Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Wants To Abolish Death Penalty

In his final days as governor, Mike DeWine says Ohio should abolish the death penalty. Gov. DeWine said the death penalty is not a deterrent to murder because it takes too long to execute someone. At this point, DeWine’s change in position seems little more than symbolic. Republican leaders in the Ohio legislature support the death penalty. There’s no movement ready to put it on the ballot. The only thing DeWine can do at this point is commute the sentences of people of death row, and he would not say whether he plans to do that. In the early 1980s, DeWine was in the Ohio Senate and as a tough- on-crime former county prosecutor he helped write Ohio’s death penalty law. As Ohio’s attorney general, DeWine helped carry out fifteen executions. Now in his final days as governor, DeWine says Ohio should end abolish capital punishment. So why has he changed his mind. Our panel will discuss the governor’s change of heart. Also this week Cleveland.com reported that about 10 years generous tax breaks given to tech companies like Google, Amazon, Meta and others by then-Gov. John Kasich’s administration were hidden in the fine print approved by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority. At the time officials did not publicize the length of the deals which turned out to be for 40 years. The tax breaks have cost Ohio about $2.5 billion. The candidates for Ohio governor continue to travel the state, raising money and building grassroots support. This is still fairly new for Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton. They’ve never held elected office before. The most recent public poll done by Fox News shows the race basically tied with Acton holding a slim one point lead which falls well within the margin of error. Acton claims she’s raising more money than her opponent, but Ramaswamy has much more money in the bank because the billionaire is contributing to his own campaign. Joining us this week to discuss these issues are panalists: Herb Asher, Ohio State University political scientist Terry Casey, Republican strategist Sarah Donaldson, reporter with Ohio Public Radio Statehouse Bureau Support WOSU We can't do this without your support! Help keep WOSU Public Media strong by donating here: https://wosu.pm/WOSU-Support Connect With WOSU News Subscribe to the WOSU News YouTube channel:    / @wosunews   Subscribe to our WOSU News Daily newsletter at https://www.wosu.org/newsletters Follow us on Facebook:   / wosupublicmedia   Follow us on Instagram:   / wosupubmedia   Follow us on Reddit:   / wosupublicmedia   Follow us on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/@wosupublicm... Visit our website: https://www.wosu.org/news