Bill Seitz

William J. Seitz III (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. He also has served as Majority Leader since 2017.

Bill Seitz
Majority Leader of the Ohio House of Representatives
Assumed office
June 7, 2017
Preceded byDorothy Pelanda
Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
from the 30th district
Assumed office
January 3, 2017
Preceded byLouis Terhar
In office
January 3, 2001 – October 9, 2007
Preceded byCheryl Winkler
Succeeded byRobert Mecklenborg
Member of the Ohio Senate
from the 8th district
In office
October 10, 2007 – December 31, 2016
Preceded byPatricia Clancy
Succeeded byLouis Terhar
Personal details
Born (1954-10-29) October 29, 1954
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
EducationUniversity of Cincinnati (BA, JD)

Life and career

After graduating from the University of Cincinnati in 1975 with a BA in History, summa cum laude, he proceeded to attend the University of Cincinnati School of Law, obtaining his JD in 1978 with the honors of being selected for the Law Review and named a member of the Order of the Coif. Starting in 1978, Seitz was joined the Taft, Stettinius and Hollister law firm as an associate. He became a partner of the firm in 1986 a position he held until becoming Of Counsel in 2013. Seitz then joined Dinsmore & Shohl in 2014 as Of Counsel.

Seitz started his public career as a member of the Cincinnati Board of Education, eventually becoming Vice President of the board and also served on the St. Antoninus Parish Education Commission. He later was twice elected as a Green Township Trustee, becoming Chairman on one occasion. He also served as President of the Hamilton County Township Association.

In 2000, with incumbent State Representative Cheryl Winkler unable to run again due to term limits, Seitz was nominated to succeed her. 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 State Rep. and Majority Leader Merle Kearns resigned midway through 2005 to take a place in the cabinet of Governor Bob Taft her absence left a hole in the majority leadership team, leading to a shuffle by Speaker Jon Husted, and colleagues appointed Seitz to become the new Assistant Majority Whip.[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 front-runner 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]

Seitz sits on the House Criminal Justice Committee.[9]

In March 2016, Seitz introduced HB 296, which would require a monetary payment (bond) for vote centers aka polling centers/places to remain open after their usual closing time of 7:30pm. He proposed the bill after two separate judges extended voting hours at two different polling centers, one due to technical glitches which delayed voting, and another because of a fatal car accident on an interstate which delayed traffic to the vote center.[10] Seitz claimed the bond was necessary because "activist judges" could always find a reason to keep vote centers open.[11] Governor John Kasich eventually vetoed the bill.[12]

In 2018, Rep. Kristin Boggs and Rep. Laura Lanese introduced HB 561, a bill that would eliminate the spousal exemptions for offenses of rape, sexual battery, unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, gross sexual imposition, sexual imposition and inportuning.[13] Rep. Seitz was the only member of the committee to vote in opposition to the bill.[14]

Sexual Harassment Controversy

On January 24, 2018, the website 3rd Rail Politics reported Republican legislators' alleged sexist and demeaning comments toward women at a roast for outgoing Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger's chief of staff Mike Dittoe. Held at the Athletic Club of Columbus just down the street from the Capital Building, the event was attended by legislators, lobbyists and campaign contributors.

"Representative William Seitz (R-Cincinnati) called out former Rep. Diana Fessler, calling her a nutjob who "wore a tin foil hat." More demeaning still, he compared her to his current Southwest Ohio colleague Rep. Candice Keller. Saving the best for last, he imagined certain legislators doing their work "set to music." Former Senator Cliff Hite, who as first reported by 3rd Rail was drummed out of office for disturbing allegations of harassing a female statehouse staffer, could have Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It on," Seitz joked. "Or better yet," he added, "The Answer is Blowing in the Wind." Not content to just smack one chamber, he added a similar off-color double entendre to describe the song for former Rep. Wes Goodman. [Not suitable for print].[15]

These remarks took place the same week House members received sexual harassment training mandated as a result of recent local and national scandals.

Days later, Seitz apologized for the remarks, calling them "irresponsible". Ohio Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, in a statement, said he expects Seitz to be "more thoughtful" and "more respectful" in the future.[16]

State Reps. Nickie Antonio, Teresa Fedor and Michele Lepore-Hagan and Kathleen Clyde told Republican House Speaker Clifford Rosenberger that Seitz should resign, a move Seitz called "politically motivated".[17]

Soon after, an anonymous woman filed a complaint, stating that Seitz's remarks worsened an already hostile working environment in the Statehouse. Republican Attorney General Mike Dewine paid $12,000 to Taft Stettinius & Hollister to conduct an internal investigation. Taft Stettinius and Hollister not only gave Dewine substantial campaign contributions, the firm employed Seitz for over 3 decades. Taft's investigators conducted only three interviews - of Seitz and two witnesses - then concluded Seitz had not violated the House's Sexual Harassment Policies. The review appeared to exclude any witnesses that were offended Seitz's remarks, or any victims of Statehouse sexual harassment.[18]

The Toledo Blade called for second investigation "with no conflict of interest".[19]

Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan said, "...interviewing only two of the more than 100 people who attended the event where Rep. Seitz degraded women, and then burying the report makes it clear that the leadership of the House and AG DeWine wanted to whitewash this particular incident".[20]

State Reps. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) and Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) asked Ohio Attorney General (AG) Mike DeWine to hire an objective third party to reopen the harassment investigation of Rep. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati).[21]

An ethics grievance was filed with the Ohio Supreme Court against firm partner Stuart Dornette, regarding the firm's failure to disclose this conflict of interest. Dornette has contributed to Seitz's political campaigns. Seitz referred to the complainant as a "knucklehead" [22]

Electoral history
Election results
Year Office Election Votes for Seitz % Opponent Party Votes %
2000 Ohio House of Representatives General 34,687 64.45% Jean Siebenaler Democrat 19,129 35.55%
2002 General 28,907 76.02% Bob Klug Democrat 9,120 23.98%
2004 General 43,306 72.90% Ann Thompson Democrat 16,097 27.10%
2008 Ohio Senate General 101,944 59.49% Daniel McCarthy Democrat 69,425 40.51%
2012 General 104,852 61.5% Richard G. Luken Democrat 65,744 38.5%
2016 Ohio House of Representatives General 40,718 73.11% Mark Childers Democrat 14,975 26.89%
2018 General 33,652 69.3% Clayton Adams Democrat 14,886 30.7%

References
  1. "Seitz Elected To Leadership Position In Ohio House Of Representatives". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  2. "Seitz to be appointed to Senate? | Buckeye State Blog". Archived from the original on 22 July 2012.
  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". The 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. "Leadership - American Legislative Exchange Council". www.alec.org.
  8. "Our Campaigns - OH State House 30 Race - Nov 08, 2016". Retrieved 2017-01-21.
  9. "Criminal Justice Committee | The Ohio House of Representatives". www.ohiohouse.gov.
  10. Balmert, Jessie. "Lawmakers fast-track bill requiring cash for longer voting hours". Cincinnati.com.
  11. Balmert, Jessie. "Bill to require cash for extending voting hours speeds toward Ohio gov". USA TODAY.
  12. https://static.votesmart.org/static/vetotext/57401.pdf
  13. "House Bill 561 | The Ohio Legislature". www.legislature.ohio.gov.
  14. "House Bill 561 - Votes | The Ohio Legislature". www.legislature.ohio.gov.
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-12-15. Retrieved 2018-12-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. Michael D. Pitman, Staff Writer. "Ohio House leadership member apologizes for comments during roast that made a local lawmaker 'livid'". journal-news.
  17. "4 in Ohio House want lawmaker to resign over crass remarks".
  18. "Rep. Bill Seitz cleared of sexual harassment after investigation by his former firm". cleveland. Associated Press. June 15, 2018.
  19. "Re-do the review of Bill Seitz". Toledo Blade.
  20. "Ohio AG Picked Donor To Whitewash Sexual Harassment Investigation Of GOP Lawmaker, Lawmaker Says". www.ohiohouse.gov.
  21. http://www.ohiohouse.gov/nickie-j-antonio/press/ohio-ag-needs-to-open-independent-harassment-investigation-of-bill-seitz-lawmakers-say
  22. Thompson, Chrissie. "Taft law firm should have disclosed conflict of interest, grievance says". Cincinnati.com.
Ohio House of Representatives
Preceded by
Dorothy Pelanda		 Majority Leader of the Ohio House of Representatives
2017–present		 Incumbent
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