Columbus Dispatch...
Turnover shakes up Assembly
Many senators get seats without Ohioans voting
By Jim Siegel

Wednesday, July 20, 2011 

You could forgive Ohio Senate President Tom Niehaus if he needs to bring a roster with him to his Republican caucus meetings. 

In less than seven months, the president has been forced to appoint six new GOP members, including two last week, as sitting senators accept other opportunities in the public and private sectors. 

In a little more than six months, Ohio already has set a record for Senate appointments over an entire two-year session, and getting to the Senate without first having to run for election is growing more common. Nearly half of Ohio’s current senators, 16 of 33, initially got their seats through appointment rather than election. That includes six of 10 Senate Democrats. 

Although a number of those members have faced election since their initial appointment, the selection gives them an advantage, said Paul Beck, a political-science professor at Ohio State University. 

“It makes it easier for them to raise money. It also makes it much easier for them to get visibility among their constituents because they are doing it from the office,” he said. 

Of the Senate openings this year, two occurred because members won election to other posts, three were appointments to positions within Gov. John Kasich’s administration and one took a job heading the Ohio Gas Association. 

“I was kidding with our caucus today that we’ve had so many new members in our caucus, I’m afraid of a no-confidence vote,” Niehaus said last week. 

The New Richmond Republican earned his Senate seat the old-fashioned way - handily beating his Democratic opponent after overcoming an expensive and bitter primary battle in 2004 that he won by only 22 votes. 

“I think it speaks to some of the unintended consequences of term limits,” he said of the rash of appointments. “We have people who are looking for other opportunities as their elected careers wind down. It also speaks to the fact that we had a change in administration, so, suddenly, you had a lot of Republicans looking for new opportunities.” 

Niehaus said the appointments might give members the chance to change some committee assignments.

Ohio limits lawmakers to serving eight consecutive years in one chamber; however, a number of members extend their careers by switching between the House and Senate. 

The impact of Senate appointments also hits the Ohio House, which often is the well from which the Senate draws new members. (Every Senate district consists of three adjacent House districts.) 

Of the six senators appointed this year, five have come from the House, complicating matters for Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, whose 59-member caucus already had started this session with 32 members who had two years or less of legislative experience. 

Batchelder lost a member before the session even started, when Sen. Timothy J. Grendell, R-Chesterland, won a House seat but decided instead to serve out the last two years of the Senate term. Batchelder appointed Richard Hollington of Hunting Valley to the seat again - he was first appointed in February 2010 to replace a departing member - allowing him to serve a second term without appearing on the ballot. 

Former Reps. Dave Burke of Marysville and Troy Balderson of Zanesville were appointed to fill the most-recent Senate openings. As he waited to be sworn in for his new seat, Burke said the shifting between chambers shows the “Republican Party has a very strong bench lineup.” 

Rep. Lou Blessing, R-Cincinnati, the No. 2 leader in the House, said the appointments “do affect us and they’re going to be hard to replace,” but he applauded the speaker’s efforts to fill the openings. 

“We want to recruit the best people available, and we have,” he said. “It shows why the Senate chooses House members over other people.” 

Read it at the Columbus Dispatch