Bill Seitz

Bill Seitz
Majority Leader of the Ohio House of Representatives
Assumed office
June 7, 2017
Preceded by Dorothy Pelanda
Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
from the 30th district
Assumed office
January 3, 2017
Preceded by Louis Terhar
In office
January 3, 2001 – October 9, 2007
Preceded by Cheryl Winkler
Succeeded by Robert Mecklenborg
Member of the Ohio Senate
from the 8th district
In office
October 10, 2007 – December 31, 2016
Preceded by Patricia Clancy
Succeeded by Louis Terhar
Personal details
Born (1954-10-29) October 29, 1954
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Political party Republican
Education University of Cincinnati (BA)

Bill Seitz (born October 29, 1954) is the state representative for the 30th District of the Ohio House of Representatives. He is a Republican. The district consists of Cheviot, Delhi Township, Green as well as portions of Cincinnati, in Hamilton County. Formerly, Seitz represented the same seat from 2001 to 2007. He served in the Ohio Senate from 2007 to 2016.

Life and career

After graduating from the University of Cincinnati, Seitz worked as a member of the Cincinnati Board of Education, and as a Green Township Trustee. Since 1978, Seitz was a partner in the Taft, Stettinius and Hollister law firm until joining Dinsmore & Shohl in 2014.

With incumbent Representative Cheryl Winkler unable to run again due to term limits, Seitz was nominated to succeed her in 2000. He handily won election in 2000, and was reelected in 2002, 2004 and 2006.

In 2004, Seitz was mentioned as a potential successor to Lou Blessing in the Ohio Senate. However, he chose to remain in the House, and the Senate seat was won by Patty Clancy. When Merle Kearns resigned midway through 2005 to take a place in the cabinet of Governor Bob Taft her assistant majority whip position became open, and colleagues appointed Seitz to take her place.[1] Seitz served as majority whip in the 127th General Assembly.

When Senator Patty Clancy announced that she would resign her seat midway through 2007, Seitz was mentioned as the frontrunner for the appointment to replace her. In October 2007, Senate Republicans appointed Seitz to finish the remainder of Clancy's term.[2] Seitz easily won election to the seat in 2008. For the 129th General Assembly, Seitz ran for a leadership position, but lost President Pro Tempore to Keith Faber and Majority Leader to Jimmy Stewart.

After Seitz voted against the controversial legislation that would greatly hamper collective bargaining for public employees, Senate President Tom Niehaus stripped him of his chairmanship of the Senate Government Oversight Committee. While Niehaus stated that it was due to him failing to keep another member informed about changes to a bill, many have speculated it was a political repercussion for voting against the measure.[3] Seitz has called the move unacceptable and disagrees with the decision.[4] Seitz later struck back with a memo stating that Faber had falsely accused him of doing so, stating that both Niehaus and Faber had acted disingenuously.[5] Seitz won a second full term in the Senate in 2012, defeating Democrat Richard Luken with 62% of the vote.[6]

Seitz is currently on the Board of Directors of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a nonprofit partnership of conservative legislators and private sector lobbyists that craft model legislation for those legislators to sponsor.[7]

Ohio House of Representatives

In 2016, Seitz was term-limited in the Ohio Senate and announced he would seek his former seat in the House. Louis Terhar, who represented that seat, in turn ran for Seitz's Senate seat. He won the seat with over 73% of the vote against Democrat Mark A. Childers.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Seitz Elected To Leadership Position In Ohio House Of Representatives
  2. ↑ Seitz to be appointed to Senate?
  3. ↑ Siegel, Jim (2011-04-07). "Republican who opposed SB 5 punished". Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
  4. ↑ Truong, Quang (2011-04-07). "Seitz stripped of chairmanship". Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
  5. ↑ Bischoff, Laura (2011-04-12). "Seitz fires back at Senate president". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved 2011-04-12.
  6. ↑ Husted, Jon 2012 general election results (2012-11-06)
  7. ↑ Board of Directors - ALEC |accessdate=April 17, 2012
  8. ↑ "Our Campaigns - OH State House 30 Race - Nov 08, 2016". Retrieved 2017-01-21.
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