Why won’t Gov. Mike DeWine say whether he supports Ohio’s death penalty?

Gov. Mike DeWine in Akron

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has consistently dodged questions about whether he personally supports the state's death penalty. (Robin Goist, cleveland.com)

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Gov. Mike DeWine refuses to publicly say whether he still supports the death penalty, even as it’s become one of the biggest problems he’s had to address during his first year as governor.

A year ago Thursday, the Greene County Republican froze all Ohio executions indefinitely in response to the state’s continuing problems with finding a pharmaceutical company willing to sell drugs for use in lethal injections, Ohio’s only legal execution method.

But when reporters ask DeWine about whether he personally supports or opposes the death penalty, the governor usually dodges the question with the same answer: “It is the law of the state of Ohio.”

When DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney was asked again Tuesday about the governor’s stance on capital punishment, Tierney again referred back to that comment.

Asked why the governor is keeping his death-penalty stance to himself, Tierney declined to comment.

The governor did offer some criticism of capital punishment during a December interview with the Toledo Blade, saying, “whatever you think about the death penalty morally, the death penalty can never come in very high in things that protect the public.”

On the other hand, DeWine has pointed out that as a state senator in 1981, he backed the legislation that is now Ohio’s death-penalty statute. And as Ohio attorney general from 2011 through 2018, DeWine’s office successfully asked a federal appeals court to allow the state to continue using a three-drug lethal-injection cocktail.

A Roman Catholic, DeWine says his administration has a “pro-life" agenda. The most high-profile part of that agenda is his staunch opposition to abortion, but it also includes things like encouraging pre-natal care and reducing Ohio’s infant and maternal death rates.

Even though the governor hasn’t spoken out against the death penalty, anti-death penalty activists have praised his actions to freeze executions in the state, pointing to it as evidence of the increasing doubt about capital punishment among Ohio Republican leaders.

“I certainly will say from a national perspective, I thought his comments have been very thoughtful,” said Hannah Cox, national manager for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, during a Statehouse news conference Tuesday. “I thought he has shown through his actions substantial conservative leadership, and I think that it’s certainly getting the attention of the nation.”

Capital punishment is far from the only issue DeWine has remained tight-lipped about. During his four decades in politics, the governor has become a master at staying on message and not letting slip information he doesn’t want reporters to know.

When a TV reporter asked DeWine last summer whether he was frustrated by the inability of legislative leaders to work out a budget deal on time, the governor didn’t take the bait.

“I’m not a person who likes to describe my feelings,” DeWine said.

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