Bill Seitz

Bill Seitz
Member of the Ohio Senate
from the 8th district
Assumed office
October 10, 2007
Preceded by Patricia Clancy
Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
from the 30th district
In office
January 3, 2001 – October 9, 2007
Preceded by Cheryl Winkler
Succeeded by Robert Mecklenborg
Personal details
Born (1954-10-29) October 29, 1954
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Political party Republican
Residence Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Alma mater University of Cincinnati
Profession Attorney
Religion Presbyterian

Bill Seitz (born October 29, 1954) is a Republican member of the Ohio Senate, who has represented the 8th District since his appointment in October 2007. He was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 2001 until 2007. He is chairman of the Senate Public Utilities Committee.

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 has been a partner in the Taft, Stettinius and Hollister law firm.

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.

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.[2]

Ohio Senate

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.[3] 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.[4] Seitz has called the move unacceptable and disagrees with the decision.[5] 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.[6]

A former roommate with Niehaus, Seitz moved out following his removal as chairman, saying, "I don't have the money for those high-priced digs since I lost my chairmanship."[7]

Seitz won a second full term in the Senate in 2012, defeating Democrat Richard Luken with 62% of the vote.[8] He currently is serving on the committees of Civil Justice; Commerce and Labor; Criminal Justice; Public Utilities; State Government Oversight and Reform; and Transportation.

References

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

External links

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