Wikipedia

Nino Vitale

A. Nino Vitale (born August 24, 1970) is an American politician who served in the Ohio House of Representatives from the 85th House district from 2015 to 2022.

Nino Vitale
Member of the
Ohio House of Representatives
from the 85th district
In office
January 6, 2015 – December 31, 2022
Preceded byJohn Adams
Succeeded byTim Barhorst
Personal details
Born (1970-08-24) August 24, 1970 (age 54)
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseLilli Vitale
Children5
EducationOhio State University (BD)[1]
Franklin University (MBA)
Signature

Early life

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Nino Vitale was born on August 24, 1970, in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor's degree where he was a member of the Ohio State University Marching Band for four years.[2] He later attended Franklin University where he graduated with a Master of Business Administration. In 1998, he married and currently has five children.[3]

Ohio House of Representatives

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Elections

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In 2014, incumbent Representative John Adams, who represented the 85th district in the state House of Representatives, was unable to run for reelection due to term limits.[4] Vitale won the Republican primary and won in the general election with no opposition.

In 2016, the Ohio House Republican Organizational Caucus did not endorse him, along with Paul Zeltwanger and Wes Retherford, as he would not participate in the activities of the committee.[5] In the general election he faced no opposition. In 2018, he defeated Democratic nominee Garrett Baldwin, a high school senior, with over seventy percent of the popular vote.[6]

In December 2020 and April 2021, the Ohio Elections Commission found him guilty on three out of six counts of campaign finance fraud.[7]

Tenure

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In 2015, he voted against the proposed state budget as it included expanded Medicaid from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[8] After Obergefell v. Hodges, Vitale proposed a religious freedom bill to allow religious officials to not perform same-sex marriages.[9] In 2016, he voted against a bill making cockfighting a felony offense.[10]

In 2019, Vitale co-sponsored legislation that would ban abortion in Ohio and criminalize what they called "abortion murder". Doctors who performed abortions in cases of ectopic pregnancy and other life-threatening conditions would be exempt from prosecution only if they "[took] all possible steps to preserve the life of the unborn child, while preserving the life of the woman. Such steps include, if applicable, attempting to reimplant an ectopic pregnancy into the woman's uterus".[11][12][13] Reimplantation of an ectopic pregnancy is not a recognized or medically feasible procedure.[11][14]

In 2020, resolutions to declare racism a public health crisis were submitted in the state House and Senate. On June 2, 2020, Vitale stated that he was darker than most of the members of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus.[15]

He was chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee while he served in the Ohio Legislature. After being subject to term limits in 2022 and thus unable to run for a fifth term, he ran for county commissioner and defeated local farmer and auctioneer Todd Woodruff in a very close race, winning 50.90% of the vote to Woodruff’s 49.10%.[16][17][18]

COVID-19 and impeachment

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vitale refused to wear a mask, as recommended by various health agencies and Ohio governor Mike DeWine, citing his religious beliefs.[19]

"This is the greatest nation on earth founded on Judeo-Christian Principles. One of those principles is that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. That image is seen the most by our face. I will not wear a mask,”

He further criticized DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director, Amy Acton, on Twitter, stating that the push for masks was a result of fear and propaganda, calling Acton an "unelected globalist", for which he received criticism for using an anti-Semitic slur.[19][20]

Vitale previously drew controversy after appearing several times in interviews with an anti-vaccination group, Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom, where he claimed one of his children had a vaccine injury.[21]

On June 25, 2020, Vitale posted a debunked video recording onto YouTube to demonstrate the negative effects of wearing masks. In the video, Vitale showed three young people placing an industry-grade gas detection unit under their masks and in front of their noses and mouths as they breathe. Vitale stated that the alarm triggered by placing the unit inside the masks indicates a decline in oxygenation and that the subsequent measurement on the unit's screen falls below the OSHA threshold for acceptable oxygenation.[22]

In July, he urged his constituents not to get tested for Coronavirus.[23]

In August 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, he joined John Becker, Candice Keller, and Paul Zeltwanger in sponsoring a move to impeach against Mike DeWine, Ohio's Republican governor.[24] The move was widely and immediately panned on both sides of the aisle and by legal scholars and commentators.[25][24][26][27] Ohio Republican Party Chair Jane Timken "issued a scathing condemnation of the trio of conservatives",[28] calling the move “a baseless, feeble attempt at creating attention for themselves.”[24] Ohio House Speaker, Republican Bob Cupp, called it an "imprudent attempt" to cause "a state constitutional crisis".[29] Legal scholar Jonathan Entin said the proposal "means that we’ve distorted our understanding both of what impeachment is supposed to do and how people – especially, elected officials – are supposed to disagree with each other. Do we really want to say that the government can't act in an emergency because the officials are afraid that if they do anything, they'll be removed from office? Of course, if they don't do anything, maybe the response is going to be ‘Well you should be impeached for not acting.'"[26] CNN's Chris Cillizza analyzed it as one of several examples of how Donald Trump had politicized public health matters to the point Republican lawmakers felt they needed to make extreme and pointless moves in order to satisfy the base.[27] DeWine responded by recommending his foes visit a hospital and talk to nurses.[30]

Vitale is employed by his wife's family business, Johnson Welded Products.[31] This company received between $2–5M from the federal government as part of the Payroll Protection Program.[32]

Electoral history

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Nino Vitale electoral history
2014 Ohio 85th House of Representatives Republican primary[33]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Nino Vitale 7,098 54.34%
Republican C. Douglas Chamberlain 4,457 34.12%
Republican Robert Luckey III 1,508 11.54%
Total votes 13,063 100.00%
2014 Ohio 85th House of Representatives election[34]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Nino Vitale 23,704 100.00% +0.00%
Total votes 13,063 100.00%
2016 Ohio 85th House of Representatives election[35]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Nino Vitale (incumbent) 37,416 100.00% +0.00%
Total votes 37,416 100.00%
2018 Ohio 85th House of Representatives Republican primary[36]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Nino Vitale (incumbent) 8,817 70.52%
Republican Justin G. Griffis 1,364 10.91%
Republican Joe Ratermann 1,240 9.92%
Republican Rochiel V. Foulk 1,082 8.65%
Total votes 12,503 100.00%
2018 Ohio 85th House of Representatives election[37]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Nino Vitale (incumbent) 28,608 72.81% −27.19%
Democratic Garrett Baldwin 10,681 27.19% +27.19%
Total votes 39,289 100.00%

References

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  1. ^ "Student wants incumbent's seat". Springfield News-Sun. October 20, 2018. p. B1. Archived from the original on May 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "A. Nino Vitale - House District 85". Archived from the original on May 6, 2020.
  3. ^ "Meet the Vitale Family". Archived from the original on May 6, 2020.
  4. ^ "Few choices slated for ballot". Springfield News-Sun. February 10, 2014. p. 9. Archived from the original on May 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Ohio GOP snubs Mason-area rep". The Cincinnati Enquirer. December 5, 2015. p. A11. Archived from the original on May 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Rep. Nin Vitale of Urbana re-elected to Ohio House seat". Springfield News-Sun. December 5, 2015. p. B6. Archived from the original on May 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-12-24. Retrieved 2021-05-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ "Budget". Dayton Daily News. April 23, 2015. p. 8. Archived from the original on May 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Bill would protect pastors from officiating gay weddings". Chillicothe Gazette. July 1, 2015. p. A3. Archived from the original on May 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Bill passes Ohio House making cockfighting a felony offense". Chillicothe Gazette. February 29, 2016. p. A4. Archived from the original on May 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b Glenza, Jessica (November 29, 2019). "Ohio bill orders doctors to 'reimplant ectopic pregnancy' or face 'abortion murder' charges". The Guardian. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
  12. ^ Ohio bill would make doctors 'reimplant' ectopic pregnancies (which is impossible) or face 'abortion murder' charges, National Post, November 29, 2019
  13. ^ "House Bill 413 | The Ohio Legislature". www.legislature.ohio.gov.
  14. ^ Rezac, Mary. "Pro-life doctors: Despite Ohio bill, there is no procedure to save ectopic pregnancies". Catholic News Agency.
  15. ^ "Urbana lawmaker says he's 'darker' than members of black caucus". Springfield News-Sun. June 11, 2020. Archived from the original on July 10, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  16. ^ "Energy and Natural Resources Committee | The Ohio House of Representatives". www.ohiohouse.gov.
  17. ^ Naymik, Mark (May 6, 2019). "State Rep. Nino Vitale offers ignorant assessment of the poor and media in bizarre email about energy bill". cleveland.com.
  18. ^ Pelzer, Jeremy (April 26, 2019). "Lawmaker argues low-income Ohioans should pay their own energy-efficiency costs". cleveland.com.
  19. ^ a b Folley, Aris (May 4, 2020). "GOP Ohio state lawmaker refuses to wear face mask because faces are the 'likeness of God'". The Hill.
  20. ^ Zelman, Brett (May 1, 2020). "Ohio State Rep. Nino Vitale Calls Dr. Amy Acton, Who is Jewish, a Globalist". Cleveland Scene.
  21. ^ Lambe, Jerry (May 4, 2020). "GOP State Lawmaker Came Up with a Really Unique Religious Excuse for Not Wearing a Mask". Law & Crime.
  22. ^ Nino, Vitale (June 25, 2020). "!! DANGER !!Test Shows Oxygen Levels Drop into the DANGER ZONE FIVE SECONDS After Putting on a Mask". YouTube. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  23. ^ "'STOP GETTING TESTED' For Coronavirus, Ohio Politician Tells Constituents". NPR. July 9, 2020. Archived from the original on July 10, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  24. ^ a b c Pelzer, Jeremy; clevel; .com (2020-08-24). "Articles of impeachment drawn up against Gov. Mike DeWine over coronavirus orders". cleveland. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
  25. ^ "Articles of impeachment drawn up against Gov. Mike DeWine over coronavirus orders". Cleveland. Cleveland. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  26. ^ a b Pelzer, Jeremy; clevel; .com (2020-08-24). "The move to impeach Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine: A necessary step, or a blow to democracy?". cleveland. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
  27. ^ a b Cillizza, Chris (26 August 2020). "Some Ohio Republicans are trying to impeach the state's GOP governor over coronavirus". CNN. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  28. ^ Gstalter, Morgan (2020-08-25). "Ohio Republicans draft articles of impeachment against GOP governor over coronavirus orders". The Hill. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
  29. ^ Balmert, Jessie. "Ohio House Speaker Bob Cupp opposes GOP-led effort to impeach Gov. Mike DeWine". The Enquirer. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
  30. ^ "Editorial: Governor needs ability to act quickly". The Lima News. 2020-12-05. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  31. ^ "Nino Vitale". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  32. ^ Willis, Moiz Syed,Derek (7 July 2020). "JOHNSON WELDED PRODUCTS INC - Coronavirus Bailouts". ProPublica. Retrieved 2021-02-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  33. ^ "OH State House 85 - R Primary 2014". OurCampaigns. February 5, 2016.
  34. ^ "OH State House 85 2014". OurCampaigns. January 9, 2015.
  35. ^ "OH State House 85 2016". OurCampaigns. December 3, 2016.
  36. ^ "OH State House 85 - R Primary 2018". OurCampaigns. June 11, 2018.
  37. ^ "OH State House 85 2018". OurCampaigns. December 7, 2018.
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