-Dealer described the Smith vs. Householder contest as being about differences in personality rather than policy. He reported that labor unions pushed Democrats to support Householder over Smith due to Householder's opposition to right-to-work legislation that would prohibit private sector labor union membership as a condition of employment. Ohio does not currently have right-to-work laws.

Smith had been elected speaker in June 2018 after former Speaker Cliff Rosenberger (R) resigned early due to an FBI investigation into his activities with lobbyists. Householder-aligned Republicans opposed Smith’s speakership bid, which he won with 44 votes in a four-way race with House Democratic Leader Fred Strahorn and two other Republicans. Householder had previously served as speaker from 2001 to 2004. 

Householder was one of at least six state speakers elected with support from only a minority of the majority party since 1995. Former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R) was elected speaker in 2009 after the Republican majority fell to 76-74 following the 2008 elections. He unseated the sitting speaker, Tom Craddick (R), with support from 72 Democrats and 16 Republicans.

Similarly, California Assembly Democrats helped elect two Republican speakers in 1995 after Republicans won a 41-39 majority in the 1994 elections. The speakers were both opposed by a majority of the Republican caucus. 

In other Ohio news, three Toledo City Council members—Yvonne Harper, Tyrone Riley, and Larry Sykes—were arrested on June 30 on charges of bribery and extortion (completely unrelated to the Householder situation). Authorities alleged that the three councilmembers, along with an attorney, accepted $34,000 in bribes among them. Harper, Riley, and Sykes agreed to a suspension from their official positions July 22 after Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) initiated suspension proceedings. 

Harper, Riley, and Sykes did not resign from the council. A judge will appoint replacements to serve temporarily while authorities continue their investigation. Although municipal elections in Toledo are officially nonpartisan, all three were identified by the Toledo Blade as Democrats.

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Illinois Gov. Pritzker has contributed $56.5 million to campaign behind graduated income tax ballot measure 

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) has personally contributed $56.5 million through June 30 to a ballot measure campaign regarding the state’s income tax. The campaign—Vote Yes For Fairness—would repeal the state’s constitutional requirement that Illinois’ personal income tax be a flat rate. It would instead allow the state to enact legislation to implement a graduated income tax.

In Illinois, a 60% vote is needed in the legislature to refer a constitutional amendment to voters. In the state Senate, all 40 Democrats supported the measure and all 19 Republicans were opposed. In the state House, 73 Democrats voted to approve the measure and all 44 Republicans voted against it. 

The legislature also enacted a law in June that would change the state's income tax from a flat rate to six graduated rates beginning on January 1, 2021, if voters approve the statewide ballot measure. Those rates range from a marginal rate of 4.75% on incomes of $10,000 or below up to a marginal rate of 7.99% on income greater than $1,000,000.

Pritzker advocated for a graduated income tax during his campaign for governor in 2018. He defeated incumbent Bruce Rauner (R) that year, giving the Democratic Party a trifecta. This is Pritzker’s first elected office. Before he was elected governor in 2018, he founded the venture capital firm, the Pritzker Group.

I asked our ballot measures team to identify previous instances where governors contributed personal, rather than campaign funds to a recent ballot measure campaign. In 2016, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) donated $300,000 to Nebraskans for the Death Penalty, which opposed a veto referendum of legislation that repealed the death penalty. Voters defeated the measure, 61% to 39%, which reinstated the death penalty in the state.

Of the 43 states that levy a tax on personal income, 11 had a flat income tax rate. These flat rates ranged from 2 percent in Tennessee to 5.25 percent in North Carolina. Illinois’ income tax rate is 4.95%. New Hampshire and Tennessee tax personal income derived from interest and dividends but not wages and salaries. Thirty-two states have a graduated income tax, with different rates applied to different levels of income.

There has been lots of discussion regarding whether and how schools should reopen for in-person instruction due to the coronavirus pandemic. At Ballotpedia, we’ve been tracking statewide policies concerning the closing and re-opening of schools, as well as a breakdown of the arguments related to the topic here.

We wanted to hear from you on this topic for this week’s What’s the Tea. How closely are you following school reopening plans in your area? 

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